PC Hardware in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference (In a Nutshell (O'Reilly))

Buying guidelines: how to choose optimum systems and components; focuses on evaluating alternatives rather than on recommending specific productsHow-to advice: practical, hands-on information about how to install, configure, and troubleshoot specific componentsReference: features numerous tables and organization by topic for easy access to specifications and steps necessary for discrete tasks

This book distinguishes itself from its most popular competitors by emphasizing the authors' opinions on hardware products. It's refreshing to see authors recommend Product A for high-performance systems in which price is not an issue, Product B for economical home systems, and Product C for organizational workstations. On the other hand, the recommendations, prices, and similar values will change over time. The authors maintain a great Web site, at which you can find their current recommendations. (The Web site, on the other hand, doesn't include the book's high-quality tutorial on designing and assembling a system from zero.) Even the photographs that appear in this book--traditionally a weak point among hardware books--are clear. --David Wall

Topics covered: Personal computers that comply with Microsoft Windows and Intel compatibility requirements. The authors address processors, memory, hard disks, optical media, removable magnetic disks, video cards, power supplies, and more. Also, there are instructions for assembling a machine from scratch, and some coverage of troubleshooting problems.