HardOCP.com: Status Quo is No Mo

[Krenum]

If in 2023 Nvidia and AMD announce new GPU's and the prices still remain at $1800-2500 for a GPU, I'm out. 25 years was a good run.

 

[sphinx99]

These days I find myself preferring video formats to long form electronic print. Reason? I'm multitasking more than ever. I can listen to a video (and occasionally glance at the large chart they post up every few minutes) while doing other things. These days I'm always moving around, I'm always doing something, and video is an incredibly flexible format to consume, particularly when done well with something like LTT where you don't need to pay a ton of attention or even have eyeballs on the screen to get the gist. If the topic is of greater interest, I can always deep dive it more deeply.

I'd also like to opine that there are plenty of YouTubers who dive into the details to a degree not seen in print e.g. I love watching channels like ICHIKEN Engineering which explore tech down to circuits, something that most of the traditional online long-form sites never truly could do.

 

[OutOfPhase]

If in 2023 Nvidia and AMD announce new GPU's and the prices still remain at $1800-2500 for a GPU, I'm out. 25 years was a good run.

As am I. More than I'm willing to spend, compared to cost/benefit for other things.

I'm super stubborn, so will play Dying Light and Master of Orion 2 until I die if this really goes down.

 

[staknhalo]

I wanna say "yeah i still need my 5950x to encode uhd, so I'll just pick up a ps5/playstation console again after all these years", but I can't even do that...

 

[Krenum]

As am I. More than I'm willing to spend, compared to cost/benefit for other things.

I'm super stubborn, so will play Dying Light and Master of Orion 2 until I die if this really goes down.

I hear ya, I have enough games on emulation to last a lifetime.

 

[FrgMstr]

I looked at the page twice - once on my desktop and once again on my phone disconnected from my wifi. Why? Because I was looking for an ad to load and figured my pi-hole had trashed the ad(s) - this is the exact kind of information I'm looking for and I figured the least I could do was make sure Kyle got some ad revenue. And... there were no ads? Like, damn, I feel kind of obligated to pay for this since it's treating the community right.

Ha! Sorry, nope, no ads, just like here. You cheap bastard.

 

[Susquehannock]

Great read. Well worth my annual $5 subscription. The paragraph ending below holds much for me and solidifies what I have been thinking for years. Those who spend top dollar for upper end PC components to be short-lived top dog in graphics test points are a dying breed. New breed wants simple and portable. Well over half the gaming sector is mobile. Has been for while now. And it's only growing.

............
I do think however that more and more people are not concerned with the inner workings of high-tech components and just want to buy something that suits their needs from a known brand that falls inside their budget. This market is evolving but I think the handwriting is on the wall especially regarding generations following Gen X. I do think that Millennials and Gen Z’ers are influenced to spend their money in different ways.

 

[Endgame]

Ha! Sorry, nope, no ads, just like here. You cheap bastard.

lol! Less cheap and more fed up with sites filled with shitty pop over / moving / drop down and other annoying ads. I’m finding as I get older, I’d rather just pay a sub for content I like than deal with ads.

 

[Endgame]

As am I. More than I'm willing to spend, compared to cost/benefit for other things.

I'm super stubborn, so will play Dying Light and Master of Orion 2 until I die if this really goes down.

The new(ish) master of Orion (conquer the Stars) is a nice enough graphics update I’m willing to deal with the change in mechanics. It will also run on a 5 year old APU, so graphics card shouldn’t be an issue.

 

[TheToE!]

What a day. First I find out an old school serious sam game released. Played that loved it, then I see a KB article pop up on hardocp.com. Nostalgia right there. As far as what Kyle's saying. I agree with him. It sucks, but that's where we're at.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

Influencers are one of the worst developments of modern times. A real cancer on society.

"Buy this thing because I am being paid to make you think it is cool" is the worst possible reason to buy anything.

There are still serious reviews of things in other fields. Cars, white wares, etc. etc, but they also tend to have a higher sticker price than what most people are spending on computer parts, even in this time of inflated price points.

