Now site maven Thomas Pabst and his crew of chip heads have put together Tom's Hardware Guide: High-Performance PC Secrets (Que, US$30). This 603-page book covers the latest (circa early '98) processors, motherboards, RAM, video cards, drive systems, input devices and all of the other components of that often befuddling box on your desktop. This book is not for the newbie, but you don't have to be a "deep geek" either to benefit from its wisdom. Each chapter offers very lucid background info on the hardware being discussed, a "how it works" section and Tom's hardware recommendations.

Unfortunately, there are few step-by-step instructions in the book. Its basic objective is to detail the various subsystems of your PC, point out purchasing considerations, list the best products available and offer advice on improving performance.

With any "dead tree edition," there's always the issue of putting advice, however potent, onto paper given the speed with which digital technology moves. When I was writing computer books, I was eternally frustrated by how fast new products come out and the obscenely short shelf life of these books. The 2.x version of that bitchin' diagnostic program you devoted ten pages to is old news by the time the book ships. For this type of timely information, the Web makes so much more sense. Still, some of us prefer a book in our lap to an endlessly scrolling text on our screens (or the two info sources in concert). There's also a lot of perennial (or at least long-term) wisdom in Tom's book that can be applied to whatever bleeding edge components you may be dealing with tomorrow. Just opening the book up at random, I learned a number of things I was painfully ignorant of (e.g. I didn't know that removable media devices such as Zip, SparQ and SyJet are referred to as "near-line" storage, owing to their close kinship with the hard drive and their "almost there" performance). The "Tom's Picks" sections that conclude each component discussion are particularly handy. You wouldn't go wrong if you just went with all of Tom's recommendations when upgrading your current PC or building your dream machine.

I've always been very impressed with Tom's vast knowledge of computer hardware and the meticulous attention to detail in the site's coverage. The book, owing to its size limitations and the medium, is not nearly as comprehensive as the site. Some readers will likely pick up the book in a bookstore, see the $30 price tag and turn up their nose, preferring the free info online. Others will find value in a print companion to the site (after all, you still can't peruse a website while...ah..."downloading" or in bed!).

If you're serious about getting the most out of your computer, enjoy poking your head under its hood, and haven't completely abandoned the world of print, Tom's Hardware Guide belongs next to your screw drivers, anti-static strap and chip puller.

- Gareth Branwyn [10/2/98]