Apple Training Series: Desktop and Portable Systems Paperback – 14 July 2005

The best

book delivered on time and as describled

An Apple repair manual for desktops and portables printed by Apple? I couldn't believe it when I saw it on Amazon; so, I had to order it!All the essential information for user upgradeable components is covered in great detail with pictures. There are trouble shooting procedures for each recent Apple desktop and portable. When my iBook refused to boot, I diagnosed the need for a logic board upgrade using the book. (I was 99% sure of the problem before since I had a similar issue on a refurb iBook a year or so prior, but I digress...)Detailed procedures are provided for all the steps up to the point but not including the instructions needed to remove the logic board. (This is true for each model, not just the iBook.) When disassembling and re-assembling the iBook, it is very important that these instructions be followed exactly and the correct screws used for each hole. Failure to put the correct screw type in the proper hole can (and will) damage the iBook logic board, optical drive, and other components. (I almost learned this the hard way, and I don't recall seeing this warning in the book!) I was able to install my own logic board by carefully marking each screw with its location on a set of diagrams I drew. This took extra time, but it saved me from breaking another component. Also, make sure that you attach the heat sink correctly with the proper heat conducting tape.It would have been nice to expand coverage to include removal and installation of logic boards. This would greatly expand the number of pages of the book, possibly making it unwieldy. Perhaps this should have been two books? one for desktops and one for portables?

My old G4 desktop suddenly died, with some weird patterns on the screen and, though the power and fan kept going, there were none of the usual sounds from the harddrive. I live in a town with no Apple repairs and being short on money, didn't have funds to ship it off and potentially write a blank check to some repair guy I would never see. I didn't even know if it would be worth doing at all. Peachpit has a good trackrecord for Mac stuff, so I gambled and ordered this book to figure out what to do next, to see if it would even be worth fixing. Well, the book helped a lot, and narrowed things down to a motherboard problem, with either a replacement of the motherboard battery ($15) or the motherboard itself (ouch, over $700 from what I could find). I replaced the battery and that wasn't it, so this book saved me from shipping off my computer and paying for the shipping and then with that money already gone, trying to figure out what to do about a motherboard + repair cost I wouldn't have had the money to cover. So my computer is still dead, but at least I didn't throw a lot of good money after bad money. It is a nice book, attractive design, etc. Worth its weight in gold for those folks stuck in rural areas without Apple repair places nearby. I would have given it 5 stars but I still needed to check some stuff online at Mac FAQ that had some better diagrams and photos of battery replacement.

this book did not cover the g5 machines if you have a g5 apple you will be dissapointed as i have to go to you tube to offfically learn how to take my g5 appart motherboard wise. luckily i have one and a dead one for practice, or i would be screwed