To be honest, review sites with free review samples were always an odd incentive structure. The sites were being relied upon by readers to hold manufacturers accountable, but at the same time they were "sponsored" by the hardware vendors through review samples, ad banners and the like. It was always going to be difficult for many less principled reviewers to give honest reviews under that model. Some (like this site) were principled and gave honest reviews, others tried and fell short, and yet others were only pretending and were paid spokespeople in disguise.

Now it sounds as if the only category we have left is the last one, and they don't have to pretend anymore. Being an influencer just means you are a professional liar.

I certainly hope tech isn't the next thing in our lives to move to a "post fact" world, but it sure sounds like we are moving in that direction.

The best possible thing would be if we could get a PC hardware publication that follows the "Consumers Digest" model, with a paid subscription, buying all of its own hardware and reviewing it from a technical and critical perspective. Only thing is, peole have to be willing to pay for it, and with how undisciplined and unprincipled most people seem to be these days, I'm just not sure there are enough who would.

 

[learners permit]

Find reviewers you trust and support them via patreon. Very simple solution and no more need discussion or complacency.

 

[Catsonar]

 

[M76]

Find reviewers you trust and support them via patreon. Very simple solution and no more need discussion or complacency.

They seem to be doing pretty well alraedy. They are all growing, and even have money to spend on frivilous investments that will never see ROI.
I don't think them not getting review samples directly from nvidia will hurt them much.

They can give 'review' samples to streamers, but who watches streamers? Kids with an intel igp or worse who will never buy a $2000 graphics card. This seems eerily similar to when the entertainment industry tries to cater to the wrong audience, and look how well it is going for them. If Nvidia / AMD feels lucky and really thinks stream watchers have the purchasing power c'mon make my day. I'll laugh when they come crawling back to us who actually wants to play games, and not just watch some other idiot play them.

 

[vegeta535]

It really is a good time for me to be losing interest in the hobby. I don't plan on upgrading my system any time soon. When I do it will be back to simple air/AIO cooling. No more custom WC.

 

[harmattan]

Influencers are one of the worst developments of modern times. A real cancer on society.

"Buy this thing because I am being paid to make you think it is cool" is the worst possible reason to buy anything.

There are still serious reviews of things in other fields. Cars, white wares, etc. etc, but they also tend to have a higher sticker price than what most people are spending on computer parts, even in this time of inflated price points.

To be honest, review sites with free review samples were always an odd incentive structure. The sites were being relied upon by readers to hold manufacturers accountable, but at the same time they were "sponsored" by the hardware vendors through review samples, ad banners and the like. It was always going to be difficult for many less principled reviewers to give honest reviews under that model. Some (like this site) were principled and gave honest reviews, others tried and fell short, and yet others were only pretending and were paid spokespeople in disguise.

Now it sounds as if the only category we have left is the last one, and they don't have to pretend anymore. Being an influencer just means you are a professional liar.

I certainly hope tech isn't the next thing in our lives to move to a "post fact" world, but it sure sounds like we are moving in that direction.

The best possible thing would be if we could get a PC hardware publication that follows the "Consumers Digest" model, with a paid subscription, buying all of its own hardware and reviewing it from a technical and critical perspective. Only thing is, peole have to be willing to pay for it, and with how undisciplined and unprincipled most people seem to be these days, I'm just not sure there are enough who would.

Completely agree on "Influencers": they're a blight on society. That said, even their empire is starting to wain. Mention "Influencer" to a growing number of people over 25 today and you get "cringe" as a response. Interestingly, this general distaste has, uncommonly, moved down the age bracket instead of up i.e. it's expanding to younger age groups.

What we'll likely see is a melding of traditional reviewers (largely moved to video format) and influencer/shill. I think most enthusiasts will continue to avoid the ones that lean towards the latter, but as those of us who've been watching this game for a while know, the most dangerous entity will be the one who still presents data but is bought by the company(ies) to massage the data.

 

[jtm55]

Hi All
Thank you for addressing this Kyle. Your article confirmed what I believe is happening in the Hardware Review Industry while also confirming that MSRP is going to be removed . I wish it wasn’t so, but as you explained, the handwriting is on the wall.

