Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic book if you want to upgrade your 486
Review: I bought this book expecting to find some useful information about how to upgrade my PII. It barely acknowledges that PII'S exist. My advice is if you want a good book that covers all the bases thoroughly buy Scott Mueller's UPGRADING AND REPAIRING PCs
Rating: 
Summary: Wow!
Review: I have been looking forward to the release of Minasi's 12th ed. and I was not disappointed! I found it to move way beyond just "the basics". If you take the time to read this book from cover to cover you will not have many pc questions that go unanswered. This book does a great job of introducing you to the basics while guiding you into the more advanced areas of pcs. The way the info in the book is sectioned makes it very easy to reference back to quickly. Wether you have never touched a computer before or have many hours into pc repairs, this book will help. I highly recommend this book to all who are interested in learning about pcs.
Rating: 
Summary: Not So Fast
Review: I read all of the glowing reports about this book so I bought it. I'm actually not very satisfied. I'm not a novice, but I don't consider myself an expert either. In any case, I do need good reference tools. After 12 editions I was surprised to find so much missing information. Although the info on hard drives was very good, there wasn't one word about SMART technology. The chart of processors was also missing 3 Pentium models. There were many instances like this.In addition, there were technical errors such as suggesting that an ohmmeter is used to test power. Do that with an ohmmeter, and if it's not fused you can kiss your meter goodbye. An ohmmeter is used to test for resistance, and that's it. It may sound like a small thing, but I lose confidence in the material when there's such a gross error with a basic piece of test equipment. I think it's pointless for me to pick on the book/author with everything that I found, but I felt that I had to point out that there are some serious errors and omissions. I had a much higher opinion of the Scott Mueller and Stephen Bigelow books.
Rating:
Summary: The most authoritative book I've ever owned or read
Review: I've taken several technical support certification courses, and this was the textbook I used in half of them. Mark Minasi is an excellent writer who is able to "dumb down" all the minute details and translates very well the technical jargon of the trade. Minasi is also the writer of several Windows 2000 books which I've also read, and I've taken a fondness for his ability to start really big and progress quickly into smaller details without ever losing my interest or attention. The chapters on hardware installation and introduction to networks are the best written and most authoritative material I've used to learn the subtle aspects of TCP/IP, ethernet, and token/bus ring topologies. Also, the chapters on computer upgrading and "building a dream computer from scratch" are well laid-out and detailed for avid geeks like me who like to destroy and build machines from scrap piles. I guess the best thing to say about this book is that it fostered an even deeper interest in computers than I had before reading. One of the best perks of this book is that there is a moderate balance of graphics, charts and diagrams to go with his text. There is hardly anything intimidating about his presentation; novice and intermediate learners will have no problem getting to grasp every topic in this book. The twelfth edition also makes several revisions, particularly with misstated bandwidth numbers for Firewire and USB in the last edition). I haven't had a chance to test out the CDROMs, but several of my peers have recommended the video installation procedures, where Minasi goes over all the basics (like how to ground yourself properly, installing master/slave IDE devices, setting up SCSI cards, etc.) I don't like giving heavily-biased support for any book, product or service, but in all honesty, this is by far the best and most authoritative source I've ever used to fix any hardware-related issue with a computer. There is no topic I can think of that doesn't get covered, and he throws in a little history and conceptual technology as well to spur more interest in the future technology. In conclusion, the book is well worth the price, and I highly doubt most beginning and intermediate-level IT people will ever need to go beyond this edition as a reference source.
