PC Hardware in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

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PC Hardware in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference relies on an eternal truth of the computer industry: legacy systems never die. This book focuses on the technologies that have provided Wintel personal computers with various capabilities over the years. Like most of its competitors, this book addresses the PC on a subsystem level, and deals with video cards, hard-disk interfaces, memory, and other pieces of the componentry puzzle that hardware integrators need to figure out. The authors do a great job of explaining the differences between (and relative merits of) IDE and SCSI hard-drive interfaces, various video buses, competing processors, and other technologies. They also prove themselves adept at explaining general assembly procedures and troubleshooting strategies.

This book distinguishes itself from its most popular competitors by emphasizing the authors' opinions on hardware products. It's refreshing to see authors recommend Product A for high-performance systems in which price is not an issue, Product B for economical home systems, and Product C for organizational workstations. On the other hand, the recommendations, prices, and similar values will change over time. The authors maintain a great Web site, at which you can find their current recommendations. (The Web site, on the other hand, doesn't include the book's high-quality tutorial on designing and assembling a system from zero.) Even the photographs that appear in this book--traditionally a weak point among hardware books--are clear. --David Wall

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
O￯﾿ﾽReilly￯﾿ﾽs straight-shootin￯﾿ﾽ, no-holds-barred, quality-focused PC hardware book is back, in a Second Edition that￯﾿ﾽs even more indispensable than the first.

The ￯﾿ﾽHardware Guys￯﾿ﾽ -- Barbara Fritchman Thompson and Robert Bruce Thompson -- have updated PC Hardware in a Nutshell to reflect pretty much everything that￯﾿ﾽs come down the pike in the two years following the first edition, including Athlon XP/MP microprocessors, USB 2.0, and the ￯﾿ﾽBig Drive￯﾿ﾽ initiative for ATA drives larger than 137 gigs.

Want someone to make sense of all the DVD writable/rewritable standards and give you some decent advice about buying one? Look here. Want honest and specific advice about the latest motherboards and chipsets from both sides of the Pacific? Look here. Want troubleshooting help? There￯﾿ﾽs even more of it than in the first edition.

Want to put together your own PC? The Thompsons walk you through it in extraordinary detail (how to make sure your system￯﾿ﾽs multiple fans are working together, not at cross-purposes; why you should only use three screws instead of four if you￯﾿ﾽre mounting a drive in a cheap case; which add-on cards generate the most heat and should be given the most breathing room).

In the first edition, the authors ended most chapters with an ￯﾿ﾽOur Picks￯﾿ﾽ section offering specific hardware recommendations. But hardware changes so fast that they￯﾿ﾽve revamped these sections to be a bit more general and moved the specific advice to the book￯﾿ﾽs companion web site. Don￯﾿ﾽt worry: The book￯﾿ﾽs as opinionated as ever, and when the Thompsons don￯﾿ﾽt like something (Sound Blaster Live! PCI cards, generic memory), believe us, they say so. Bill Camarda

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks For Dummies®, Second Edition.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

PC Hardware in a Nutshell is a comprehensive guide to buying, building, upgrading, and repairing Intel-based PCs, presented in O'Reilly's concise "In a Nutshell" format. In addition to coverage of the fundamentals and general tips about working on PCs, the book includes chapters focusing on motherboards, processors, memory, floppies, hard drives, optical drives, tape devices, video devices, input devices, audio components, communications, power supplies, and maintenance. The last chapter is a complete case study in building a PC from components.

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