 

[WorldExclusive]

This was seen coming for some time. When I saw Marques Brownlee review a 3090, I knew something was up.
That video got nearly 10M views. Way beyond any hardware reviewer can do.

No set GPU pricing and terrible game launches means PC gaming isn't dead but in zombie mode. It's not dead or alive, just aimlessly moving along seeking wallets to devour.

I conceded and just built an ITX PC that only takes an SFF GPU. I just buy the fastest one and call it a day, but I also have a price limit and don't mind not buying another GPU.
I have replaced gaming with other hobbies. I still like to come here for the nostalgic conversation about PC gaming....for now.

 

[Axman]

Influencers are one of the worst developments of modern times. A real cancer on society.

They're succeeding because they focus on content creation.

The tech press in general would have been better suited if it sought out writers who understood tech rather than techies they thought could write.

Everyone thinks that if they can read, then they must be able to write. That's like saying everyone who went to school knows how to teach, and everyone who eats knows how to cook. Might as well say everyone who knows how to drive must be able to make cars. TechTubers took off because they are competent content creators.

This is all entertainment. Hire entertainers.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

They're succeeding because they focus on content creation.

The tech press in general would have been better suited if it sought out writers who understood tech rather than techies they thought could write.

Everyone thinks that if they can read, then they must be able to write. That's like saying everyone who went to school knows how to teach, and everyone who eats knows how to cook. Might as well say everyone who knows how to drive must be able to make cars. TechTubers took off because they are competent content creators.

This is all entertainment. Hire entertainers.

I guess I've seen a few poorly written reviews over the years, but not a whole lot. At least not from the big sites.

That, and I know I am usually an outlier, but I have never viewed reviews as entertainment. I have viewed them as information, as data with which I can make a reasoned decision. They have been no more entertainment to me than reading an engineering white paper at work has been.

I think that's the problem with society these days. No one wants to put in the work to learn, understand and get good information. Everyone just wants dumb entertaimnent.

We get what we deserve as a species, and 90% of us just don't seem to care about anything. Everything gets targeted at them, and the 10% of us who do care about things that matter wind up being constantly frustrated.

The truth is that most humans are little more than animals, just doing what they want, when they want to and nit thinking or planning, instead just seeking immediate satisfaction, and it ruins everything for the rest of us.

 

[TangledThornz]

It really is a good time for me to be losing interest in the hobby. I don't plan on upgrading my system any time soon. When I do it will be back to simple air/AIO cooling. No more custom WC.

I quit gaming two years ago, below is a post I wrote here about it and why. I'm still not gaming and my three year old RTX 2060 is worth more than 2x (unreal!!) what I paid for so now it just runs NiceHash for some extra income. Quitting gaming has been a boost to my health and family. Plus I'm catching up on so much Netflix with lots of chill with the wife, lol.

https://hardforum.com/threads/i-quit-gaming.1998278/

 

[Nimisys]

I am not a sneaker head, but between the sneaker-bots, the no MSRP, unboxing videos, lack of substance reviews, etc makes me think we can look at that industry to see where we are headed. Given the difficulty of finding specific parts at "reasonable" costs, I am 90% sure my next rig will be a pre-built. Haven't done that in 30yrs.

 

[M76]

They're succeeding because they focus on content creation.

They are succeeding because today's youth is brought up in a bubble and have no real friends, so streamers serve as their imaginary pals.
Many of them who are succeeding are talentless hacks or worse. It's more about being at the right place at the right time and consistency.

The tech press in general would have been better suited if it sought out writers who understood tech rather than techies they thought could write.

Not all tech reviewers are bad writers, you can't blame the dwindling interest in written content on that. People don't read books either. You can have an award winning author writing tech reviews if the typical consumer is too lazy or distracted to read more than a twitter post at a time.

Everyone thinks that if they can read, then they must be able to write. That's like saying everyone who went to school knows how to teach, and everyone who eats knows how to cook. Might as well say everyone who knows how to drive must be able to make cars. TechTubers took off because they are competent content creators.

