Systems Architecture, Sixth Edition, is the most comprehensive introduction to information systems hardware and software in business. This new edition remains an indispensable tool for IS students, emphasizing a managerial, broad systems perspective for a holistic approach to systems architecture. Each chapter has been updated thoroughly to reflect the changing nature of new technologies, and all end-of-chapter material has been enhanced and expanded.
Currently an IS major, read this for my Software & Hardware concepts class. Utterly disappointed. I spent more time looking at external resources on the web and youtube videos that helped me gage the concepts better than this book ever did. The chapters are long-winded. The images/pictures in the book are muddled and confusing comprehend. Doesn’t really help you understand the inner workings of a computer. Each chapter is about 30-40 pages long, so we're talking over 400 pages of text that could have been pared down to 1/2 that, yet still wasn't clear enough. Do not take a professor who only uses this book to teach. Luckily my professor actually knew his stuff and was kind and patient with all of us, and spent 50/50 time on the book and lectures. But this book will not make you a computer prodigy. On the contrary, you'll be spending more time using outside resources to break down the mess of a book this is.
Without good lectures by my professor, this textbook was not really good one. Writing was often not clear enough and hit the very narrow range, not for a beginner but not for an intermediate either. At least, that's what I felt.