Maximum PC 2005 Buyer's Guide (Maximum PC Buyer's Guide)

Rating:
Summary: Lots of errors make this a waste of time and money
Review: Written by the chief editor of Maximum PC, a magazine devoted to modding and overclocking but not particularly good at it, this is a very poorly written and edited "book" that's basically just a compilation of equally poorly written and edited articles from the magazine's 2003 issues. Published last summer, it's already out-of-date. But that's not its true vice; the problem is 1) it has a lot of factual errors, and 2) it doesn't give you critical comparisons you need to choose among the products in each category.

The book is broken into sections by the different PC components: mobo, CPU, hard drive, etc. Each section begins with some general information which is too simple for power users yet too difficult-to-understand for beginners. If you fall in the middle, you would have found this useful, except the author keeps saying everything is great and dandy, so you end up not knowing which technology or brand you should pick. An author who's more critical and opinionated would have been more helpful.

For example, between Intel and AMD CPUs, and among the many different models, which one should you buy? There are 12 pages on processors, but the section reads like a typical magazine article that says "model A has features 1-2-3, model B has features 7-8-9, but the higher numbers are not necessarily better than the lower ones, except if you are willing to overclock, which BTW may void your warranty, if not causing your PC to explode if not done properly, but you should really do it because the manufacturer says it's okay as long as you do it right, which BTW BTW is not possible if you didn't buy and read the last 20 issues of our magazine." You get my point.

One more critical point from this reviewer: when a book like this recommends specific products, you are never sure if these products are truly the best in their respective categories, or they are here only because the manufacturers pay the author or publisher or both some kind of kickbacks. One thing I learned working in different industries in the past is how corrupt private businesses are, despite our country's having the best legal system in the world. Kickbacks and "soft money" are just everywhere. Anyway, many products in this book are of dubious usefulness or quality, and there are certain better products out there, so one must be skeptical about the author's picks, esp. when he works for a magazine and publishing company that relies entirely on advertising dollars for profits. (Organizations like Consumer Reports do not accept advertising and are thus more trustworthy in their reviews.)

This book is a waste of money. Books like PC Bible have more in-depth and, more importantly, *accurate* information that you can rely on.