Computers Simplified, 5th Edition (Paperback)

by Ruth Maran (Author) "A mouse is a handheld device that lets you select and move items on your screen..." (more)
Key Phrases: tuner cards, main chip, external cache, World Wide Web, Intel Pentium, Internet Explorer (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
IDG and maranGraphics have come very close to the ideal "superdummy" format with Computers Simplified, Fourth Edition. This book explains personal computing technology to the complete neophyte, but unlike many books for nervous newbies, this one manages to provide a complete picture without drowning the reader in details.

This book does not cover the actual use of a personal computer--you won't find any explanations of how to manipulate a mouse or what the Windows 98 Start button does. Rather, Computers Simplified gives an overview of personal computing technology, from the components that make up an IBM-standard PC to the Internet and Web. After reading this heavily illustrated book, readers will know which aspects of computing interest them, and what they should look into next.

The great thing about Computers Simplified is that it explains pretty much everything a new user will wonder about. For example, even though digital cameras are a relatively new phenomenon, novices will have heard about them and want to know what they can do. This is also true for Zip drives, palm-size computers, scanners, fax software, Windows NT, and dozens of other aspects of personal computers that elementary books traditionally have neglected. Computers Simplified is like a child's science book in that it mentions lots of advanced stuff, but explains it in basic terms. --David Wall --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
Paperback: 227 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.62 x 10.03 x 8.52 Publisher: Wiley; 5 edition (October 12, 2000) ISBN: 0764535242 This book explains everything that a new user would be curious about in pictures! The perfect book for the computer user (or computer shopper), Computers Simplified gives the best explanations in full color -- on each of the computer types and peripherals that are available today: Mac and PC, Linux and Windows, scanners and multifunction machines, tape drives and zip drives. This book provides new or would-be users with a handheld overview of computers and what they can do for their owners.

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Product Details

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• Paperback: 227 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 5 edition (October 12, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764535242
• ISBN-13: 978-0764535246
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #557,116 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I can't imagine a better introduction: a must-have!, December 2, 2000

By	"teresinha" (Westchester County, NY, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Computers Simplified: Simply the Easiest Way to Learn Computers (Paperback)

I really do owe the author of this book, as well as the book salesperson who included this book, without my asking, with two other books on computers which I had asked be held for me at a local bookstore for me ( all three of which I picked up later), many thanks, because I did not know that I needed this book and I absolutley did. At the time I was thinking of buying a computer for the fist time, knowing very little about computers at all, and this book provided me with information that I absolutey needed in order to make an informed choice about what kind of computer to buy. I am very happy with my purchase and don't know what I would have done without this book. The book provides a good overview of computers including hardware and software, how computers work, bytes, and types of computer systems(PC-personal computer, Macintosh, mainframe, set-top box) and then, using very helpful graphics-a typical computer, as well as operating systms, 9 pages on the Macintosh, plus a very nice introductions to the internet and web,including what the internet offers, e-mail, getting connected, web browser, multimedia on the web, web portal, children on the web, web pages and shopping, ), as well as buying a computer (considerations such as cost, Brand-name and clone,and after sale-service), upgrade(condsiderations such as cost and effective upgrades), mouse, keyboard, input and output, printer (ink-jet and laser),modem, processing ( memory-memory size, program requirements, memory chips, virtual memory,ROM and CPU, Memory Cache and Bus). If you are thinking of buying a computer, especally if you are new to computers, but even if you are not, I really can't recommend this book enough to help you in making your decision. The edition of this book that I have is the Fourth Edition © 1998 and it only goes up to the Windows 98 operating system and Windows NT in Windows and Mac OS 8 in Macintosh (UNIX is also covered, as is MS-DOS), however. It's time for a new edition.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I recommend this book for new and experienced users alike., October 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Computers Simplified: Simply the Easiest Way to Learn Computers (Paperback)

A friend was taking a computer class for new users and was told by the instructor that the class would use this book. I looked at it and bought a copy. I am an experienced computer user (Macintosh, Windows, Unix, Linux, Java, HTML, Office, Netscape, Explorer, Perl, etc.) and this book taught me so much! I learned about the workings of computers. Before I read this book, I know how to use computers, but not too much about how computers worked.

I bought a Windows computer recently from a customized computer store. Thanks to this book's teaching me about the components of computers, I knew just what to buy and ordered with confidence. At the end, when I was deciding what to do about speakers, the dealer showed me some wildly powerful units. I looked in the book and told the dealer I needed two 10-30 watt speakers. The dealer sold me a pair of sixty watt speakers. My advice to you is get sixty watt speakers even though the book mentions thirty watt speakers. I suppose that's my one gripe with the book.

If an experienced user can learn so much from this book, a new computer user will definitely think of this book as five-star. This book is very easy to understand; there is simple language and the explanations are given step-by-step. Computers Simplified is a great reference. If you want to learn hypertext markup language or something else, go to the amazon.com Home Page, follow the links to Books, type in Computers Simplified, and take a look at the results. I recommend Creating Web Pages Simplified and agree with Amy Brazo about this book cutting through all the jargon.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A thorough overview, May 15, 2001

By	Deanna Uldall "spikenard" (Poland, ME USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I bought this to help my clients and friends that aren't techie at all. They own a computer and want to know more but the volumes of reading that can be done is overwhelming for many. I am a Microsoft Professional and I really enjoyed reading this from cover to cover. I found the information within to be accurate, informative, fun and fast. In fact while on vacation 2 of my relatives, who liked it as much as I did, bought it (with me in the store to be sure they found the right book)!