PC Hardware In A Nutshell:  2nd Edition
A Desktop Quick Reference 
Book Review

By Dale Farris, Secretary Golden Triangle PC Club January 2003 General Overview In this superb new release from the O'Reilly publishing company, authors Thompson and Thompson produce the 2nd edition of their most wonderful work on computer hardware that stands above many existing hardware works now on the market. Well known computer writer Jerry Pournelle (www.jerrypournelle.com) says of this book, "It's really the best book you'll find on this subject." While I am certainly NOT as qualified as Pournelle to remark on this book, I do think it is one of the best among the many competing books on computer hardware you can now find. What sets apart this work is the emphasis by these authors on providing useful information on computer hardware;  a difficult goal they manage to succeed in accomplishing. Robert Thompson decided to write this book, because he could not find a good answer to what seemed to be a simple question. Thompson wanted to buy a CD burner, but at the time, he didn't know much about them, even with his extensive hardware knowledge and background. He was looking for information about how to choose, install, configure, and use one, but could not then find what he was looking for. Also, he did not trust the hardware-oriented magazines and web sites for accurate and unbiased information. When he checked his computer books, he found a lot of interesting information, but not much of what he would call useful information. He wanted useful information on how to choose one, how to install it, configure it, use and troubleshoot it, and could not then find such practical advice on this device. So, the result led to this very useful book about all sorts of computer hardware now for sale. In this essential book on PC hardware, you will NOT find tables of drive parameters for hundreds of obsolete disk drives, or instructions on how to change the interleave by low-level formatting an XT hard drive, or charts of keyboard scan codes. What you will find however, is a wealth of very useful information that goes beyond the merely interesting, to being of great use right now to those working on their computer hardware. In addition, what adds value to this work is the many long hours the authors spent actually working with the hardware components they write about in this book. They spent incredible amounts of time checking things for themselves. For example, rather than simply repeating what others have said about CD burners, instead they decided to find out the truth. They built four computer systems - two IDE and two SCSI - one each with Windows 98 and Windows NT 4 - and tested each configuration with different drive models by burning numerous CDs with each system. After about ten, 14-hour days and 400 blank CDs later, they finally realized what they needed to know. All their work turned into a few pages and some specific product recommendations. Once their work on CD burners was completed, they then proceeded to repeat this laborious process with all the other components, all of which results in this highly valuable and necessary book. This shows you how hard these authors worked to prepare this unique book that provides useful and essential information about PC hardware. Summary of Book Content Each of the many important chapters is devoted to one topic, and is self-reporting. They first present an overview of computer hardware and standards, as well as provide advice about buying, building, upgrading, and repairing PCs. They also describe the tools and software you'll need, explain basic procedures like installing expansion boards, and detail the many tips and tricks they have learned in their over 20 years experience working on PCs. They fully describe motherboards, memory and processors, beginning with a brief background of the component, followed by an explanation of the important characteristics, guidelines on choosing among competing products, instructions for installing and configuring the device, and how to troubleshoot the component. Throughout these chapters, they also provide what they call "Our Picks," which summarizes and lists the products they actually use and recommend. This inclusion of their "picks" is the best value of the work. While this means they are "going out on a limb" by personally recommending selected brand names and models, this actually is what is of greatest assistance especially to novice, first-time computer buyers. With the overwhelming variety of so many diverse brands of all sorts of computer devices, first-time buyers with relatively little experience with any computer system are usually anxious for experienced computer users to just tell them what to buy. While these personal recommendations could easily be disagreed with by many experienced computer hardware users, I still think these author "picks" will be greatly appreciated by many folks with far less experience with these components. The other hardware devices covered in the chapters listed in the below table of contents are all thoroughly explained, including super advice on how to buy the device, install it, configure and troubleshoot the component in a system. The additional screen shots add still greater value to an already highly valuable and unique book on working with computer hardware. With the obvious dynamic nature of these