Hardware covered on latest A+ exams?

darkeyes533

I've been downloading pdf's and checking out books from the (limited) public library in an attempt to study for the A+ core exam. I've noticed that even the more recent books (2005,2006) have alot of material about isa slots, parallel ports, and other hardware that I consider more or less obsolete.
I've been making a living building and selling computers (from rebuilt pentium 2's to custom $1500+ core duo gamers) for about 5 years now; the last year I have also been doing repairs and service calls on desktops and laptops; and am certified by Toshiba to do warranty work. In all my experience, I have only used parallel port devices 3 or 4 times, serial ports never, and in the last few years very rarely come across isa cards still in use- and the few times I did, it was when they had fried from old age and needed to be replaced and upgraded.
Are the books and guides I have been reading out-of-date, or do they pertain to the current exams? Should I dish out the cash for the absolute latest study guides, or do I really need to go back and learn all this material that doesn't have any practical application besides for taking the certification exams? Do the latest tests cover socket 775 and am2 processors, pci-e 16x, esata, ddr2, ddr3, and other hardware that I handle on a daily basis, but seems to be absent from the exam literature?
Even the assessment quizzes on this site (and others) seem very outdated.
I can see the value of learning the essentials and foundations of computer hardware, but isn't up-to-date technology at least as important to know when doing service calls or building pc's?

Basically, my question is: what is the oldest and newest hardware covered on the latest A+ exams?

Soulreaver

here are the objectives for the A+ exam

http://certification.comptia.org/resources/objectives.aspx

hope it helps you

brad-

I just took both of the 2006 tests a few weeks back, and I dont recall any of the old legacy stuff. You do need to make sure you have up to date study materials.

I used Mike Myer's Passport, Exam Cram 2, and this site.

That said, there was alot of left feild material on my tests...no matter how much I studied i would have never encountered it.

freetech

I do service calss in businesses for a living and you'll find a lot more of that stuff in businesses and manufacturing than you do in homes. There are some sensors, motors, and peripherals that ONLY work with ISA. It's too expensive to replace and it's still working so...fix it.
Same with printers, copiers, scanners, phone systems.
I could go on and on.
Hope this helps