Customer Reviews

Building Your Own PC: Buying & Assembling with Confidence (Step-By-Step Series)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

THIS BOOK IS OUTDATED AND REALLY WON'T SERVE YOUR NEEDS NOW. IT HAS MOSTLY INFO ON BUILDING LOW MHZ CPU'S WITH OLD FASHIONED SIMM MEMORY. I HAVE NEVER BUILT A PC BEFORE AND YOU NEED MORE INFO THAN THE BOOK PROVIDES. IT DOESN'T TELL YOU ABOUT WHAT PARTS WILL WORK TOGETHER. BECAUSE THE INFO IS OUTDATED IT DOESN'T ADDRESS COMPATIBILITY ISSUES. SOME EXAMPLES ARE: A HARD DRIVE OVER 8.4 GB WON'T WORK ON OLD MOTHERBOARDS, THE DATA TRANSFER RATES (UDMA) HAVE TO BE COMPATIBLE BETWEEN THE MOTHERBOARD AND COMPONENTS OTHERWISE THEY WON'T WORK PROPERLY. IT MOSTLY TALKS ABOUT SIMM MEMORY BUT DIMM IS PROMINENT NOW AND YOU NEED TO KNOW HOW THE NONASECOND SPEED DETERMINES WHAT DIMM MODUAL TO BUY AND STUFF LIKE THAT. THIS BOOK GIVES VERY BASIC INFO AND BOTTOM LINE: WHEN YOU ARE SPENDING $500+ WITH NO KNOWLEDGE YOU NEED TO KNOW EVERY DETAIL. WITHOUT ALL THE DETAILS YOU WILL WASTE ALLOT OF MONEY. SPEND A LITTLE MORE AND GET A HIGHLY DETAILED CURRENT BOOK.

Clear, easy-to-read, but Pentium Pro processors aren't exactly cutting-edge anymore. It relegates PIIs to "advanced" and doesn't deal with them. Nice as a general reference, but pass it up if you want specific considerations for building a PII or PIII.

Most of the material was very current in this latest edition. However, as a PC building novice, even I noticed the glaring omissions (such as how to install an internal modem) Clearly AGP will the standard for video cards in the not-so-distant future, but not enough was said about them. I was happy to see PII processors discussed, but I could have lived without seeing the same pictures and text all over again. Overall, pretty thorough, but I feel like I need other books and materials to fill in gaps.

I liked this book for my needs. I bought it four years ago. Rather than show you everything under the sun it shows you how to assemble the computer and install the OS. It even shows how to format the hard drive with the system. This is good info if you want to install Windows 3.1. I admit DOS and the fdisk are dead now days but it is still used for Windows ME and Windows 98.

This was the only book that went right to the nuts and bolts of building a PC with out a lot of BS to read through.

I admit that with Windows XP you just need to load it into the CD ROM drive and let the OS install with out any DOS line prompt commands but this book would still work for building a PC today. The slave and master settings and jumper settings are still used today.

Although this book was enough to get me understanding how to build my own PC, it BARELY was enough. It was published in 1998, but there was no mention of ATX, SCSI, or even PII processors! I'd save your money and get something more up to date and extensive.

This book should have presented more up-to-date information on new hardware. I was disappointed with the coverage of how to buy parts and there was very little about what parts from my old computer would work in the new computer. Look for a newer book that talks about current equipment and avoid this one.

Book is easy to read through in 2 days or less. Gives good information especially if this is your first computer assembly book. Not overly technical but sticks to essential assembly procedures. Book should probably be priced less than $15. Book is not a debugging manual for problems with WIN95/98 installation.

I thought this was a good book, well written and well organized. It doesn't beat around the bush, rather it gets right to the point and keeps the book small, around 120 pages. Easy to follow the instructions. I would recommend this book.

Apparently the book is being revised constantly to keep up with technology. I first bought the book 2 years ago and it was outdated by 1998. So, I went to get a different book and found that this same title has been completely updated for 1998 technology. I especially liked the new paper that lays flat on my workbench, plus the new sharper photos. This book is the best I have ever seen. I note that it is in the eighth printing and have learned that in the ninth printing the author is adding the technology for the last half of 1998.

the book was easy to fallow and i built my self a new k6233. where is the petium2 book? I can't wait