Customer Reviews

Apple Training Series: Desktop and Portable Systems (3rd Edition)

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This book is intended for use in, "An Apple Certified hardware training course designed for professionals who support Apple computes and Mac enthusiasts who want to upgrade, service, or troubleshoot their favorite machines."

This book is surprisingly readable considering that it is the official book for Certification preparation for: Apple Certified Desktop Technician, and Apple Certified Portable Technician ACPT.

The book begins with a chapter on reference materials and how to get them. Many of these materials are publicly available. Others are only available to those certified in an Apple-authorized service training program. However, Peachpit has provided a web site containing the necessary resources for registered purchasers of this book.

I would recommend this book for you if you are seriously interested in learning more about how your Macintosh laptop or desktop system works and what it is like inside, or you are generally interested in how and what an AppleCare Technician is trained to do. However, you are warned that if you are going to take your computer apart, no matter how carefully you follow the instructions, you will probably void your warranty.

AppleCare Technician Training costs $299 for one year of on-line training and resources. One review complained that the training was all on-line. No books were provided which made it more difficult to learn. <...> So, you might want to buy this book even if you are going to spend $299 to start their training.

If you are, or want to become, a Macintosh guru or if you seriously want to learn how to repair your own computer regardless of the risk, I think you would learn a lot from this book

If you simply want to learn more about maintaining and troubleshooting your Macintosh there are other sources that may more will directly meet your interests.

This book is one of many in the Apple Training Series covering fundamental aspects of Apple Hardware, OS X, and Pro Aps. A search of Amazon.com for Apple Training Series should uncover the other titles.

Recently Apple Computer made some changes that readers may want to know about. These changes affect Certification of Apple Technicians who service, troubleshoot, upgrade, maintain and support Apple systems. As of February 7, 2008, the distinction between Apple Desktop and Portable Systems is removed in favor of a single certification, Apple Certified Macintosh Technician (ACMT).

This book addresses the needs of those pursuing this Apple Certified Macintosh Technician (ACMT) and includes instruction about Resources and how to find more information about servicing and supporting Apple's premier hardware equipment.

But you may be interested in purchasing this book if you need or want to delve deeper into the workings of your Apple hardware, are on the path to becoming a technician, or work for an AASP or are an Apple Self-Servicing Customer.

Apple Desktop and Portable Systems, 3rd Ed. covers the five main computers in Apple's front line, including the iMac, Mac Mini, MacBook, MacBook Pro and Mac Pro. Topics include troubleshooting and take-apart of these systems, including the Apple Troubleshooting Workflow Chart for diagnosing hardware woes and includes a complete step-by-step description of the Apple Troubleshooting method.

The section covering the troubleshooting methodology is very useful for technicians because it teaches us how to solve problems and become a more insightful technician. Even if you're not a technician, you can still benefit if you've ever had a computer glitch, this section will give you the tools needed to solve more effectively any problems you might encounter.

If you are a technician, or would like more information on becoming one yourself, Apple Desktop and Portable Systems, 3rd Ed. contains essential knowledge needed to pass the Apple hardware certification exam. The sections on take-apart on each of the computers in the book contains reprints from the Service Manuals, which Apple generally shares with its customers.

This book is highly readable and has a smooth flow to it that makes it a worthwhile read and contains essential information for servicing and supporting Apple's front-line computer offering. Highly recommended.

The reason I've read this book is because I'm planning on taking the exams for the ACMT(Apple Certified Macintosh Technician) certification. This book and other Apple Training Series books are the only books out there authorized by Apple as training material for the exams. This one in particular is to prepare you for the 9L0-008 exam, which is one of the two exams you have to take to get the ACMT certification.

I knew beforehand that this book was going to be dated. It's last revision was done in 2007. So that was something that I expected and willing to deal with. But I wasn't expecting it to point to so many extra reference material. It sends you to read Apple Knowledge Base articles, there are extra chapters to download, and 5 service manuals you'll be using throughout the book. At times it felt like the book is extra reference material for each of the Mac models' service manuals.

The first 8 chapters, or lessons, deal with stuff like using the resources Apple provides, safety precautions, tools to use, and some general networking theory. The rest of the book deals with 5 of the Mac family computers: The iMac, the Mac Mini, and the Mac Pro on Desktops, and the MacBook and Macbook Pro on Portables. There are no MacBook Airs. Each of the models follow a four lesson format. The first lesson is a quick and short intro, an upgrading lesson, a taking apart lesson(in these lesson you might as well read the service manuals) and a troubleshooting lesson. The troubleshooting lessons are a series of symptoms and the steps to take to fix the problem.

It still remains to be seen if the book will do it's job. I'm hoping on taking the 9L0-008 exam before the year ends. There's still some extra material I have to read. There are lessons on iBooks and PowerBooks still waiting to be read. All this extra material is available to download when you register the book at Peachpit. The problem is that this extra material which include the service manuals you're going to need, are for late 2006 Macs. The importance of the service manuals is that they have the detailed taking apart instructions for each of the models, and these service manuals are only available to authorized Apple service providers, AASP's.

So if you already have a background repairing PC's, this will be a piece a cake. For someone starting out I would first recommend to take the Applecare Training. The second option would be to wait for a new revision of the book, which it must be coming out soon. I mean, Mac OS X Support v10.6, which is for the second exam needed, is currently current. For the rest of the people who just likes to dabble with computers it's still a great reference to have and there's always iFixit.

Book was in nice shape and was mailed out promptly and I received it very quickly.

After obtaining my ACHDS, the way the materials were presented in this book helped me to easily transitioned between chapters.

This book is too densely written and assumes that the reader will have all kinds of Apple equipment available to examine and tinker with. It would serve well enough in a classroom situation, but for stand-alone reading or reference it doesn't do the job.

I know literature of ephemeral subjects is obsolete from the moment it is printed but this is too much. I not only didn't find what I was looking for I had to pay for it. However i will keep it as a souvenir of my excessive trust in products found in literature.
Sorry for the bluntness but...
Thanks for reading
Paulo