This book investigates the core question of how a consumer can systematically evaluate and select computer hardware in an emerging personal computing market. Howard Hillman, an author known for consumer-oriented guides, provides a structured framework designed to minimize buyer risk. The text utilizes a checklist-based methodology to help readers navigate the technical specifications and compatibility requirements of early 1980s computing systems.

Experts identify this work as a historical snapshot of the early consumer computing era, reflecting the specific anxieties and technical limitations of the time. Readers frequently note the practical, non-technical language used to demystify complex purchasing decisions for the average user.