A Tale of Two Librarians (and a few laptops)
Last week I decided to purchase a new Netbook and went about doing so in a very librarian-like way, researching before making a final decision. Ironically, three days later, a friend and fellow MCLS librarian, Andrea, told me she too had purchased a laptop last week and, in true librarian fashion, told me more about the search process than the actual laptop. This got me thinking about a question we frequently get at the reference desk – which (insert product type here) should I buy? Usually followed by, if you don’t know of a model, can you tell me which brands are good? Librarian ethics say we should never insert a personal opinion in an answer, so you’ll always get a set of reviews from us instead of a specific product suggestion. The final decision comes down to personal preference and the best we can do is give you the tools to get to that decision. Perhaps knowing how two librarians would search for laptops can serve as a good example of how to research tech products, so here’s a how-to on researching tech toys.
Sometimes the first decision you need to make is, do you need to have this product right now or can you wait to have it shipped? While the so-called big box stores seem to have a lot of floor space, they often can’t stock every model so if you simply must pick up the item today, the first limit would be which product is on the shelf at the local store. Your first stop in this case would be the retailer’s website. Most have real-time inventory so you can find out what is available before you even venture out the door. If you aren’t limited and are willing to wait for delivery of an online purchase, you can either start by looking at reviews or looking at sites to see what is available from the online retailers.
Next, you want to think about the features you need or would want in your tech product. It’s worth noting that you want to keep as broad a search as possible. Andrea started off looking for a netbook as well and found that she could get an inexpensive laptop that did more for around the same price. I stuck with a netbook because I wanted the smaller format. If you aren’t sure of what to look for in terms of features, take a look at eHow, which has guides ranging from comparing universal remote controls to standard mp3 player features. The site has a search box so try typing in the product type and the word features to get articles to help you decide what you need on your device. Eliminate the models that don’t meet your needs and move on to the reviews.
In the great laptop search, Andrea opted for Consumer Reports while I went the customer review route. If you want to get the expert opinions, there are a few places to turn. The Consumer Reports website has buying guides you can view for free, but the reviews require a subscription. Fortunately, MCLS offers Ebsco MasterFile, which contains full articles from the magazine. Some products, such as digital cameras, are also reviewed by topical magazines like Popular Photography or PC World. A site that combines professional and customer reviews is cNet, which does a nice job of organizing the reviews and covering almost every model available. Almost all of the retailer websites now offer customer reviews, so they are a good source of information as well. The benefit of a customer review is they give a real-world opinion on a product, so you can find out about how something performs under long-term typical use as opposed to a brief hands-on review. One word of caution, some “customers” may be company plants so you have to balance the good and bad reviews, since either could have been posted to sway a product rating (also why a 3 out of 5 star product may not be a bad deal). After weeding out suspect models, you can compare the remaining prospects.
If you can get to a store that lets you try the product, you can see how well you interact with different models. Test to see if things like the placement of buttons fit the way you might hold a product or if they get in the way, look at the construction to see if there are trouble spots where plastic might break, take a real good hard look at display screens to see if there is too much glare or if the screen is big enough, and for items like mp3 players and cell phones, look at the menu structure to see if it is easy to navigate. Of course, go into the store armed with your comparison notes. Unless you plan to test and leave to purchase online, you want to make sure you have your information with you when you deal with a salesperson. You should make sure to note the models you are comparing, features, and price information (both for the model and some store comparisons). In the case of the laptops, the final decision for both of us came down to comparing the pros and cons of a few different models. Having used reviews, customer input and store inventory, we were both able to narrow the search down to three to five models and then, yes, went with a well-informed personal preference.
Sometimes the first decision you need to make is, do you need to have this product right now or can you wait to have it shipped? While the so-called big box stores seem to have a lot of floor space, they often can’t stock every model so if you simply must pick up the item today, the first limit would be which product is on the shelf at the local store. Your first stop in this case would be the retailer’s website. Most have real-time inventory so you can find out what is available before you even venture out the door. If you aren’t limited and are willing to wait for delivery of an online purchase, you can either start by looking at reviews or looking at sites to see what is available from the online retailers.
Next, you want to think about the features you need or would want in your tech product. It’s worth noting that you want to keep as broad a search as possible. Andrea started off looking for a netbook as well and found that she could get an inexpensive laptop that did more for around the same price. I stuck with a netbook because I wanted the smaller format. If you aren’t sure of what to look for in terms of features, take a look at eHow, which has guides ranging from comparing universal remote controls to standard mp3 player features. The site has a search box so try typing in the product type and the word features to get articles to help you decide what you need on your device. Eliminate the models that don’t meet your needs and move on to the reviews.
In the great laptop search, Andrea opted for Consumer Reports while I went the customer review route. If you want to get the expert opinions, there are a few places to turn. The Consumer Reports website has buying guides you can view for free, but the reviews require a subscription. Fortunately, MCLS offers Ebsco MasterFile, which contains full articles from the magazine. Some products, such as digital cameras, are also reviewed by topical magazines like Popular Photography or PC World. A site that combines professional and customer reviews is cNet, which does a nice job of organizing the reviews and covering almost every model available. Almost all of the retailer websites now offer customer reviews, so they are a good source of information as well. The benefit of a customer review is they give a real-world opinion on a product, so you can find out about how something performs under long-term typical use as opposed to a brief hands-on review. One word of caution, some “customers” may be company plants so you have to balance the good and bad reviews, since either could have been posted to sway a product rating (also why a 3 out of 5 star product may not be a bad deal). After weeding out suspect models, you can compare the remaining prospects.
If you can get to a store that lets you try the product, you can see how well you interact with different models. Test to see if things like the placement of buttons fit the way you might hold a product or if they get in the way, look at the construction to see if there are trouble spots where plastic might break, take a real good hard look at display screens to see if there is too much glare or if the screen is big enough, and for items like mp3 players and cell phones, look at the menu structure to see if it is easy to navigate. Of course, go into the store armed with your comparison notes. Unless you plan to test and leave to purchase online, you want to make sure you have your information with you when you deal with a salesperson. You should make sure to note the models you are comparing, features, and price information (both for the model and some store comparisons). In the case of the laptops, the final decision for both of us came down to comparing the pros and cons of a few different models. Having used reviews, customer input and store inventory, we were both able to narrow the search down to three to five models and then, yes, went with a well-informed personal preference.
- Laura N.
Great advice, I recently purchased a netbook and found the Cnet website helpful. Also went into local retailer and chatted with the salesperson to see what they had to say. Also good advice about the customer reviews.
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