Customer Reviews

How Macs Work, Millennium Edition

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

 

 

This book did a great job of really explaining how the Mac and all the stuff inside it work. It's really good if you want a broad knowledge base for how the computer works inside and out. You'll learn about memory, CPU's, drives, peripherals (monitors, keyboards, mices) and all kinds of other stuff. What this book DOESN'T do is tell you how to work it. You won't learn how to run the operating system or how to set up an ethernet network, for example.
However, you WILL understand how that stuff works with your computer and what's going on behind the scenes when you're word processing. There's lots of pictures to describe the stuff they're talking about, too. One thing I didn't like was that the pictures were often numbered out of order which meant I had to go searching for the next numbered picture to read. It's quibbling, I know, but it happened a lot and made the book harder to read.
I recommend this book if you have a fear of computers and want to know just what the heck is going on. I'm glad I got it. For example, why do you have to shut down your computer? Why is it bad if it loses power or you unplug it? Because the hard drive must park. If it doesn't park, the wafer thin disks inside could become damaged if the read head touches them. Then your computer dies. I learned that from the book! It's kinda rudimentary, and if you knew that already, and you know what a processor cache is then you can probably skip this book. But, if you're dying to know, then pick it up!

Since OSX, I am told, this book is of little informational use to me, knowing well the inner workings of a PC. I am planning on purchasing a Mac with Intel support, so I thought I would start my research on how Unix runs and how proprietary macintosh works. So far, less than a third of the book is at best mediocre information and the other portion is dated computer jargon. Two buck expense though, I am not crying. Thanks.

This book was written by two gentlemen with whom I had the good fortune to work at MacUser Magazine (before it was acquired by MacWorld). John Rizzo was Technical Editor at MacUser, and he's easily the most accurate and informed author available for this kind of book. Dan Clark is one of America's most gifted technical illustrators; his "see through" drawings of computers & components always AMAZE other artists and even the most hardcore techies. True to the Mac tradition, this book feels like a looking-glass that lets you float knowlingly through complex electronics, instead of boring you with Windoze-style "hardware documentation." A great gift for budding young geeks and undecided potential Mac owners.

I would love to read an updated version that includes the later G4 laptops and G5 desktops. However, if you're truly technically oriented, you may find this book over-simplifies too much and glosses over many details. I found it useful for explaining the physical operation of hard drives and CD-ROMS, but found its explanations of computer architecture and software lacking.