Reviewed By: Missy Grote
Date: October 10, 2004
Section: Book Reviews
Publisher: QUE
Authors: Scott Mueller
Pages: 1008
Retail Price: $49.99
Dot Journal Price: $33.99

People that know me understand I’m the type of person that will try to fix something that is broken before I will stop and ask for assistance or even call a repairman. I admit, I’m my father’s daughter, and excited about the idea of tinkering. Computers included, my confidence is high when I take off my PC’s cover. I even get several calls a month requesting PC assistance from family and friends. Despite this, you won’t hear me mention anything about tinkering with my laptop. Lucky for me whenever I try to use the few programs I have installed on my laptop, they run without fail. Even still, when that day does arrive when it starts to act up, a laptop technician would be my first choice in assessing the problem.

Knowing my hands-off policy in regards to laptops I was a little excited when I saw the book, Scott Mueller’s Upgrading and Repairing Laptops. Published by QUE, the book is MASSIVE, nearly 900 pages and includes a CD with over an hour of video on the inner workings of a portable PC. Since Mueller has been writing Upgrading and Repairing PCs since 1985, I consider him a pretty reliable source!

Let me say, even if your laptop is always on par, Scott Mueller’s Upgrading and Repairing Laptops is a good tutorial on laptops in general. Mueller’s coverage on the various laptops and their hardware components is quite comprehensive. If nothing else you will have a better understanding of how portable computers operate. For me operating a simple IBM ThinkPad, the information was mind-blowing!

The simple user that I am, I appreciated the section on maintenance which was split between preventative and active maintenance. Even better, the lists were divided by weekly and monthly tasks with instructions on how to perform each. I also enjoyed the many diagrams throughout the book which identified all the parts and how to access them. If you ever wanted to know how to remove the LCD screen, you now will know!

Scott Mueller’s Upgrading and Repairing Laptops is a great reference book, but I think you’ll agree that it’s geared more for the intermediate/advanced computer user. In a nutshell, all of the possible components of a laptop are discussed in detail along with possible upgrade / repair scenarios. From processors, memory upgrades, expansion slots to logging on to a Wi-Fi Hot Spot, this book has it all! The minute my laptop starts acting up I’ll quickly reach for Scott Mueller’s Upgrading and Repairing Laptops with confidence that I might not have to call a technician!

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