It is humorous in hindsight, although I suppose the editors were trying to indicate that you would learn about cool up-to-date technology.
I restored one Predicta and can testify that removing the PC board is a big pain in the rear:
http://antiqueradio.org/philc12.htm .
I'm not a big fan of series-string TVs or radios any more. That design was used to save money, and the desire to economize shows up in other things, too. It's more fun to work on good stuff than junky stuff!