Current Events > Ever feel like tech reviewers give absoutely zero fucks about price?

(+) Yeah! (+)

This is a pretty niche complaint maybe but I keep having this problem basically any time I want to buy a new thing, usually a new tech thing. I tend to watch review videos or read review articles to do it.

Kitchen scales, for example. The reviewer will go through say 5 options, discussing the pros and cons of each, and then give a clear winner.

And every time that clear winner is around 5x the price of every other competitor.

My god a set of food scales should not cost $80, but that is what these guys are recommending you buy to weigh your flour.

It makes more sense when you remember that most of these people are sent the item they are reviewing for free in exchange for an "honest" review.

Many of them are so rich that they don't really worry about the price.

I dunno.

Most of the stuff I look at does 'best thing under 500, 1000, etc', or gives 'best for those on a budget' recommendations. Or even says whether they think the extra cost is worth it.

(For reference, I was shopping for new hifi speakers, a fan, and a rice cooker).

theres more to price than up front cost. consider things like value for money. $500 budget android that gets 1 year of updates vs $1000 low end iphone that gets 7 years of support

Tech Company: Shill our most expensive product, and you can have it for free!

I think it makes sense to not care much about the price as a reviewer unless you are specifically trying to make some sort of budget review service. The features of the product itself like what it does / how it works / whether it's effective at the task are all kind of inherent to the product? like your set of scales will have certain tolerances and be a certain level of sturdy and etc regardless of who is buying it.

whereas the price on the other hand depends a lot on who is buying, since whether that level of quality is worth it to you or not is basically all about how much money you have and how willing you are to spend in general. you can look at the things that were stated in the review and check the written price and decide if it's worth that price to you specifically

kirbymuncher posted...

I think it makes sense to not care much about the price as a reviewer unless you are specifically trying to make some sort of budget review service. The features of the product itself like what it does / how it works / whether it's effective at the task are all kind of inherent to the product? like your set of scales will have certain tolerances and be a certain level of sturdy and etc regardless of who is buying it.

whereas the price on the other hand depends a lot on who is buying, since whether that level of quality is worth it to you or not is basically all about how much money you have and how willing you are to spend in general. you can look at the things that were stated in the review and check the written price and decide if it's worth that price to you specifically

Agree with this. Unless it's specifically a "budget" review or anything like that, it doesn't really make sense to consider price in the actual review score itself or anything, because what price points people find worth it are going to wildly vary. They review the products themselves, then people can look at the prices and decide if the best reviewed one is too pricy, then move down the list, or so on.

They get them for free so they dont care.

when they're not sent free review copies they're buying them with money they get off of ad revenue for their channel or patreon donations to keep producing their content. of course price doesn't really factor in to them, they are paid to ignore it.

Not tech-related, but I find this also applies to certain men's clothing channels I watch on Youtube.

**shakes fist at Tim Dessaint.**

For most independent reviewers nowadays if they arent being brought off to shill then they arent in the business for long when companys stop sending them goods for free due to their poor reviews.

In my opinion none of them are worth watching anymore.

bloodyarts posted...

Not tech-related, but I find this also applies to certain men's clothing channels I watch on Youtube.

**shakes fist at Tim Dessaint.**

Ah yes, the "don't buy this 30 shirt, buy this 250 shirt instead, it's much better" thing.

Like...no shit it's better, it better be better. Does it come with a first class plain ticket to spain too?

I'm reminded of when tech channels were freaking out about how the new Macbooks can run RE7. It costs close to $3,000, it better.

yeah I'm not really a fan of tech youtube tbh. A lot of it feels like "you need the absolute best of the best to even consider yourself into technology"

like being an enthusiast is cool and all, but a ton of ppl can get by with more budget-friendly options. Especially things like GPUs or cell phones. idk, I'm prob biased cus my parents didn't really have money when I was growing up so I'm usually content with mid to lower range stuff

the only reviewers I see that really shine a light on cheaper options are in music gear review youtube. one channel I like is pretty good about only reviewing cheaper/more budget-friendly gear and very rarely talks about their more expensive gear

idk, I think at the end of the day, shifting focus onto mostly expensive things just makes certain hobbies *feel* less accessible. Like with PC gaming, I think a lot of ppl still have the idea that it's crazy expensive to get into it when in reality a ton of ppl could get by with a mid-range build that costs around the same as a modern console.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

There's a whole cinematic universe of industry plants masquerading as normal, organic YouTube channels and influencers. MrMobile is probably the most egregious example. The publishing company behind PC Gamer and TechRadar hired a failed actor and propped up a YouTube channel where he reviews tech, and almost all of his content is just him attending launch parties/press events or just doing rich elder Millennial shit in expensive cities while reading from these really overindulgent and tryhard scripts. It happens to a lesser extent with gaming too. A lot of "Simmer" YouTubers are directly and indirectly sponsored by EA and there's been rumors of a few Sea of Thieves streamers being paid by Microsoft.

I can't even begin to get into Marques Brownlee lmao. He got his start being a spoiled rich kid doing unboxing videos and if you take away the admittedly impressive production values he now has, he's still borderline making the same exact kind of content.

That's how I feel about video game reviews

Doesn't feel good to buy a 7 or 8 outta 10 for 60+ bucks

BucketCat posted...

a ton of ppl could get by with a mid-range build that costs around the same as a modern console.

Biggest issue with a $500~ PC is you are going to not be competitive with console visuals or performance. For $700 you could probably do well on an AM4 CPU and get a 9060 xt or (if lucky) a 5060 ti 16GB

But yeah, you don't need the best of the best that's for sure

BucketCat posted...

Like with PC gaming, I think a lot of ppl still have the idea that it's crazy expensive to get into it when in reality a ton of ppl could get by with a mid-range build that costs around the same as a modern console.

Yeah, even here. People will literally say they have a specific budget, and ask which is better between the 2 affordable options they are considering, and the first response is "get/wait for the 9999ti Founders Unlocked!!" product.

You can enjoy a game in 1080p/Medium settings just as much as the person with the highest end rig.

As far as TV's and gaming stuff go, the tech companies still separate things into price categories. Probably harder to find that for more niche tech though.

Definitely. They dont pay for it and theyre being paid to hype it up. The price is the main drawback, so theyre going to frame it like its a life investment thats worth every penny.

They absolutely don't, or make shit up about perceived "value" for the cost instead of just how the actual product works for the price you're paying.

My biggest issue is GPU reviewers and upscalers. I know how a fucking upscaler works, and if I have to do a 15x zoom to see a difference I don't give a fuck, just tell me the how the card functions natively on the review for the card itself. You can review the upscalers separately since those just work for every card in the line.