many hardware devices, the authors go the extra mile by providing a Web site for readers to regularly check for updates to the material included in the book. At Hardware Guys.com www.hardwareguys.com readers can find examples of other computer components, as well as plans for future editions of the book. In addition, you can contact the authors, at their email addresses listed below. Table of Contents The twenty-eight (28) chapters include the following titles. Fundamentals Working on PCs Motherboards Processors Memory Floppy Disk Drives High-Capacity Floppy Disk Drives Removable Hard Disk Drives Tape Drives CD-ROM Drives CD-R and CD-RW Drives DVD Drives Hard Disk Interfaces Hard Disk Drives Video Adapters Displays Sound Adapters Speakers and Headphones Keyboards Mice and Trackballs Game Controllers Serial Communications Parallel Communications USB Communications Cases Power Supplies Backup Power Supplies Building a PC Authors Robert Bruce Thompson robert@hardwareguys.com Barbara Fritchman Thompson barbara@hardwareguys.com About the Authors Robert Bruce Thompson is the author or co-author of numerous online training courses and computer books. He built his first computer in 1976 from discrete chips. The machine had 256 bytes of memory, used toggle switches and LEDs for I/O, ran at less than 1 MHz, and had no operating system. Since then, he has bought, built, upgraded, and repaired hundreds of PCs for himself, employers, customers, friends, and clients. Robert's other books include "Windows NT Server 4.0 for NetWare Administrators," and "Windows NT TCP/IP Network Administration" (both from O'Reilly). Robert reads mysteries and non-fiction for relaxation, but only on cloudy nights. He spends most clear nights outdoors with his 10" Dobsonian reflector telescope, hunting down faint fuzzies, and is currently designing a larger truss-tube Dobsonian (computerized) that he plans to build. Barbara Fritchman Thompson worked for twenty years as a librarian before starting her own home-based consulting practice, Research Solutions (www.researchsolutions.net). Barbara, who has been a PC power user for fifteen years, researched and tested much of the hardware reviewed for this book. Barbara spends her working hours doing research for clients. During her leisure hours, she reads, works out, plays golf, and, like Robert, is an avid amateur astronomer. Both authors can be reached at their respective email addresses listed below. Target Readers The book is intended for anyone who buys, builds, upgrades, or repairs PCs in a corporate, small-business, or home setting. If you want to buy a PC, this book tells you what to look for, and what to look out for. If you want to build a PC, this book explains, component-by-component, the key parts of a PC, describes the important characteristics of each, provides buying guidelines, recommends specific products (by brand name and model), and takes you step-by-step through building the PC. If you have an older PC, this book tells you what you need to know to upgrade it, as well as when it makes more sense simply to retire it to less demanding duties. Finally, if your PC breaks, this book tells you what you need to know to troubleshoot the problem and then choose and install replacement parts. The focus is on PC hardware running Windows 95, 98, 98 SE, ME, NT 4, 2000, and XP, which combined power the vast majority of PCs. Look for the inclusion of Linux in forthcoming editions of this marvelous book. Without a doubt, this is the premier, first-choice book on PC hardware now available. Anyone working in computer troubleshooting, especially working on new machines, or trying to fix older machines, will realize great value for their minimal investment in this super book. Book Contents 804 pages; foreword; preface; acknowledgments; figures; b/w photos; tables; index; cover colophon ISBN June 2002, Second Edition 0-596-00353-6 October 2000, First Edition List Price $39.95 About O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. O'Reilly & Associates is the premier information source for leading-edge computer technologies. O'Reilly communicates the knowledge of experts through their books, conferences, and web sites. Their books, known for their animals on the covers, occupy a treasured place on the shelves of developers building the next generation of software, and their conferences and summits bring innovators together to shape the revolutionary ideas that spark new industries. From the Internet to the web, Linux, Open Source, and now Peer-to-Peer Networking, O'Reilly puts technologies on the map. Anyone involved in information technology can always depend on O'Reilly for high quality books, as well as the most authoritative works on the market. The company's commitment to technical expertise in their books is matched by their commitment to quality production, now famously recognized by their "lay flat" binding that makes reading an O'Reilly book very convenient. Among the sea of computer titles that now fill the shelves, professionals in information technology have for many years realized the super value that is always present in any O'Reilly title. Publisher Contact Marsee Henon 707-827-7103 marsee@oreilly.com O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. 1005 Gravenstein Highway North Sebastopol, California 95472 707-827-7000 800-998-9938 FAX 707-829-0104 www.oreilly.com