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Rating: 
Summary: Best so far
Review: Ed;
I just ordered this book on Amazon. I paged through it at a local bookstore and I can tell you that it DOES cover Windows XP Professional and the newer 64 bit processors and on the cover it does say that it "maps 100% to CompTIA's 2003 A+ core hardware and OS technologies exams". I hope this helps you.
John B.
Rating: 
Summary: Reply to Ed Hennessey
Review: Ed;
I just ordered this book on Amazon. I paged through it at a local bookstore and I can tell you that it DOES cover Windows XP Professional and the newer 64 bit processors and on the cover it does say that it "maps 100% to CompTIA's 2003 A+ core hardware and OS technologies exams". I hope this helps you.
John B.
Rating:
Summary: Complete A+ Coverage
Review: Hey, I'm A+ certified and used this book as part of my test prep. The book is loaded with detailed info, but I have to agree with a previous reviewer who noted the sequencing of practice questions does not match the chapter material.That said, the CD gave some valuable insight to the Comptia test process itself, although you can't rely on these test questions to duplicate what is on the actual test. This book is over 1100 pages long, so it takes a while to get through it. Prior to testing, I read this book cover to cover 3 times, and reviewed my highlighting and notes several times. I also used "Upgrading and Reapiring PCs" as a reference, which I highly recommend. In addition to reading the book, I would recommend you find an old computer to tear down and rebuild for practical experience.
Rating: 
Summary: "In Depth" is still too shallow
Review: I found this book to be extremely disorganized. It skipped around way too much and I had the strong notion that the author is not as tech-savvy as she would like us to believe. For example, the part that discusses checking a power supply does not explicitly state, "Do not disconnect the power supply before checking. You have to use back-probing instead. If you disconnect the power supply and turn it on, you may damage or destroy it." Frankly, I thought this book was a waste of money. Try "All-in-One A+ Certification Exam Guide" by Michael Meyers and Scott Jernigan instead. And if you're REALLY serious, throw in "Upgrading and Repairing PCs" by Scott Mueller.
Rating:
Summary: "In Depth" is still too shallow
Review: I found this book to be extremely disorganized. It skipped around way too much and I had the strong notion that the author is not as tech-savvy as she would like us to believe. For example, the part that discusses checking a power supply does not explicitly state, "Do not disconnect the power supply before checking. You have to use back-probing instead. If you disconnect the power supply and turn it on, you may damage or destroy it." Frankly, I thought this book was a waste of money. Try "All-in-One A+ Certification Exam Guide" by Michael Meyers and Scott Jernigan instead. And if you're REALLY serious, throw in "Upgrading and Repairing PCs" by Scott Mueller.
Rating:
Summary: Bad buying experience from Amazon. Book has outdated CD.
Review: I just purchased this book, ISBN: 1-59200-032-0, from Amazon this week and just tore open the CD and put it in my computer to install the test software. The installer cheerfully alerted me that this software only covers the 2001 test objectives, but that 90 days after the 2003 objectives are released, they would be downloadable from their web site, "http://premierpressbooks.com". While there is an errata document (which you should definitely download) dealing with the book portion, there is nowhere I was able to find any software update for the test.
The front cover of the book plainly states that this is supposed to map "100% to CompTIA's 2003 A+ Upgrade Core Hardware and OS Technologies Exams". If the book does, the software does not and I feel like I've been ripped off. I went to Barnes & Noble today and saw this same book I'd purchased this week from Amazon. It has a 2004 copyright. The one I received brand new from Amazon was last year's potatoes, 2003 copyright.
Basically, my advice is, don't buy this book from Amazon. You'll get an old version of a good book. Spend the extra $10 on the book at the bookstore and have the confidence that you are getting the latest info and not something that is outdated before you even take it out of the store.
I've been ripped off!
B. Wilcox
_Nightwalker_@yahoo.com
Rating:
Summary: Best so far
Review: I purchased this book in order to study for the CompTia exam. The book is actually pretty thorough and I succeeded in passing my A+ exam. However the only irritating thing that I found is that the technology used is a bit older Pentium II (which really doesn't matter for the visuals) and the major thing was that many of the questions at the end of the chapters don't relate to the content in the chapter. For example in chapter 1 the questions ask about IRQ's, but at this point the book hasn't even mentioned IRQ's. This happens quite often through the book. No biggie, just kinda annoying. The CD is pretty good. Gives you a quiz etc. I would recommend this book. My only suggestion would be to jot down the questions that you still haven't learned the content to then when you come across it later in the book, you can relate the answer.
Rating:
Summary: New Material
Review: This seems to be the only recently published book for A+. No mention is made as to if it contains the 2003 test material. Any idea?
Rating:
Summary: New Material
Review: This seems to be the only recently published book for A+. No mention is made as to if it contains the 2003 test material. Any idea?
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