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The Complete PC Upgrade and Maintenance Guide: (With CD-ROM)
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Author: Mark Minasi, Mark Minsasi
List Price: $59.99
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 0782140750
Publisher: Sybex (15 July, 2002)
Edition: Hardcover
Sales Rank: 99,432
Average Customer Rating: 3.24 out of 5
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Customer ReviewsRating: 4 out of 5
Minasi or Mueller?
I have both Mueller's 14th edition and Minasi's 3rd edition and consider them to be superb. If you are going for an engineering degree in computers and like thick technical explanations interspersed with great useable information get Mueller. But, with Mueller don't expect an enjoyable, easy read. But, if you want an enjoyable easy read with great information, get Minasi.Some complain that Minasi's information is not up-to-date. Well, neither is Mueller's. (In all fairness, Mueller is more current than Minasi.) If you want cutting edge information in any technology field, you are not going to get it in a static book. For that go online to Tom's Hardware and the like. So, bottom line, if you need highly technical information about computer systems (i.e., pin outs, electrical diagrams, etc.) get Mueller. But, if you just want to learn how to upgrade and repair computer systems or get (and maintain) the background necessary for your A+ certification, get Minasi. Better yet, do like I did and get both!
Rating: 1 out of 5
Fatally Flawed
I was going to give the book 2 stars, but since the title is the
"COMPLETE PC UPGRADE and Maintenance Guide...", I decided to downgrade to 1 star. In my opinion this book is seriously deficient as an upgrade guide, and inferior to its main competitor (Scott Mueller's book).This book contains no information that I could find on the latest motherboard chipsets by VIA, Intel, SiS, or Nvidia. These chipsets come in a bewildering array of combinations, and the selection of the chipset is at least as critical as that of the CPU itself. The chipset you select has perhaps greater influence on the performance and price of the motherboard than the CPU. This omission is unconscionable given that the word "Upgrade" was placed in the title. The information provided on the CPU offerings from Intel and AMD is also very poor. You will find no comparison charts. You find no explanation of AMD's CPU ID scheme which can be confusing because, e.g., an AMD 2100+ runs at a lower clockspeed than 2100GHz. This is information that should be in this book. These are just examples of the deficiencies I found in lack of enough info for one to make an intelligent decision on a CPU and motherboard. Buy Scott Mueller's book instead. They are roughly the same size, but whereas Mueller's book can be used, this book's main use in my library would be as a doorstop. Thank goodness that I obtained my copy of Minasi's book from my local library, so I can return it without spending a cent.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Check the back of the book.
One guy here wrote on July 4 of last year that the cd was unhelpful because it only included lectures. Apparently he did not make it to the back of the book, where the excellent utility cd is located. There are two cd's with the hardcover edition.
I agree that the history is interesting and may be helpful in legacy troubleshooting, but one of the most difficult techie things is staying abreast with the new developments. No one can write a paper text that is up to date unless they are using one of the new technology "smartbooks" that are self updating. It will be interesting to see if there is a book about repairing smartbooks.
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