PC Hardware in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference (In a Nutshell

In a Nutshell

by Robert Bruce Thompson, Barbara Fritchman Thompson

PC Hardware in a Nutshell is a comprehensive guide to buying, building, upgrading, and repairing Intel-based PCs, presented in O'Reilly's concise "In a Nutshell" format. The three major thrusts of the book In addition to covering the fundamentals and general tips about working on PCs, the book includes chapters focusing on motherboards, processors, memory, disks (floppies, hard drives, and optical drives), tape devices, video devices, input devices, audio components, communications, power supplies, and maintenance. The last chapter is a complete case study in building a PC from components. PC Hardware in a Nutshell is supported by a web site that PC Hardware in a Nutshell is a compact guide, accessible to the ordinary reader and invaluable for the seasoned professional.

Genres: Computers, Collections, Nonfiction

501 pages, Paperback

First published July 24, 2000

About the author

Robert Bruce Thompson was an accomplished author and scientist, publishing books on computers and the sciences. He built and sold science kits in support of home school education throughout the United States.

Reviews

[Tal Shprecher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why would anyone read a hardware book in 2024 written 20 years ago? Because hardware standards may change but the principles do not. There’s still a motherboard, chipset, BIOS (now EFI), etc.

Today it’s just more integrated with better standards.

[Adam · Rating 1 out of 5]

Probably not a bad book back when I was written in October 2000 but completely useless today in this Windows 7, SATA, DDR3 world. Doesn't even have anything dealing with Windows 2000, the latest OS being Windows Me.