Rating: 
Summary: A First Rate Reference Book
Review: At first glance, one may think that this mammouth sized book is for power user's only. Afterall, it goes into exhaustive detail on literally every aspect of the modern PC. The book explains everything from basic maintenance, to partitioning a hard drive, to upgrading your processor etc. This new edition also gives extra SCSI coverage. But don't let the size and the technical jargon scare you away. This book is actually for everyone, from the novice computer user to the most advanced. Surprisingly, Mueller is able to take what is very complex and explain it with a clarity that any layman can understand. Added is a full array of diagramns and dialogue boxes with helpful hints and tips.Most people will never use all of the information that this book provides. Nonetheless, whatever you are looking for, I guarantee you will find here. Plus you will find it easily. Mueller arranges the book so that it is easy to bypass any unrelevant information and swiftly locate your particular need. It could be said that this book is to the personal computer what Gray's Anatomy is to the human body. It is a must for every PC owner!
Rating: 
Summary: Technically good, but . . . . .
Review: Buy it. You can just open it to any random page and you will find material that can help you with some kind of problem you're having. The hours of footage showing Scott Mueller on the included CD is also incredibly interesting. I would say this book is worth the forty dollars charged here or the sixty at a brick and mortar bookstore. I would highly recommend.
Rating:
Summary: Upgrading and Repairing PCs 13 ED by Scott Mueller
Review: I buy one of these every time I replace one of my PCs. They do not stay up to date that long. I like this book better than Minasi's "PC Upgrade & Maintenance Guide". It seems to have more information. This is probably the one I'll buy with my next PC. Yet Mueller's book is still useful after all these years for the older PCs in my stable. The information about setting hard-drives up in the Bios alone is worth the money I paid for the book - though I found some inconsistencies here. The book will also help you understand how components of your PC works, yet it is not a reference on how to fix the operating system. Hardware troubleshooting is fairly well covered though. I did not find the cd-roms particularly useful.
Rating: 
Summary: Too wordy to explain
Review: I read a lot of review from people about how good this book is. I personally think this book is bad for the beginners. I have experience so I understand what he is talking about. Every edition he just pad it. There is more and more paper. I would recommend the Mark Minshi book on PC. That one is the best. That book talks about Pcs. On the other hand, there is a bunch of computer stories here. Did you want to know how he took off his shoes and socks and walk around in a presenation? I personally think it was stupid. I think the book is a bunch of dry talk. If you want to build and maintance Pcs, go to the Mark Minshi book. This books looks good because it has 1600 pages. About 250 pages are information with the less being dried talk.
Rating:
Summary: Mueller hits it again - right on the head.
Review: I teach computers and computer repair and determining what text book to use is a tough decision since there are a number of great books to choose from. Scott Mueller 12th edition is certainly on of the best going and this makes the choice even tougher. Starting off the book with key vendor contacts is only the beginning of what has to be one of the most comprehensive books out there today. Mueller puts a great deal of information in 1625 pages. Covering motherboards, buses, bios, memory, drives, video, i/o devices, internet, networking, sound cards, printers, scanners, configuration, upgrading, maintaining, troubleshooting and repairing there is information for every technician no matter what the level. Mueller's breakdown of each topic excellent and the information is more than enough to help out anyone. Finally there is a cd-rom included with excellent documentation and a host of utilities that round this package making it on of the best buys going.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book to own, but needs proofreading
Review: I used this book for a hardware course. The book gives detailed coverage on almost all topics, except printers. (The Linux edition has one). Because it does not have troubleshooting section, we also use Bigelow's book (ISBN 0072132728).
The book has some errors that could be avoided. Some examples:
1.On page 407: DRAM has "refresh rate of 15us (microseconds)" [3rd P]. This contradicts with "data to be refreshed (essentially rewritten) every 15ms (milliseconds) or so." [5th P on page 404] (Refresh rate should be 16ms).
2.Page 103: "Th is section..." [2nd P]; page 410: "f*ound" instead of "found" [1st P]; on page 411 the phrase "Cache designs were originally" is repeated; on page 416: "..aA newer.." [last P]; on page 495: "MMMany other..." [1st line]; on page 774: "Some peoplepeople..." [second Para. from bottom].
If used as a reference, the book is excellent. I hope that the next edition is better. (I deduct one star for the errors)
Rating:
Summary: Mueller just keeps getting better!
Review: I've been reading Mueller for PC hardware information for several years, and I'm always impressed by the effort that goes into keeping this at the top of the field. Two things happen every time I pick up this book to look up something: (1) I learn more than I could possibly have imagined, and (2) I end up reading more and more because it's just so well done! The 13th edition consists of 25 chapters covering every part of the PC. Among other things, you get historical overview, processors, motherboards, BIOS, memory, hard disk storage, drive interfaces (IDE and SCSI have their own chapters), floppy drives, high-capacity removable drives, video, audio, I/O interfaces, power supply, and even some networking. There's even an appendix with vendor contact information that really comes in handy when you need to get a definitive answer about an issue from the source. I particularly appreciate Mueller's attention to the evolution of different components, because I work in a not-for-profit with a fairly tight budget. I need to be able to eke out every last bit of life from the older machines we have around, and the information I get from Mueller has saved the day on more than one occassion. Some people might consider all of the detail and historical overview to be fluff, obscuring the true meat of the text, but I disagree. I feel that to be a truly competent technician, it's important to know where the components came from. After all, the basic nature of PCs hasn't really changed over the last 20 years; it's all been variations on a theme. If you're looking for a book that will help you learn nearly all there is to know about PC innards, this book is amonth the very best. If you're looking for an A+ hardware study guide that sticks strictly to the objectives, you should look somewhere else.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: If it isn't in this book, you don't need to know it. Current, well organized and specific.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: If it isn't in this book, you don't need to know it. Current, well organized and specific.
Rating:
Summary: A True Classic
Review: Scott Mueller's 13th Edition is the latest in his classic work on personal computers. This PC hardware repair manual is the best on the market. Considering that PC hardware is designed, engineered and manufactured by so many companies around the globe, it is amazing that there even exists a single compliation that brings all these diverse hardware facts together in one book. This book is to the computer technician what an auto shop manual is to a mechanic. You get all the details of the hardware so that you can work competently and confidently. The author is a dedicated expert on computer hardware and the computer industry is lucky to have him share his knowledge and to keep updating this usefull tool each year. There is no other book that comes close to this one for PC hardware facts. Highly recommended.
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