Written reviews are information, techtubers are entertainment. I've always said that. There should be room for both.

 

[pututu]

Soon (don't know when), in-person influencers may be replaced by AI humanoid in any shape or form as long at they can attract viewers/followers.

 

[Axdrenalin]

I read the entire piece Kyle. It's well written, and I can certainly agree with the observations you've presented. It's sad to see it all come to this, as many of us got our start back in the late 70's / early 80's and have seen a LOT of advancements and growth over the years. I've believed for years as an enthusiast that the landscape of computers and hardware has grown stagnant, while the advancements in technology has grown exponentially.

I never would've imagined back in the late 80's that we would have the incredible detail and near photo realism in graphics, have tremendous processing power and bandwidth at our disposal and be able to do real time broadcasting to online sites. While it's still a huge part of people's computer purchasing decisions, gaming means little to me anymore since I'm older, my vision has changed and I focus my hardware decisions on encoding, broadcasting and a bit of photo processing.

My heart will always be with the Tech Titans that I've relied on over the years to make educationed and well informed decisions. The [H]ardOCP website and Forums have been an essential part of my web surfing experience ever since I discovered the site and created an account. "Influencers" today mean nothing to me. As you mentioned in your article, they are simply paid shills to promote a product and will say whatever they have to in order to sell the product.

Computers and technology overall simply isn't as fascinating nor as fun to me as it once was "back in the day". Maybe I'm just old, cranky and too opinionated these days. These forums however, are still a highlight of my online research and daily reading, so I'm hopeful that they will be available forever!

 

[grim4593]

That, and I know I am usually an outlier, but I have never viewed reviews as entertainment. I have viewed them as information, as data with which I can make a reasoned decision. They have been no more entertainment to me than reading an engineering white paper at work has been.

In written form I would agree - reviews tend to be more dry and not a whole lot different than an engineering white paper. In my case it is the fastest way to search for and absorb specific pieces of information rapidly.
But in video form the charisma of the presenter is a significant factor. Having Ben Stein read a teleprompter with the "dry eye" voice? Pass. But to have a presenter that is entertaining and intelligent enough to explain something technical will let me sit through hours of videos.
Take a Youtube channel like Project Farm for example. I admit - his content is a bit dry. Do I really care which weed whacker blades cut through 1" trees the fastest? Not really. But I find those videos entertaining enough to watch and I remember the brands that come out ahead and later on know where to go back to for further research. If that same information were in text format I would never even look at it.

One thing I have grown to dislike over the years is that less and less technical knowledge is available in text form. As forums shut down one by one and information is presented in video form it is less and less accessible by search.

 

[Endgame]

In written form I would agree - reviews tend to be more dry and not a whole lot different than an engineering white paper. In my case it is the fastest way to search for and absorb specific pieces of information rapidly.
But in video form the charisma of the presenter is a significant factor. Having Ben Stein read a teleprompter with the "dry eye" voice? Pass. But to have a presenter that is entertaining and intelligent enough to explain something technical will let me sit through hours of videos.
Take a Youtube channel like Project Farm for example. I admit - his content is a bit dry. Do I really care which weed whacker blades cut through 1" trees the fastest? Not really. But I find those videos entertaining enough to watch and I remember the brands that come out ahead and later on know where to go back to for further research. If that same information were in text format I would never even look at it.

One thing I have grown to dislike over the years is that less and less technical knowledge is available in text form. As forums shut down one by one and information is presented in video form it is less and less accessible by search.

I doubt I will ever enjoy someone explaining a set graph of graphs to me on youtube over 20 minutes, when I could just look at results and get what I need in 3 mins or less. I just don't see the efficiency angle from putting something in video form.

 

[Axman]

I guess I've seen a few poorly written reviews over the years, but not a whole lot. At least not from the big sites.

That's not true, you only read poorly written reviews. The standards were -- are -- so low that nothing stands out. In the past, say 15 years, can you really remember any video card review you read? You even remember the name of the author? Reviews might have solid technical standards and good pedigrees, but bad writing is bad writing.

