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How to Buy a Computer - 2nd Edition

Myles White, McClelland and Stewart, Toronto, 1999, 296 pages, ISBN: 0-7710-8831-0

Order from:

• Globe/Chapters Online
• Amazon Online
• The author (comes with autograph)

Table of Contents

Introduction (market oveview)

Part 1. Shopping Strategies

1. Making a Plan (homework, homework, homework)
2. Jargon
3. Basic Shopping Tips

Part 2. Into the Field

4. Nailing Down Some Basic Questions
   1. Mac or PC?
   2. Name Brand or Clone?
   3. Where to Shop?
5. Reading Computer Ads
   1. Dealer tricks and traps
6. Processors
   1. Intel
   2. AMD
   3. Cyrix/IBM
   4. Centaur/IDT
   5. Motorola
7. PC Motherboards and Chipsets
   1. Socket 7
   2. Slot 1
   3. Slot 2
8. Memory
   1. How much is enough?
   2. How much is too much?
9. Notebooks and Other Small Computers
   1. Notebooks
   2. Palmtops
   3. H/PCs
10. Storage Devices
    1. Hard drives
    2. Removable Storage (floppies, Zips, CD-R & RW, tape)
    3. CD-ROM
    4. DVD
11. Multimedia and Telecommunications
    1. Sound
    2. Telecommunications and other online connection strategies (Cable, ISDN, etc.)
    3. Scanners
    4. Digital Cameras
12. Printers
    1. Ink- and Bubble-Jets
    2. Lasers
    3. Colour lasers
13. Graphics
    1. Video controllers
    2. Monitors (CRT & LCD)
    3. Television video in PCs (grabbers, tuners, VGA to TV)
14. Things That Click When They Move, Bop When They Stop, and Whirr When They Stand Still
    1. Cases
    2. Pointing device (mouse, trackball, touchpad, tablet)
    3. Keyboards
    4. Uninterruptible Power Supplies and power conditioners

Part 3. Bringing it Home

15. Nailing Down Your Decision
    1. Last minute warnings
    2. Lies, damned lies, and benchmarks
    3. Dealer tricks and traps

Specialty Indexes

1. Tables
   • PC Price Grid 25
   • PC Motherboards 82-85
   • PC Motherboard Chipsets 86-87
   • Memory Types 94-96
   • Budget Notebooks 115-118
   • Removable External Storage 137
   • Low-Cost Scanners 170-172
   • Inkjet Printers 196-200
   • Personal Laser Printers 210-212
   • Multifunction Printers 222-225
   • Computer Buyer's Checklist 288
2. Illustrations
   • What Does the CPU Do? 58
   • Thermal Bubblejet Technology 190
   • Inkjet Piezoelectric Drop-on-demand Printhead 191
   • Shadow Mask Dot Pitch 237
   • Aperture Grille Mask Stripe Pitch 237
   • Pixel and Dot Pitch for an LCD/TFT screen 238
   • Resolution v/S Screen Size 245
   • How to Pick a CRT Monitor 246
3. Gotchas!
   • CD-ROM drive "capacity" 139
   • 285 Laser printer running costs
   • 206 LED readouts on cases aren't speedometers 19
   • Monitors - actual viewable size 235
   • Monitors - vague descriptions 240
   • Motherboard cache capacity 43
   • Precise model designations on bargains 203
   • Recordable DVD compatibility 136
   • Sound controllers 148
   • Ultra DMA hard drive speed limit 46, 127
   • Upgrading Celeron systems 65

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