Peter Norton's Guide to Upgrading and Repairing PCs provides expert advice using a friendly, step-by-step approach. Understand how each component of your PC system functions and why earlier models and technologies can often prove to be bottlenecks in your day-to-day work. Learn about the new technologies, such as MMX-equipped Pentium IIs, DVD, USB, and FireWire, and determine whether each spells death or renewal for your aging PC and existing peripherals. Each chapter begins with an overview that sets forth the underlying technology. Chapters outline the pros and cons of alternative upgrade options without overlooking the costs, future prospects, and timeline for a best buy, and typically end with step-by-step installation and troubleshooting procedures. In addition, Peter's Principles, Upgrade Advice, Buying Tips, Compatibility Notes, and other icons make it easy to find exactly what you need.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Although there is some strong competition, Peter Norton's Guide to Upgrading and Repairing PCs is an excellent choice among guides on upgrading PCs. The book is up-to-date and includes wide-ranging information on upgrades such as digital video disc (DVD) drives, 3-D graphics accelerators, Multimedia Extensions (MMX) microprocessors, universal serial bus (USB) ports, force-feedback joysticks, and digital cameras. More importantly, the guide dispenses some practical, commonsense advice that helps you decide which upgrade path to choose. For example, one early section takes a smart upgrade-by-upgrade look at the components of a PC, evaluating the risk of upgrading each component (such as an IDE or SCSI storage drive) and recommending when to avoid an upgrade.
Peter Norton's Guide to Upgrading & Repairing PCs is a great choice if you want extensive information on upgrade options, basic instruction on how to perform upgrades yourself, and a general education in practical computing. If you're a do-it-yourselfer who wants to keep an aging system viable, put this book on your short list. For the serious computer owner, the guide's balance, comprehensiveness, and relevance are helpful. However, if you're looking for extensively illustrated instructions that detail the nuts and bolts of actually installing components, you might prefer the approach taken by Upgrading PCs Illustrated or Upgrading and Repairing PCs. Both of these volumes offer excellent step-by-step instruction and are also recommended.
From the Publisher
Covers the key topics about upgrading and repairing the core components of the PC, basic and advanced storage media, multimedia devices, and input/output devices. Provides expert guidance on upgrading and repairing strategies, and shows users how to make smart upgrade and repair decisions. Also includes special sections on troubleshooting and diagnostics.
Presented in a very friendly and extremely accessible style--Key points are highlighted for readers by icons placed throughout the text.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Should be called "A novice look at the PC",
By MarySophia@aol.com (Central FL, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Peter Norton's Upgrading and Repairing PCs (Paperback)
I have two years hands on experience with pc's and win-95. I am used to my employers computer tech entering and saying something like '16 mb of ram is more than enough for this office and adding more would not speed up things or prevent the need to reboot every 3 hours' Then I ask "well why does the same computer you have with 128 mb run faster"? 'well thats just luck'. So I decided to buy a book to explain. I think Peter Norton is the PC tech I have been talking to. The book gives a BASIC DESCRIPTION of the guts of the PC but does not explain in detail the reason you want one upgrade over another and it certainly does not tell you how to do something in enough detail to make it a smooth install. For example what if you change EDO chips and get an error? Just the possibility of that occuring should stop some novices from screwing up there system and finding a tech to perform the install for them. No, this book is not a guide. It provides just enough info for the novice user to screw up his/her computer. BEWARE!!!!! By the way when the tech left the co. and we installed 64 mb of ram the computers ability to receive info from the server doubled and the units quit crashing every 4 hours with lack of resources warnings.
2.0 out of 5 stars
An Explanation of Hardware,
By Acute Observer (By the Shore NJ) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Peter Norton's Upgrading and Repairing PCs (Paperback)
This 1997 book covers the many areas of a 'beige box' to help you understand the workings of the hardware. Its aim is to help you to extend and enhance your PC, and is intended for intermediate to advanced users. The operating system is Windows 95, the then latest version. It covers topics that are rarely explained in the monthly hobby magazines. This provides an objective treatment instead of one oriented to the advertisers. You should know that you rarely ''repair'' a PC or its components. Failing components are replaced by new ones, like batteries in a flashlight. Upgrading is much more likely, especially with a slightly older PC. This book is written on a level that the average person can understand. The Glossary defines the terms used, the Index covers the preceding pages. Chapter 4 'Troubleshooting' should be read thoroughly. Part II explains the inside workings of a PC. CD-RW has replaced the often trouble-prone tape back-up devices. AGP has supplanted PCI graphic cards. Chapter 12 'Hard Disks' does not document the different jumper settings for IDE devices (p.260). That is too important to omit! Figure 8.1 on page 173 does not show soldered cache. Page 233 says a motherboard with a single IDE controller cannot support a CD-ROM drive (not true for a 386 or 486 made after 1990).
Whether you read the whole book page by page, skim through it, or just read selected topics, you will become more knowledgeable about the components that make up a personal computer. [This is from the first edition.]
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