Have any hardware reviews stuck out as being able to change the way you think about life in general? I read Song of the Sausage Creature when I was a teenager and I'll never forget it. That was a review.

Written reviews are information, techtubers are entertainment. I've always said that. There should be room for both.

It's all about entertainment, even with information. Written stuff isn't on the decline, it's just that there's so much out there, that people have become extremely selective with what they bother to read.

The fact of the matter is that practically every tech website copied every other tech website, used the same, outdated format -- despite never being able to define a universal style -- and produced sterile, bland, bloated content, that could be immediately cribbed by entertainers, who provided our own information in better ways.

We, the tech press (I am guilty of making the same mistakes -- I'm really calling myself out, here) failed our audience. We abandoned you to TechTubers and paid shill websites by sticking to our boring, inoffensive, matter-of-fact guns. We acted like our competition was a dog-and-pony show, and they turned out to be rock stars. We didn't innovate, we didn't work hard enough to find a way to make numbers entertaining.

In hindsight, this is obvious. I wish we could have figured it out sooner.

 

[ochadd]

What Kyle wrote sounds accurate to me. My take on the change leans heavily towards the demographic of today's consumer. Most people want to be told what to buy without directly telling them what to do. They want to be influenced. I'm 40 years old and have been wrenching on computers for 25+ years. To everyone I know, I'm their computer guy. It's not news to me that people just want a good end solution. Instead of older folks it's now everyone. Teen gamer/streamers , professional folk, and older folks. It has been years since I had an intelligent bidirectional discussion about a computer component with someone in real life.

I recently discovered none of the technicians I work with ever heard of Anandtech...
A consultant configuring $$$,$$$ worth of network switches a week ago told me he built a computer with a "good Intel i5 or i9 something." He wasn't sure if he was running AMD or Nvidia graphics but it was a 2000 something. He plays allot of Call of Duty I guess. He had never heard of HardOCP, TechReport, or Anandtech. These are technical people in there 20s to early 30s doing complex work and building their computers that can't be bothered to research components in detail. They picked components because they were "good".

New SSD, CPU, and GPU launches are something I really look forward to. Reading about the march of technology in tangible equipment I can buy, it's awesome. I want to know why it's better, what advances were made, is it a better bang for my buck? I want IO response times at varying loads and when my speedy SLC write cache is going to fill.

The consumers being pandered to are the same people getting hurt trying to pet bison. No one specifically told them not to do these things at exactly the time they wanted to do it, so they do them. Or they weighed the risk of being gored with the reward of having a buffalo selfie and the selfie came up on top. Their minds just don't make decisions the way mine does. I'm not exactly old but I have such a disconnect with younger people already, it's scary to think about the outcast I'm bound to be in 20 years.

 

[Astral Abyss]

No one really cares how things work, except for the enthusiasts. The rest of the population would just as soon not be told how something works, just that it works.

I knew when CPU and GPU manufacturers started auto-overclocking their products that our days were numbered. Everything on a motherboard is set to "auto" instead of a number. No need to know anything.

Then, throw in COVID and government created shortages, where everything that can be produced is sold, and the reviewer on his soapbox just gets mowed down by the hoard rushing to press F5 and click Buy Now. If the product sucks, sell it for a profit to the next sucker. Sad.

 

[schoolslave]

That's not true, you only read poorly written reviews. The standards were -- are -- so low that nothing stands out. In the past, say 15 years, can you really remember any video card review you read? You even remember the name of the author? Reviews might have solid technical standards and good pedigrees, but bad writing is bad writing.

Have any hardware reviews stuck out as being able to change the way you think about life in general? I read Song of the Sausage Creature when I was a teenager and I'll never forget it. That was a review.



It's all about entertainment, even with information. Written stuff isn't on the decline, it's just that there's so much out there, that people have become extremely selective with what they bother to read.

