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Rating: 
Summary: Tremendously useful PC reference
Review: As with all self-styled pocket books, this title is too tall and thick to genuinely fit into a pocket. However, it is conveniently sized for carrying around in laptop bags and leaving on desks.The thrust of this book is that it can help prepare one for CompTIA's A+ exam topics. In this regard, the publisher may well have sold themselves short; this book really is a tremendously useful collection of PC diagnostic information and any "serious" hobbyist or computer professional would do well to consider it as a resource, whether they intend to pursue A+ certification or not. The book has a whopping 60 chapters plus index, but these average two pages each though some stretch to four pages. Hence, each topic is easily digested any may mean this book could server as the modern I.T. equivalent of a "bathroom reader"! Despite its brevity, the author has packed useful, essential and practical information into each chapter. Topics range wildly from serial, parallel and USB connections to Internet sharing. These are divided into two broad categories, namely "parts and connectors" and "operating systems technologies", but this latter part includes technical detail on processors, hard drives and RAM that would more sensibly have formed a third section on their own. The author has clearly gone to great efforts to produce a precise and accurate book. Careful definitions abound as do cautions such as one advising the term "IDE" can be used to correctly describe both ATA and SCSI drives due to the integrated controller in all modern harddrives. The author then goes on to explain that in practical terms, though, IDE is synonymous with ATA; it is only in highly technical literature that a reference to the "IDE nature" of a SCSI hard drive would be found. This is undoubtedly a tremendous resource for those pursuing CompTIA A+ certification. Equally as certain, this is an excellent reference for all involved with computer troubleshooting and maintenance. It is especially handy for those who may have got into computing late and never got their hands dirty with DOS and IRQs.
Rating: 
Summary: Good reference
Review: For a pocket reference, this is a good book. It covers all the relevant subjects, explains the issues concisely, and provides ample pictures to illustrate points. However, there are several pictures that are wrong -- they show the wrong device for the explanation. Secondly, a "pocket" reference simply can't contain all that much information. Nevertheless, given the fact that this is a pocket reference, it is valueable in providing concise and relevant information, and it covers a wide range of topics that are important.
Rating:
Summary: Good reference
Review: For a pocket reference, this is a good book. It covers all the relevant subjects, explains the issues concisely, and provides ample pictures to illustrate points. However, there are several pictures that are wrong -- they show the wrong device for the explanation. Secondly, a "pocket" reference simply can't contain all that much information. Nevertheless, given the fact that this is a pocket reference, it is valueable in providing concise and relevant information, and it covers a wide range of topics that are important.
Rating:
Summary: A Musta Have!
Review: I have to say that McGraw-Hill Osborne make the BEST technology related books in the world. The "Complete Reference" series has always been a favorite of mine, and the "All in One Guide" series is top of the line for thurough, comprehnesive learning and reference. Thier authors know thier stuff and have a way of creating easy-to-read, fun, and incredibly complete books for those of us who want to "know it all" (the why's as well as the hows). But what about those times when you just need a quick reference? Something to jog your memory, or perhaps a more condensed source that is more fit as a study guide... well that's what the A+ Pocket Reference is, and in typical McGraw-Hill Osborne form, it's been done to the highest of standards! So you're taking the A+ exam in a few days. You've read the big thick comprehensive A+ exam books cover to cover. You understand the information and just need to brush up on some of your weaker areas, or perhaps you just need to keep some of those harder to remember facts straight in your head - the nitty gritty. After all, memorizing IRQ defaults, or the pin numbers for all the different connectors on a PC can be a pain. Or let's maybe you're a PC tech on the job; you're a smart guy, but some of those less often called upon facts can just seem to fall right out of your head! Well you're in luck either way. This Pocket reference is made just to fit both of those purposes perfectly. As a study guide, this is superb. It's not comprehensive and not meant to be. Just the raw data and basic overviews. It's written to help jog your memory and give you just the plain straight forward fact. It's almost formatted like really really good class notes. This is a book you'll want to bring with you to the exam and flip through imediatly before heading into the exam room. Packed with to-the-point facts, and containing tons of tables, diagrams, definitions, specs, and so on, this is just the book you'll want to have when refreshing your memory or when you just need that one vital piece of information (or that one number that just slips your mind). Let's say you're working on a PC with a potentially bad power supply and you just can't for the life of your remember which wire has which voltages... fear not, flip to pages 18-20 and you'll have diagrams of molex connectors and a complete table pin-out of the voltages for each wire! Such valuable information is about in this book! After all, who can waste room in thier brains memorizing all the assignments for DMA channels?? Whether you're a soon-to-be test-taker or an IT Pro, this is the easiest quick reference book I know of. It's absolutley invaluable and every PC hobbyist, IT Student or PC Tech should have a copy in thier car, thier drawer and stuffed into thier back pocket - it's a LIFE SAVER! The only problem was a few mistakes. On pg 7 for example, fig 1-9 is supposed to be of an RJ 11 jack... instead it's a picture of a SIMM and a DIMM! How could the editor miss that!? All tech books have some minor errors, but errors like this one make me a little insecure as to the integrity of the rest of the book's data. When Im taking my A+ exam, there is no room for mistakes, so the reliabillity of a book (particularly a wquick reference study guide) is very important. Also a few things I were missing that shocked me considering the amazing level of completeness throughout the book. No real mention of wifi nor any table of wireless networking standards is in here - a big shock. Also missing was the awareness of IEEE 1394b - not a huge deal however. What really shocked me was the absence of a diagram of the TIA/EIA RJ 45 Cabling standards! How could they have a table of power cable voltages and a table of outlining the different class fire extinguishers but not cat 5 cable?? If there's one thing I need a pocket reference for it's that one day I need to make a patch cable, because I can never remember the pin layouts of both standards for all 8 wires - come on! :) IN the end however, this is a very valuable and well done book that belongs on my desk at ALL times. I still give it 5 stars because of the excellence of the overall inclusivness of the book. Hopefully Osborne will make a second edition sometime in the near future to remedy these minor flaws.
