Scott Mueller takes seriously his role as the acknowledged guru of Intel-compatible personal computers and does an admirable job of making his books compete with Web sites about hardware. He does this by releasing a new edition of Upgrading and Repairing PCs every year, or even more frequently, and by overshadowing the sites with sheer volumes of information. The latest edition of Mueller"s respected book, the 13th, is positively massive--more than 1,500 pages of dense text and pithy illustrations, in combination with a CD-ROM that"s nearly full to capacity with information. Plus, for good measure, Mueller and his team maintain a companion Web site for late-breaking hardware information. As you would expect, this edition is updated to include information about the latest hardware developments, including the Intel Pentium 4 and Itanium parts, as well as advances in optical storage technology. Mueller, aware that no computer ever really goes extinct, has kept his page count under control without sacrificing his depth of legacy coverage by putting older material--including the complete text of five previous editions--in Adobe Acrobat format on the CD-ROM. Other refinements include clearer line drawings and other illustrations, and an increase in the amount of how-to video (in Windows Media Player format) on the CD-ROM. The series of videos walks the viewer through the process of building a PC from the case up, and though it"s sometimes hard to pick up on details (he plugged that thing into what?), the videos do inspire confidence. The volume of data is staggering, and it"s surprisingly easy to navigate. Gamers and others concerned with extracting every last bit of speed by overclocking and otherwise stressing their machines will probably be happier with the information they find on the Web. Mueller is mostly concerned with building fast but reliable systems and doesn"t touch on really out-there hardware--like water-cooling systems for AMD Athlon processors--at all. That"s fine, because he covers the hardware mainstream with near-absolute thoroughness. Buying this book is like buying a library; every hardware enthusiast needs one. --David Wall Topics covered: Intel-compatible personal computer hardware (and, to some extent, the operating systems that run on it) from the dawn of PC time (about 1985 through the present day). Processors, motherboards, video systems, storage devices, peripherals--everything that goes inside, attaches to, or communicates with a personal computer chassis is covered here. Readers become more than qualified to build systems from bare metal, and to diagnose and replace components.