Rating: 
Summary: Encyclopedic, complete - a must-have reference!
Review: Definitely not for the faint of heart, but for those with enough background, there is a treasure store of information about computers in general and components in particular - there is practically not a thing that goes in/outside of a computer that Mr. Press does not cover. Easy reading, and a five-star rating richly earned.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: I bought the book, and read it cover to cover. I learned a lot of stuff and I feel it is responsible for my success. The CD's are terrible though.
Rating:
Summary: Best Book of This Genre on the Market
Review: I bought this book and proceeded to build myself exactly the computer I wanted with confidence. It gives you enough useful general knowledge so that you don't feel afraid of the terms or descriptions of equipment anymore, and you realize that building a computer is going to be so difficult as you once thought. The author has definite preferences for various manufacturers, and the advice was good, so that I avoided some of the pitfalls of the junk that is out there. It is very informative, useful, and comprehensive. It cannot cover every piece of equipment made, of course, and someone who needs every piece described in detail will not be able to use it as well as someone who can understand the concepts involved. The author cannot be there to hold your hand-you have to have a brain to do the work. I think anyone who would rate this book badly would be someone who wants exactly their situation described, and to be told exactly what to do, because they are fearful or perfectionistic to a fault. The money I have saved using this book is worth ten times the price, and the knowledge I gained is priceless, because now I understand how computer go together.
Rating:
Summary: Best Book of This Genre on the Market
Review: I bought this book and proceeded to build myself exactly the computer I wanted with confidence. It gives you enough useful general knowledge so that you don't feel afraid of the terms or descriptions of equipment anymore, and you realize that building a computer is going to be so difficult as you once thought. The author has definite preferences for various manufacturers, and the advice was good, so that I avoided some of the pitfalls of the junk that is out there. It is very informative, useful, and comprehensive. It cannot cover every piece of equipment made, of course, and someone who needs every piece described in detail will not be able to use it as well as someone who can understand the concepts involved. The author cannot be there to hold your hand-you have to have a brain to do the work. I think anyone who would rate this book badly would be someone who wants exactly their situation described, and to be told exactly what to do, because they are fearful or perfectionistic to a fault. The money I have saved using this book is worth ten times the price, and the knowledge I gained is priceless, because now I understand how computer go together.
Rating: 
Summary: Great content, but title could be more descriptive...
Review: Since I'm not "hardware oriented" when it comes to technology, you have to work hard to help me understand it. One book that does a great job is the PC Upgrade and Repair Bible Desktop Edition by Barry Press and Marcia Press (Wiley).
Chapter list: Getting Ready; Why Isn't the Same Computer Right for Everyone?; PC Overview; Processors, Cache, and Memory; Buses, Chipsets, and Motherboards; Video; Monitors and Flat Panels; Hard Disks and Disk Arrays; CD and DVD; Removable Storage; Modems; Wired and Wireless Networking; Hubs, Switches, Routers, and Firewalls; Configuring a Windows Network; Internet Services, Antivirus, and Anti-Spam; Sound Cards, Speakers, Microphones, and MP3 Players; Digital Cameras, Video Capture, and DVDs; Keyboards and Game Controllers; Mice, Trackballs, and Tablets; Printers, Scanners, and All-in-One Units; Cases, Cooling, and Power; Laptops and Handheld Computers; You're Going to Put That Where?; Diagnosis and Repair; Building an Extreme Machine; Glossary; Index
As I mentioned above, I'm a software developer and I just want my hardware to work. One of the hardest things for me to do would be to try and build a computer from scratch. But watching my son (who has no fear of hardware) has made me a bit more at ease with it. And with this book, I think I could actually try it. Each of the chapters gives an excellent explanation about how that piece of hardware works and how it fits into the larger picture of a full computer. For instance, in the CD chapter you'll get an understandable write-up of how information is stored and read on a CD-ROM disk. Then they transition into how a DVD is read and how the drive functions. And I actually understood it!
The only place where I thought this book was a little weak is that there doesn't seem to be a lot of upgrade or repair instructions. I expected more along the lines of step-by-step pictures and instructions on how to replace or repair certain parts in your machine. There is some of that towards the end when you get into the Diagnosis and Repair chapters, but little as you're working through the book. Some buyers might be a little upset that the title doesn't quite mesh with the content of the book. Still, the actual content *is* quite good... just not what you might expect.
Overall, I like the book a lot as it helps me understand my computer hardware better than I did before. Just a minor deduction for possible title and content confusion...
Rating:
Summary: "Repair" is really "Replace"
Review: The authors offer a nice description of the main components within a PC, and how these fit together to give you a working machine. Necessarily, they use technical jargon. But the level of discussion does not assume any previous technical background on your part.
Also, several chapters are devoted to the vital subject of how to hook your PC into a network, via wired or wireless means. In either case, hubs and switches are explained. While these are not part of a PC, nowadays, a lot of the value of a PC is when it is connected to the Internet.
Note that "Repair" in the title is really a misnomer. An important point made by the authors. If a part of a PC breaks, it is rarely repaired. The complexity is often beyond most customer's ability to do so, or that of a local computer shop, for that matter. Plus, the low price of the part often does not make it economic anyway.
Rating:
Summary: Great Resorces
Review: The book is great, but the CD's that came with it are little to be desired. Only one of them works and the other works only in one of 9 machines.
Rating:
Summary: a great tool of reference for computer technician
Review: The writing style along with the many diagrams and photos are incredible. This book covers hardware, software, even networking and shows you 5W + 1H. You can depend on this book to build up your knowledge. This book is not only a good reference for computer service professional, but also a great book in preparing for the A+ certification exam. The price of this book is reasonable.
Rating:
Summary: Good information, strangely fragmented... CD needs help
Review: This book contains a great deal of useful information. The chapters about building a PC or server from scratch were great. Some of the info was difficult to find, a lot of relative information sprinkled among different chapters (IDE drive jumpers, for example, are partially explained in 3 places; you must read all three to feel comfortable working with them)also, the book only came with one CD (3rd edition) containing a FreeBSD distribution. Half of the ports failed upon installation, and there could be more installation documentation in the book itself (the man pages aren't accessible until post-install). I bombed my Win32 partition installing the boot loader, not real hard to do, needs a lot more explanation.
Rating:
Summary: Good information, strangely fragmented... CD needs help
Review: This book contains a great deal of useful information. The chapters about building a PC or server from scratch were great. Some of the info was difficult to find, a lot of relative information sprinkled among different chapters (IDE drive jumpers, for example, are partially explained in 3 places; you must read all three to feel comfortable working with them) also, the book only came with one CD (3rd edition) containing a FreeBSD distribution. Half of the ports failed upon installation, and there could be more installation documentation in the book itself (the man pages aren't accessible until post-install). I bombed my Win32 partition installing the boot loader, not real hard to do, needs a lot more explanation.
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