Rating:
Summary: A Musta Have!
Review: I have to say that McGraw-Hill Osborne make the BEST technology related books in the world. The "Complete Reference" series has always been a favorite of mine, and the "All in One Guide" series is top of the line for thurough, comprehnesive learning and reference. Thier authors know thier stuff and have a way of creating easy-to-read, fun, and incredibly complete books for those of us who want to "know it all" (the why's as well as the hows). But what about those times when you just need a quick reference? Something to jog your memory, or perhaps a more condensed source that is more fit as a study guide... well that's what the A+ Pocket Reference is, and in typical McGraw-Hill Osborne form, it's been done to the highest of standards! So you're taking the A+ exam in a few days. You've read the big thick comprehensive A+ exam books cover to cover. You understand the information and just need to brush up on some of your weaker areas, or perhaps you just need to keep some of those harder to remember facts straight in your head - the nitty gritty. After all, memorizing IRQ defaults, or the pin numbers for all the different connectors on a PC can be a pain. Or let's maybe you're a PC tech on the job; you're a smart guy, but some of those less often called upon facts can just seem to fall right out of your head! Well you're in luck either way. This Pocket reference is made just to fit both of those purposes perfectly. As a study guide, this is superb. It's not comprehensive and not meant to be. Just the raw data and basic overviews. It's written to help jog your memory and give you just the plain straight forward fact. It's almost formatted like really really good class notes. This is a book you'll want to bring with you to the exam and flip through imediatly before heading into the exam room. Packed with to-the-point facts, and containing tons of tables, diagrams, definitions, specs, and so on, this is just the book you'll want to have when refreshing your memory or when you just need that one vital piece of information (or that one number that just slips your mind). Let's say you're working on a PC with a potentially bad power supply and you just can't for the life of your remember which wire has which voltages... fear not, flip to pages 18-20 and you'll have diagrams of molex connectors and a complete table pin-out of the voltages for each wire! Such valuable information is about in this book! After all, who can waste room in thier brains memorizing all the assignments for DMA channels?? Whether you're a soon-to-be test-taker or an IT Pro, this is the easiest quick reference book I know of. It's absolutley invaluable and every PC hobbyist, IT Student or PC Tech should have a copy in thier car, thier drawer and stuffed into thier back pocket - it's a LIFE SAVER! The only problem was a few mistakes. On pg 7 for example, fig 1-9 is supposed to be of an RJ 11 jack... instead it's a picture of a SIMM and a DIMM! How could the editor miss that!? All tech books have some minor errors, but errors like this one make me a little insecure as to the integrity of the rest of the book's data. When Im taking my A+ exam, there is no room for mistakes, so the reliabillity of a book (particularly a wquick reference study guide) is very important. Also a few things I were missing that shocked me considering the amazing level of completeness throughout the book. No real mention of wifi nor any table of wireless networking standards is in here - a big shock. Also missing was the awareness of IEEE 1394b - not a huge deal however. What really shocked me was the absence of a diagram of the TIA/EIA RJ 45 Cabling standards! How could they have a table of power cable voltages and a table of outlining the different class fire extinguishers but not cat 5 cable?? If there's one thing I need a pocket reference for it's that one day I need to make a patch cable, because I can never remember the pin layouts of both standards for all 8 wires - come on! :) IN the end however, this is a very valuable and well done book that belongs on my desk at ALL times. I still give it 5 stars because of the excellence of the overall inclusivness of the book. Hopefully Osborne will make a second edition sometime in the near future to remedy these minor flaws.
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