Power electronics is one of those engineering subjects where the book matters less as a passive reading assignment and more as a working bench reference. Students move back and forth between converter topologies, waveforms, switching logic, and derivations until the subject starts to make physical sense. For ISBN 9780073380674, the buying decision therefore comes down to time horizon: do you need the lowest-cost temporary access, or do you need a technical book worth keeping?

If you only need the buying answer

The cheapest short-term path is digital Connect access at about $63.79 for 180 days. If you only need this course for one term, digital wins. But the current new print listing at $98.33 is still lower than quarter rental at $121.54 and far below the sampled new-print market at $223.93. That makes this another split case: digital is best for the cheapest short-term route, while print is the stronger ownership option if you expect to revisit power-conversion material later.

Price comparison

Store	Format	Condition	Price	Link
Merybook	Paperback	New	$98.33	Check price
Connect	eTextbook	180 days	$63.79	Check digital option
eCampus	Quarter rental	Rental	$121.54	Check rental option
eCampus	Marketplace	Varies	$168.21	Check marketplace
eCampus	Paperback	New	$223.93	Check new market

What this price means in practice

Rental is not the smart middle option here. It is simply more expensive than the current new print listing. That leaves two honest choices: digital for the cheapest semester-bound route, or print for long-term ownership. Once the course is over, a rented copy disappears and a short digital license expires. A kept print copy does not.

That matters more in power electronics than in softer survey courses. This is a subject where many students later need to reopen a topology, retrace a derivation, or compare switching behavior across devices. When that happens, the value of an owned copy becomes obvious very quickly.

What this book actually teaches

Power Electronics is fundamentally about how electrical energy is converted, controlled, and shaped through circuits, switching devices, and converter architectures. A serious course in this area typically asks students to do more than memorize names. It asks them to understand why a converter behaves the way it does, how waveforms reflect switching choices, and where efficiency, control, and hardware constraints start to interact.

That is why books in this area are so reusable. The useful part is not just the chapter text. It is the way the book organizes rectifiers, choppers, inverters, control ideas, and worked examples into a technical structure students can return to. For anyone heading toward machines, motor drives, energy conversion, or controls, that reuse value is real.

Who should choose digital, and who should choose print

Choose digital if your only goal is the cheapest one-term access or if the section requires Connect for graded work anyway. That is the clean short-term answer.

Choose print if you expect to revisit the material in later engineering courses or want a copy you can annotate heavily while solving problems. At the current price, the print route is strong enough to justify ownership.

Sources checked

Sources checked: Merybook listing search for ISBN 9780073380674, McGraw Hill Connect pricing, and eCampus new, marketplace, and rental pricing. Pricing reviewed April 19, 2026.