Another Day With My PC

How many of you are relying on user reviews for honest-to-goodness advices on how to spot a good PC?

Many are already aware that the claims made by computer makers in their ads are only half true. It’s not surprising, actually. Advertisements are littered with promises that are qualified by fine prints. The business of manufacturing and selling computers is so tight and competitive that makers would probably promise you the moon just to make you part with your money.

Simple and Honest

As consumers are starting to realize that ads are replete with exaggerations, user reviews are fast becoming the literature of choice for buyers who would want to find out if the PC that they intend to buy really lives up to the claims and specifications that its maker plasters on newspapers and magazines. Indeed, as between the words of the manufacturer and the claims of a fellow user or buyer, the latter seems to be more credible and unbiased.

Another reason why user reviews are more appealing than product manuals is that it deals squarely with the topics or questions that buyers generally have in mind. While the information that the PC maker provide may be complete, it is laced with terms that sometimes only technicians could understand. Less “techie” buyers are easily turned off by terms that they don’t understand. User reviews usually do not use esoteric words as they are written by people who also do not know what a serial bus means.

Same Pen, Different Hand

While user reviews are steadily becoming the information pond of choice by many consumers, experts are warning that the marketing groups that buyers are trying to avoid might actually be the very ones who are running the blogs or articles that are purportedly written by ordinary PC users.

Before you put your trust on a review, make sure to read a few more posts on the topic. You would be able to notice which articles are biased or are written to promote or malign a product. Checking the profile of the person who posted the write up could also be helpful. However, they may have already thought of covering that up so you might want to look for other ways to verify his background.

Legit But Not Credible

Not all articles posted by paid bloggers or writers are biased and contain falsities, though. There are times when companies resort to blog invasions in order to reach out to people who shun technical details and instead turn to ordinary people for explanation. Hence, posting or running an article purportedly by a regular Joe would definitely help PC makers clarify or explain things in simple terms that they wouldn’t normally be able to do on ads or manuals.

Also, not all reviews by ordinary PC users are helpful. Sometimes, they do more harm than good. Regular folks usually do not know how to properly benchmark a computer and its components. Hence, their claims may actually be inaccurate or even outright erroneous. There are a lot of things that have to be considered when testing something on a controlled environment, such as the software and hardware that are being used. You also have to ascertain if they’re using the right benchmarking tool and equipment.

Do not solely rely on what other people say. You have to make your own assessment. Read as many articles on a given topic, including the ones written by the PC maker.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 at 12:30 am and is filed under General . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.