Do you know where I can find Consumer Reports?

Consumer Reports Online Edition was added to Mercer County Library System’s list of resources this past fall and runs the gamut of products readers have come to expect from the print magazine, while also offering new and interactive ways to find the best deals on the highest rated products. This patron-requested resource is now available to you both in-branch and on the go.

The online edition is organized by categories: Cars, Home & Garden, Appliances, Electronics, Babies, Digital Security, Deals, and More+.

I’m using Consumer Reports Online Edition to help family members shop for a new laptop. Performing a search brings up the Laptops & Chromebooks page with tabs for Overview, Ratings & Reliability, Recommend, and Buying Guide.

The family member I’m helping is currently using a mid-size, 15in laptop. They prefer a laptop of comparable size, but with a larger, solid-state drive as they plan to mainly store their files locally. The laptop should have the capability to handle some power-intensive tasks in addition to everyday internet browsing and composing documents. They need both USB C and USB A ports. Using Consumer Reports Online Edition, we were able to view a wide variety of options to compare and contrast in the search for the best deal.

With CR, I was able to access digital editions of the print magazine and view the 5 Year Index, which “Lists all the articles published in the magazine over the past 5 years”. The index listed articles from March 2024 where I compared the laptops Acer Chromebook Vero and Lenovo IdeaPad.

I also read the Consumer Reports Buying Guide interactive digital edition. Patrons may remember the pocket-sized, print version of the Buying Guide. Laptops can be found starting on page 65 where CR provides four pages of ratings on 67 different options.

Shop CR Deals includes Best Deals Under $100, $50, and $25 with reviews and where to buy. For my search, this section works well when shopping for tech accessories for the laptop, like Bluetooth earbuds, speakers, and even printers. You can even find a laptop stand for under $25.

The Member Benefits section includes two features beneficial to my search. Best Time to Buy is a visual breakdown of what time of year is best to buy which products. You can select by month or by product. Laptops are found on this page under Computers, with the best time to buy months listed as August, September, November, and December. Shop and Compare lists a variety of brands and products with links to individual pages profiling each option.

Shop Smart displays Ratings & Reviews, which provides unlimited access to a list of products from A-Z with the option to filter by category or by general search. To reach laptops I would select Electronics under Filter by Category and scroll down to L. I could also key in laptops under the search bar. Related to my search, this section also includes Stay Safe & Secure, a Security Planner that offers “customized recommendations to keep your data secure”. By selecting your issue, you can follow the pathways to a collection of guides where you can learn how to “Set Up HTTPS-Only Mode on Your Browser”, “Get a Password Manager”, “Use a Security Key” and many more.

The main Laptops & Chromebooks page is broken down into the following:

Overview, which splits the listings by category with a short summary of each type and links to recommendations and ratings for each. Here I would select laptops. After choosing a category, I next visit Ratings & Reliability. This page presents a highest to lowest rating by laptop screen size: Small (10- to 13-Inch), Medium (14- to 16-Inch), and Large (17- to 18-Inch). You’ll see rankings for each model in predicted reliability, owner satisfaction, portability, performance, and more.

If I’m looking for more detailed information about individual laptops, I would select Recommend. This goes into greater depth about why each CR Recommended item has earned its high rating. For example, some of what CR says about its top pick for 17-to-18-inch Laptops, the LG Gram Pro 17 (2024), is “a nice choice for portability, which is uncommon for a 17-inch laptop. It is a lightweight 2.9 lbs, and has very long battery life, averaging 18.25 hours in web browsing tests and 17.25 hours in video playback. It gets a slight boost to performance speeds over earlier generations, good for complex productivity work.”

For those in search of a full walkthrough before they head out to the store or navigate to their online store of choice, the Buying Guide walks you through deciding what type best suits your needs. In Laptops, it begins with a brief summary of the current state of the market followed by helping choose the right size, decide if specific types of portable computers like Chromebooks, Convertibles & Detachables, and Tablets are more your speed, and finishes up by going into detail about the hardware itself. Additionally, profiles can be found on this page for nine brands: Acer, Apple, Asus, Dell, Google, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft, and Samsung. The bottom of the page offers recommendations for Laptops and Chromebooks along with related “You Might Also Like…” news articles.

Patrons regularly ask about Consumer Reports, whether they’re buying an appliance, shopping for gifts, or comparing car models. With the online edition, not only can we match and surpass our CR print offerings in back-issues, but also supply you with exclusive information available only through the digital version. Log in with your library card today to explore Consumer Reports Online Edition along with the many resources MCLS has to offer.

-Lauren, Hickory Corner Library