8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Let me be perfectly frank..., December 24, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: The AnandTech Guide to PC Gaming Hardware (Paperback)
This is a book for beginners. Every disgruntled reviewer here is a techie who reads hardware websites and UNDERSTANDS them! They didn't like the book because they didn't find anything new in it that they didn't already know. Despite the fact that Anand has very plainly said on his website that this is a book for beginners and isn't for his regular readers (unless they were lost). Of course they didn't listen and went out and bought the book anyway.
If you have trouble understanding computer specs, if the idea of removing your computer's case makes you uncomfortable, if you've never put together your own pc - this book is for you. Honestly you'll be very hard pressed to find a more comprehensive guide to computer hardware that's written in PLAIN ENGLISH.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good content, horrible prose, May 11, 2002
This review is from: The AnandTech Guide to PC Gaming Hardware (Paperback)
I hold a much more moderate view of this book than many of the reviewers who have written here.
PC hardware evolves at an amazing rate. The web provides an up-to-date view of the details, but, it's hard to build a context from web reviews if you don't already have one. Books like this offer context, but are already behind the technical times when they come to press. If you're like me, wanting context and current facts both so you can put together a killer machine when you've never built a PC before, you're going to have to build your understanding from the web and books at the same time. Sad but true....
I think Shimpi's book is the best book out there at providing context. It's deep, thorough, and clearly-thought-through. If you want to watch over someone's shoulder while they build a couple of PCs, then Rosenthal's _Build Your Own PC_ is your book. The thing is, it's just a couple of old designs. The devil's in the details, you know? If your grannie wants context, she should read Chambers' _Building a PC for Dummies_: Shimpi's book goes orders of magnitude deeper (which I crave). If you imagine you'll be upgrading hundreds or thousands of PCs of all ages, you'll want Mueller's _Upgrading and Repairing PCs_: Shimpi's book cuts through the detail to the ideas. The other books I've looked at go downhill from these.
If you want to learn enough to build yourself a killer PC, I recommend this book and the web (other reviewers have done a great job listing the best sites). Still, I give the book three stars because the prose is horrible. The majority of paragraphs here contain a sentence or two that don't parse. Laughably unintelligable sentences come by way too often. I hold technical books to a different standard than bestsellers, granted, but this book is bad among technical books. I want the currency of the web, but not the bad writing!
Anand, I hope you keep this up to date. I also hope you find a copy editor before you publish V2. Your readers will thank you for it.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book, November 29, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: The AnandTech Guide to PC Gaming Hardware (Paperback)
THis book will help most people understand the in's and out's of a computer. From everything from the FSB to Monitors, this book tells about them. With the plethora of different terms and jargon out there, this book will help the average reader learn what it is and how it works.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