The fact of the matter is that practically every tech website copied every other tech website, used the same, outdated format -- despite never being able to define a universal style -- and produced sterile, bland, bloated content, that could be immediately cribbed by entertainers, who provided our own information in better ways.

We, the tech press (I am guilty of making the same mistakes -- I'm really calling myself out, here) failed our audience. We abandoned you to TechTubers and paid shill websites by sticking to our boring, inoffensive, matter-of-fact guns. We acted like our competition was a dog-and-pony show, and they turned out to be rock stars. We didn't innovate, we didn't work hard enough to find a way to make numbers entertaining.

In hindsight, this is obvious. I wish we could have figured it out sooner.

Hard disagree. I will always value quality longform articles with “boring” numbers over flashy, “smash that subscribe button!!!1”, ad-infested “tech”tubers. Yes that means I may have to pay for such content as I used to for print magazines.

FWIW I can still quote older in-depth anand tech articles and lots of reviews from (the German) PC Games Magazin and PCGH Magazin articles. They were always well written, well edited, and most importantly dug into the technology being reviewed without trying to sell me something. The “entertainment” value is just my own personal intrinsic interest in the material - ie. being an “enthusiast” vs a consumer.

 

[Armenius]

In written form I would agree - reviews tend to be more dry and not a whole lot different than an engineering white paper. In my case it is the fastest way to search for and absorb specific pieces of information rapidly.
But in video form the charisma of the presenter is a significant factor. Having Ben Stein read a teleprompter with the "dry eye" voice? Pass. But to have a presenter that is entertaining and intelligent enough to explain something technical will let me sit through hours of videos.
Take a Youtube channel like Project Farm for example. I admit - his content is a bit dry. Do I really care which weed whacker blades cut through 1" trees the fastest? Not really. But I find those videos entertaining enough to watch and I remember the brands that come out ahead and later on know where to go back to for further research. If that same information were in text format I would never even look at it.

One thing I have grown to dislike over the years is that less and less technical knowledge is available in text form. As forums shut down one by one and information is presented in video form it is less and less accessible by search.

Your last statement is definitely one of concern. Finding useful information is more and more devolving into searching through comments on a video rather than the substance of the video, itself. If you're lucky you will get a timestamp, but more often than not I find more useful information being pulled out of the comments or discussion thread than wasting my time watching a mouthpiece do it on video and drag it out to over 10 minutes for Youtube's discovery algorithm. It's even worse with avenues like Discord that do everything in their power to actively avoid fostering discussions on topics and leaving some sort of viable archive. Then you get into shadowbans, user deletion, etc. and the internet is a bleak wasteland of knowledge without context.

 

[Fleat]

That's not true, you only read poorly written reviews. The standards were -- are -- so low that nothing stands out. In the past, say 15 years, can you really remember any video card review you read? You even remember the name of the author? Reviews might have solid technical standards and good pedigrees, but bad writing is bad writing.

Have any hardware reviews stuck out as being able to change the way you think about life in general? I read Song of the Sausage Creature when I was a teenager and I'll never forget it. That was a review.



It's all about entertainment, even with information. Written stuff isn't on the decline, it's just that there's so much out there, that people have become extremely selective with what they bother to read.

The fact of the matter is that practically every tech website copied every other tech website, used the same, outdated format -- despite never being able to define a universal style -- and produced sterile, bland, bloated content, that could be immediately cribbed by entertainers, who provided our own information in better ways.

We, the tech press (I am guilty of making the same mistakes -- I'm really calling myself out, here) failed our audience. We abandoned you to TechTubers and paid shill websites by sticking to our boring, inoffensive, matter-of-fact guns. We acted like our competition was a dog-and-pony show, and they turned out to be rock stars. We didn't innovate, we didn't work hard enough to find a way to make numbers entertaining.

In hindsight, this is obvious. I wish we could have figured it out sooner.

I am glad you jumped in here Axman, because this mirrors my thoughts in a lot of different respects. Content quality and entertainment value matter. I have tech YouTube videos that I watched 5+ years ago that still stick out in my mind. I can't say anything similar for the hundreds and hundreds of written hardware reviews I read over the years. They are so formulaic and dry that I can't think of a single one that stands out from any other.

