Customer Reviews

Tom's Hardware Guide

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I made the mistake of buying this book, and I can't believe how bad it is. I was expecting a technically competent, insightful, no BS book about PC hardware. What I got was an outdated, error-plagued, superficial book that's not much use to anyone, novice or expert. Here are just a few amazing facts I found in Tom's Hardware Guide:

* 30-pin SIMMs are 16 bits wide, and so must be installed in pairs in 386 and 486 systems. [30-pin SIMMs are 8 bits wide, and must be installed four per bank in 386/486 systems, and eight per bank in the few Pentium-class systems that use them.]

*DAT stands for Digital Analog Tape [DAT stands for Digital Audio Tape, and anyway the proper terminology for a "DAT" tape drive is DDS, not DAT]

*xDSL throughput varies according to how heavily other users on your xDSL line are transferring data [xDSL is a point-to-point service, and does not use shared media]

*"A 7GB DAT cartridge costs only about $12 per unit, for an incredible value of 597.3MB per penny. That's half a gig for each penny you spend." [When I do the calculations, I get (7 GB*1,024 MB/GB)/1200 cents = 5.97 MB/penny. This isn't isolated, either. Anywhere this author does math, you'd best check it yourself.]

*Most telephones use Category 2 cable [there is no such thing as Category 2 cable, and never has been]

*No video is available during a flash BIOS recovery procedure [the author apparently doesn't realize that this is true only for PCI video cards, which is an excellent reason to keep an old ISA video card around.]

*TCP/IP doesn't do "transfer checking" and is therefore less reliable than IPX/SPX. [Huh? From his garbled explanation, it appears that the author is referring to UDP rather than TCP. What this author doesn't know about network and transport layer protocols could fill a book.]

And it goes on and on. Every technical book I've ever seen has at least a few errors, but this one has so many mistakes that it's not worth reading. If you want a good hardware book, buy Scott Mueller's Upgrading & Repairing PCs. Steer clear of Tom's Hardware Guide.

This was an absolute great reference for many of the components I buy to upgrade my computers. It is not a technical reference, but if you need to buy any component for a computer, read this book. Unfortunately, at this point, this book is now outdated and pretty much useless, unless you want to buy older components. Tom should update this book once a year or so, which is about how fast the computer industry moves. There was really only one thing I didn't like about the book when I purchased it a while ago: Not many motherboard references for Socket 7 or Super 7. Tom, at that time at least, seemed to be stuck on Intel Pentiums. I like the AMD's because they perform well and don't cost an arm and a leg. If Tom were to update this book, I would definitely purchase it. You do not have to be a super computer expert to understand this book. The format is perfect and its always exciting to read Tom's Pick at the end of each chapter.

Tom's Hardware Guide website is well known for its devotion to detailed information and reviews of the latest technology and even business trends in the PC industry. This book also goes into great detail over each of the subsystems of your computer, from the motherboard to the keyboard. It explains how each subsystem works and how the choices of each type of component will affect your system. It has up-to-date info on the very latest technologies, including the 3D video chipsets of 3Dfx and Nvidia, as well as explaining the benefits (or not) of AGP. However, its very up-to-date nature will not last. Anyone who has paid any attention to the PC industry knows how quickly current technology is outpaced by bigger and better stuff: my new PC with a Pentium II 400 MHz processor was superceded by the 450 MHz version within only a *month* of its purchase! Thus the information in this book, while accurate, fully detailed, and intelligently written, will be outdated or obsoleted within a year. Much of the information on the basic technologies, such as SCSI vs IDE, may remain stable for longer, but for the more volatile areas like 3D video and CPU chips will certainly not. The guide seems to recognize this fact, however, with section titles such as "Currently available network cards" and with a timetable for emerging CPU chips from Intel. As well, the bookcover is paper and the photographs are dark and hard to distinguish at times, as if the authors recognize the time-sensitive nature of its contents and knew they didn't need to print it on anything of long-lasting quality.

In other words, this is an excellent book if you are trying to decide between currently available technologies for your current system, or if you want to understand how each of the subsystems in your computer work in detail. If you're looking for a lasting tome of info for your bookshelf, this ain't it-- though there probably won't be one from anyone anytime soon.

Many reviews I have seen have missed the point entirely. Tom's Hardware Guide, like any computer book, will fall victim to the changing cutting edge, but the fact is that most computer users aren't wasting their parent's money riding the cutting edge of technology. The average computer user will find the explinations of current technologies usefull even when the high-end users have long since moved onto the latest and greatest. Tom is known for his no-nonsence benchmarks and unbiased reviews of technologies. The real value in this book, however, is in the explinations of the boards, chipsets, ram and ports used in today's computers. This information is invaluable to everyone from purchasers looking to judge the quality of a prebuilt system to users who just want to know more about the workings of their computer.

Tom runs a fine website, but this book is not up to those same standards. It's full of factual errors, and in dire need of some serious editing.

I am very disappointed in Tom's Guide. Don't buy this book if your looking for anything similar to a comprehensive tech reference. This is a very basic overview of computer hardware, only slightly more in depth than the reprehensible "dummy" books. Lots of errors. I think there's actually better info on Tom's website. If you're looking for a pure "technical data" book, the best I'm aware of is Messmer's "The Indispensible Hardware Guide".

This is mostly a rehashing of material found on the web. Although it is a valient effort it falls short and leaves you wondering what you should do about higher performance ... There are no secrets here and there are better books for the money...

I find it very deceptive and amazing how Amazon allows the third party book providers to display old books that are VERY time sensitive when it comes to computer technology. Why would any person purchase a book that was copywrited in 1998, think it would actually apply to todays 2003-2004 computer technologies? Yes, A book basically six years outdated I purchased, not because I wanted it for historical reasons, but that I assumed it was relatively current and applicable to todays computer industry. Yes, it was wrong of me to assume this book was current to todays technologies, however Amazon would be best served if it would mandate that all time sensitive technology books like this one be required to post(or otherwise disclose) the publishing or copywrite date on the website so that an informed consumer can make an inteligent decision without performing an archaeological dig with a customer service representative. I believe this negligent practice by Amazon will over the long run discourage long time dedicated customers such as myself and persuade me to shop else where. For all you other people out there, be very suspicious. Oh!, the book does not even qualify for an honest review.

Tom, not the same old drivel again that i am force d to read grudgingly whilst flicking through your pages on the web. I know you think you know the lot tom but give your readers some credit. One to avoid unless your a geeky overclocker, spend your money on some more ram.

Really nice book for beginners, but nothing interesting and new for advanced users - cause all the things are outdated for REALLY power users - simple because the information on latest technologies outdates each day and this book is only for that whu dont have INTERNET. Thants is.