Rating:
Summary: The Ultimate Hardware Book
Review: Some of the best advice I've ever had about computer books came from a pair of friends who happened to be married to each other. The husband told me, "If you're looking for a reference manual, always buy the smallest one on the market so that you'll carry it around with you." The wife said "Always buy the biggest, fattest book on the market because it has all the answers." In this case, the wife happened to be right- -with its 1400 pages and 2 CDs, this book is certainly the biggest, fattest PC hardware book that I've seen on the market. It also contains the clearest writing and most useful information that I've seen for books of its type. This book will tell you how to upgrade your hard drive, choose a new video card, protect your computer from lightning strikes, and a lot of other important facts besides. But it's too big and bulky to make it easy to carry around. The book is written at a level that just about anyone can understand. If you are comfortable plugging in the wires in the back of your computer and you can tell one end of a screwdriver from another, you should be able to tackle just about any hardware installation or upgrade job using this book. It's not just for beginners, however; even experienced technicians will find useful information in the book. The book is not written specifically for the A+ Certification exams, but it covers the core hardware concepts for the exams. A lab manual is also available for the book. The lab manual contains study questions as well as detailed instructions for common tasks. Almost every chapter of the book starts with a "QuickSteps" section that summarizes what you need to do to complete common hardware tasks. The remainder of the chapter explains how the piece of hardware works, a little about its history, and provides more detailed installation information. The first of the 2 accompanying CD-ROMs contains video clips that demonstrate some common tasks. The other CD-ROM contains some useful utility programs and some A+ review materials (in a very clunky interface- -not very well done compared to others on the market) as well as some additional chapters and appendices. I had trouble running the video clips in the DVD-CD drive of my new IBM laptop running Windows 2000. However, they seem to run fine in the CD drive of my old IBM laptop.
Rating:
Summary: The Ultimate Hardware Book
Review: Some of the best advice I've ever had about computer books came from a pair of friends who happened to be married to each other. The husband told me, "If you're looking for a reference manual, always buy the smallest one on the market so that you'll carry it around with you." The wife said "Always buy the biggest, fattest book on the market because it has all the answers." In this case, the wife happened to be right- -with its 1400 pages and 2 CDs, this book is certainly the biggest, fattest PC hardware book that I've seen on the market. It also contains the clearest writing and most useful information that I've seen for books of its type. This book will tell you how to upgrade your hard drive, choose a new video card, protect your computer from lightning strikes, and a lot of other important facts besides. But it's too big and bulky to make it easy to carry around. The book is written at a level that just about anyone can understand. If you are comfortable plugging in the wires in the back of your computer and you can tell one end of a screwdriver from another, you should be able to tackle just about any hardware installation or upgrade job using this book. It's not just for beginners, however; even experienced technicians will find useful information in the book. The book is not written specifically for the A+ Certification exams, but it covers the core hardware concepts for the exams. A lab manual is also available for the book. The lab manual contains study questions as well as detailed instructions for common tasks. Almost every chapter of the book starts with a "QuickSteps" section that summarizes what you need to do to complete common hardware tasks. The remainder of the chapter explains how the piece of hardware works, a little about its history, and provides more detailed installation information. The first of the 2 accompanying CD-ROMs contains video clips that demonstrate some common tasks. The other CD-ROM contains some useful utility programs and some A+ review materials (in a very clunky interface- -not very well done compared to others on the market) as well as some additional chapters and appendices. I had trouble running the video clips in the DVD-CD drive of my new IBM laptop running Windows 2000. However, they seem to run fine in the CD drive of my old IBM laptop.
Rating:
Summary: PC UPGRADE AND MAINTENANCE GUIDEt
Review: This book is very well written in language that is easy
to read and understand. As a novice in the maintenance
of PC's this book better explains the problems that I
am encountering.
Rating:
Summary: PC UPGRADE AND MAINTENANCE GUIDEt
Review: This book is very well written in language that is easy
to read and understand. As a novice in the maintenance
of PC's this book better explains the problems that I
am encountering.
Rating:
Summary: Title s/b upgrade your very old pc to one not quite so old
Review: This book may be of some use to someone that has a 386 or 486 and wants to know something about them. If you are seriously looking to upgrade to a pentium III or IV, it is useless.
Rating:
Summary: Simple Presentation of a seemingly complex subject
Review: This is my first Minasi book. Will not be my last. Some things were basic but very entertaining - great for a novice. Going from zero to advanced there is something for everyone here. He masterfully disected the different areas from the basics to the advanced and presented it clearly.
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