This thread has really helped reinforce why forums and websites like notebookreviews are dying off. You have a bunch of ol' salty dogs (forum goers and hardware reviewers) that refuse to adapt or see any benefit in newer forms of media. The tech world is leaving you behind and instead of adapting or helping to improve what you think is "wrong", you just find comfort in complaining about it. On top of that, Kyle rolls in with an opinion piece and many of you bow down like an echo chamber is exactly what you need.

While I have certainly aged along with many of you that have been on these forums for a long time, I am glad that I am not nearly as jaded about content creation as it exists today. I would even say that YouTube tech content, Reddit, and even Twitter have helped get me interested in tech that I otherwise would not have - particularly if they only existed as long form written articles. I certainly don't disagree that you must filter some of the media because of influencers (or pick your reason), but that isn't really that different than what I did before with certain written reviewers or websites.

 

[M76]

It's all about entertainment, even with information.

When I want to find out how well made a product is, I don't want to read a pretentious cringe, article starting with "It was a fine sunday morning, the grass was green, and the birds were chirping outside..." I just want to know if the product is good or not and how it compares to the competition.

In the past, say 15 years, can you really remember any video card review you read?

That's like asking if you remember any weather forecasts from the last 15 years that you read? No, because I don't need to, or even want to. If I remembered it that would be a problem. I gleamed the information that I needed from it and that's it, it served its purpose.

Written stuff isn't on the decline, it's just that there's so much out there, that people have become extremely selective with what they bother to read.

Then why are all written review sites struggling?

The fact of the matter is that practically every tech website copied every other tech website, used the same, outdated format -- despite never being able to define a universal style -- and produced sterile, bland, bloated content, that could be immediately cribbed by entertainers, who provided our own information in better ways.

Video format is the least effective way to communicate information. What you can gleam by reading a 5 page written review with graphs and tables in 5 minutes takes 30 minutes of your undivided attention in video format at least, and you won't remember half of it by the end.

We, the tech press (I am guilty of making the same mistakes -- I'm really calling myself out, here) failed our audience. We abandoned you to TechTubers and paid shill websites by sticking to our boring, inoffensive, matter-of-fact guns. We acted like our competition was a dog-and-pony show, and they turned out to be rock stars. We didn't innovate, we didn't work hard enough to find a way to make numbers entertaining.

In hindsight, this is obvious. I wish we could have figured it out sooner.

It's the readership who abandoned reading in favor of cheap thrills and manufactured on screen drama.

 

[Darunion]

It's the readership who abandoned reading in favor of cheap thrills and manufactured on screen drama.

Sad but true. The tech tubers are just producing what is wanting to be consumed.

Video killed the radio star

 

[Endgame]

That's not true, you only read poorly written reviews. The standards were -- are -- so low that nothing stands out. In the past, say 15 years, can you really remember any video card review you read? You even remember the name of the author? Reviews might have solid technical standards and good pedigrees, but bad writing is bad writing.

Anand's SSD reviews stand out immediately, especially when he was discussing the Sandforce controllers that everyone was using at the time that were way cheaper than intel. In fact, a lot of what Anand wrote was excellent now that I think on it a bit.

 

[XenIneX]

When I want to find out how well made a product is, I don't want to read a pretentious cringe, article starting with "It was a fine sunday morning, the grass was green, and the birds were chirping outside..." I just want to know if the product is good or not and how it compares to the competition.

That's like asking if you remember any weather forecasts from the last 15 years that you read? No, because I don't need to, or even want to. If I remembered it that would be a problem. I gleamed the information that I needed from it and that's it, it served its purpose.

Then why are all written review sites struggling?

Video format is the least effective way to communicate information. What you can gleam by reading a 5 page written review with graphs and tables in 5 minutes takes 30 minutes of your undivided attention in video format at least, and you won't remember half of it by the end.

It's the readership who abandoned reading in favor of cheap thrills and manufactured on screen drama.

