PC Hardware in a Nutshell is the practical guide to buying, building, upgrading, and repairing Intel-based PCs. A longtime favorite among PC users, the third edition of the book now contains useful information for people running either Windows or Linux operating systems. Written for novices and seasoned professionals alike, the book is packed with useful and unbiased information, including how-to advice for specific components, ample reference material, and a comprehensive case study on building a PC.In addition to coverage of the fundamentals and general tips about working on PCs, the book includes chapters focusing on motherboards, processors, memory, floppies, hard drives, optical drives, tape devices, video devices, input devices, audio components, communications, power supplies, and maintenance. Special emphasis is given to upgrading and troubleshooting existing equipment so you can get the most from your existing investments.This new edition is expanded to include: Detailed information about the latest motherboards and chipsets from AMD, Intel, SiS, and VIA Extensive coverage of the Pentium 4 and the latest AMD processors, including the Athlon XP/MP Full details about new hard drive standards, including the latest SCSI standards, ATA/133, Serial ATA, and the new 48-bit "Big Drive" ATA interface Extended coverage of DVD drives, including DVD-RAM, DVD-R/RW, and DVD+R/RW Details about Flat Panel Displays, including how to choose one (and why you might not want to) New chapters on serial communications, parallel communications, and USB communications (including USB 2.0) Enhanced troubleshooting coverage PC Hardware in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition provides independent, useful and practical information in a no-nonsense manner with specific recommendations on components. Based on real-world testing over time, it will help you make intelligent, informed decisions about buying, building, upgrading, and repairing PCs in a cost effective manner that will help you maximize new or existing computer hardware systems. It's loaded with real-world advice presented in a concise style that clearly delivers just the information you want, without your having to hunt for it.

This guide is a shopping companion for people who wish to build their own desktop computer. It helps you choose which parts are best for you by ensuring compatibility and performance. Features a component overview, valuable rules of thumb, and a quick-lookup reference chart with recommended brands and models

Ideal for PC owners looking for an accessible, easy-to-follow reference, this beginner's guide to PC hardware offers expert advice on every component--processors, motherboards, memory, BIOS, CD-ROM and DVD drives, video cards, and much more. You'll also get details on external devices, including monitors, printers, keyboards, and modems. The book covers both Intel and non-Intel CPUs and USB and AGP ports.

The definitive guide to PC hardware powers up for new platforms. This new edition continues to give programmers and design engineers a one-stop source for detailed explanations of how the different elements of a PC work individually and in concert.

A no-nonsense, practical guide to current and future processor and computer architectures, enabling you to design computer systems and develop better software applications across a variety of domains Key Features Understand digital circuitry with the help of transistors, logic gates, and sequential logic Examine the architecture and instruction sets of x86, x64, ARM, and RISC-V processors Explore the architecture of modern devices such as the iPhone X and high-performance gaming PCs Book DescriptionAre you a software developer, systems designer, or computer architecture student looking for a methodical introduction to digital device architectures but overwhelmed by their complexity? This book will help you to learn how modern computer systems work, from the lowest level of transistor switching to the macro view of collaborating multiprocessor servers. You'll gain unique insights into the internal behavior of processors that execute the code developed in high-level languages and enable you to design more efficient and scalable software systems. The book will teach you the fundamentals of computer systems including transistors, logic gates, sequential logic, and instruction operations. You will learn details of modern processor architectures and instruction sets including x86, x64, ARM, and RISC-V. You will see how to implement a RISC-V processor in a low-cost FPGA board and how to write a quantum computing program and run it on an actual quantum computer. By the end of this book, you will have a thorough understanding of modern processor and computer architectures and the future directions these architectures are likely to take.What you will learn Get to grips with transistor technology and digital circuit principles Discover the functional elements of computer processors Understand pipelining and superscalar execution Work with floating-point data formats Understand the purpose and operation of the supervisor mode Implement a complete RISC-V processor in a low-cost FPGA Explore the techniques used in virtual machine implementation Write a quantum computing program and run it on a quantum computer Who this book is for This book is for software developers, computer engineering students, system designers, reverse engineers, and anyone looking to understand the architecture and design principles underlying modern computer systems from tiny embedded devices to warehouse-size cloud server farms. A general understanding of computer processors is helpful but not required.

The Mike Meyers’ Computer Skills series offers students of varying ability and experience a practical working knowledge of baseline IT skills and technologies. This full-color text is filled with real-world case studies, step-by-step tutorials, illustrations with callouts, end-of-chapter questions, challenging lab exercises, and review questions.

Provides information on ways to resolve installation, setup, configuration, and maintenance problems on a PC.

Computer Hardware Maintenance presents the full scope and understanding of how the PC hardware maintenance function should operate and be managed in an organization, including steps involved in containing costs, keeping records, and planning the integration of the help desk function. In today's IS department too often the PC hardware maintenance function is treated as a 'necessary evil', with the understanding that eventually all equipment will have some degree of mechanical or electrical failure. This book discusses scenarios where keeping the maintenance function internal is most viable and where having it external, from a depot service, pickup and delivery, or on-site service, is most viable. Computer Hardware Maintenance concludes with brief descriptions of available third-party systems and how emerging trends in PC hardware configuration as proposed by the Desktop Management Task Force (DMTF) will have a major impact on the PC hardware maintenance function in the future.

Hardware and Computer Organization is a practical introduction to the architecture of modern microprocessors. This book from the bestselling author explains how PCs work and how to make them work for you. It is designed to take students "under the hood" of a PC and provide them with an understanding of the complex machine that has become such a pervasive part of everyday life. It clearly explains how hardware and software cooperatively interact to accomplish real-world tasks. Unlike other textbooks on this topic, Dr. Berger's book takes the software developer's point-of-view. Instead of simply demonstrating how to design a computer's hardware, it provides an understanding of the total machine, highlighting strengths and weaknesses, explaining how to deal with memory and how to write efficient assembly code that interacts directly with, and takes best advantage of the underlying hardware. The book is divided into three major sections: Part 1 covers hardware and computer fundamentals, including logical gates and simple digital design. Elements of hardware development such as instruction set architecture, memory and I/O organization and analog to digital conversion are examined in detail, within the context of modern operating systems. Part 2 discusses the software at the lowest level ̧ assembly language, while Part 3 introduces the reader to modern computer architectures and reflects on future trends in reconfigurable hardware. This book is an ideal reference for ECE/software engineering students as well as embedded systems designers, professional engineers needing to understand the fundamentals of computer hardware, and hobbyists. - The renowned author's many years in industry provide an excellent basis for the inclusion of extensive real-world references and insights - Several modern processor architectures are covered, with examples taken from each, including Intel, Motorola, MIPS, and ARM

Bits, bytes, RAM, CPUs, hard drives and dvd drives. Master the geeky acronyms and simplify computer hardware & terminology with ease. This book is great for beginners, a basic computing class, or someone looking to buy a computer.