Digital Retro

Rating:
Summary: Good pictures, lacks text
Review: "Digital retro" is a very good book of pictures printed in very good paper. It contains lots of high-quality photos of lots of computers, and everything is cleanly arranged. The author has chosen the most significant computers, and I have to say he has done a good work.

That said, I find a great lack of text. For each computer or company, you will only find three or four facts, which is scarce information for not-so-cheap book. You will find a lot more information in Freiberger & Swaine's "Fire in the Valley: The Making-Of of the Personal Computer".

This book definitely remembers me of Christian Wurster's "Computers: An Illustrated History" (Taschen), Michael Nadeau's "Collectible Microcomputers" (Schiffer) or (the Sinclair-centric) Enrico Tedeschi's "Sinclair Archeology" (Hover).

I would recommend you to buy "Digital retro", "Colletible Microcomputers" or "Computers: An Illustrated History" and "Fire in the Valley", and read both side-by-side.

Rating:
Summary: What memories!
Review: ...and how depressing to see computers I learned on (the Apple IIE and Vic-20) are now museum relics.
This nice book has all the computers we remember and many I didn't. The book is made in England so there are a few I've never seen.
Pics of every computer, background, what happened to each, just great!
If you're interested in computer history, or are like me and remember when fights broke out between Atari fans and Colecovision fans, I'm sure you'll love it, and the memorable photos. Author has some specs on them too, info on ports, etc.

Rating:
Summary: Love old computers?
Review: I think what I liked best about this book was that it (re) exposed me to old friends I had. But besides that it also exposed me to potential friends I never knew about. The history of both USA and UK pre-PC-dominant computing is a tangled web, and Gordon does a _great job_ of ferreting out the fun "insider" stories about each of the old machines.

Yes, this book really IS on my coffee table, and, any geeky guest who comes over is simply rapt in looking at the beautiful pictures. In all, this is great book for those who love "ye olden days" of computing. My only wish for the book was that the photographer took pictures of (at least some) of the computers ON. Other than that, it's a fun book and well worth it.

PS: My cover image is different than what is displayed here on Amazon.


Rating:
Summary: Nostaglic look back at early days of PC industry
Review: Take a visual stroll through the early days of personal computing, from 1975's seminal MITS Altair to 1988's failed NeXT cube, before the market bifurcated between Mac and Windows users. This 192-page paperback examines 40 classic computers of yesteryear, each depicted from all sides with full-color photography and annotated with original specifications and pricing. Laing's text also reveals many juicy tidbits about the companies and personalities that dominated the industry in its infancy. Given the author's British background, the coverage of many obscure models from the UK is to be expected, though they may not be appreciated by American audiences. I found the inclusion of video game systems a curious choice, too. My only major criticism is that the text accompanying the spendid photos is unnecessarily small and difficult to read.

Rating:
Summary: Good, could be better
Review: This is a great coffee table book for anyone interested in computer history. Each page (or group of pages) deals with systems from the Amstrad to the Zenith. The book is full of great giant full color, and very beige, photos.

I felt this book could have been better in dealing with industrial computer design, it barely touches anything after the early 90s. Great computer designs like the Compaq LCD presarios and the 20th anniversary Mac get no coverage. I also thought, when I bought it, that it would go a lot more into overall computer design than just specific systems.