Except it isn't five pages.

It's a page introducing the product. Then one showing how it's specs line up against the competitors. Then one showing detail images of the electronics. Then one giving the benchmark setup. Then twenty identical pages showing graphs of performance across different games. Then a page graphing the average of the previous twenty pages of graphs. Then a page for thermals. Then one for power draw. Then for sound levels. Then overclocking. Then the conclusion. All of these boilerplate from their reviewing-product-of-X-type template.

Now repeat all that for the indistinguishable same-thing-but-with-{RGB / bigger heatsink / the word "gamer") models the manufacturer made to drive up MSRP. And multiply that by a half dozen manufacturers. And another half-dozen times over for each of the product line variants.

And then repeat it all 18 months later.

Sad but true. The tech tubers are just producing what is wanting to be consumed.

Video killed the radio star

Video didn't kill the radio star. Radio being same-y, low-quality trash killed the radio star.

Anand's SSD reviews stand out immediately, especially when he was discussing the Sandforce controllers that everyone was using at the time that were way cheaper than intel. In fact, a lot of what Anand wrote was excellent now that I think on it a bit.

And how long's it been since Anand Shimpi checked out of the website which bears his name? Hell, I still lament that Brian Klug moved on to other things -- when he reviewed a cellphone, you knew you were in for a deep dive.

But these days, Anandtech is a shell of its former self. Sure, they manage a fair look into each new generation of cpus. But mostly, I look at the front page and see keynote liveblogs, interviews with whichever SVP is trying to shill their latest product, and Amazon affiliate links for whatever middling computer component happens to be on sale this week.

 

[FrgMstr]

On top of that, Kyle rolls in with an opinion piece and many of you bow down like an echo chamber is exactly what you need.

The biggest reason why I never wanted to transition and rely on YouTube is that it was a platform that I did not own or control in any way. Just personally did not seem like a good business decision to me.

That said, I think you might be missing the point. I am not slagging off TechTubers. What I am saying is that the hardware review industry is changing from its current state due to demographic changes that are transpiring in the world of computer hardware tech. My thoughts address the quality of content in no way, shape, or form.

 

[[Spectre]]

That's not true, you only read poorly written reviews. The standards were -- are -- so low that nothing stands out. In the past, say 15 years, can you really remember any video card review you read? You even remember the name of the author? Reviews might have solid technical standards and good pedigrees, but bad writing is bad writing.

Have any hardware reviews stuck out as being able to change the way you think about life in general? I read Song of the Sausage Creature when I was a teenager and I'll never forget it. That was a review.

Well, I still get people who mention various PSU reviews I did/still do that have stood out. Then again, I tend to break things.

 

[Fleat]

The biggest reason why I never wanted to transition and rely on YouTube is that it was a platform that I did not own or control in any way. Just personally did not seem like a good business decision to me.

That said, I think you might be missing the point. I am not slagging off TechTubers. What I am saying is that the hardware review industry is changing from its current state due to demographic changes that are transpiring in the world of computer hardware tech. My thoughts address the quality of content in no way, shape, or form.

You made the decision you felt was right for your business and I can respect that. Whether or not it was the right decision in the long run, well, only you can decide that.

My comment also wasn't in relation to your perception of the quality of the content. It was the link between your opinion piece and the people here who obviously feel comfort in what you wrote and how they feel about the industry changes. I could have been a bit more clear in that regard.

Also, in fairness, your statement at the bottom of the article "Don’t take my opinions above as something I am happy about or even want to see happen at all." is a very non-committal way to take a stance even if it is intended to comment about the industry changes and not quality. In any case, I don't intend or need to defend the TechTubers quality, these problems typically work themselves out with survival of the financially fittest.

I was hoping to at least enlighten a few people that it isn't all bad. People often like to focus on what they are losing vs what they are gaining, and exposing more people in the world to technology of all varieties with more accessible content is a net positive if you are an enthusiast. As myself and others have mentioned, the previous tech review and coverage space was stale and not evolving. Without adapting, the audience dwindles and so do the product offerings.