Too much information in the jungle of online reviews

Many of us consult online reviews before, say, purchasing a netbook or booking a hotel – but, given the contradictory nature of much of the information, are we really any better off now than we were pre-internet? asks ROSITA BOLAND

RECENTLY, I decided to buy a netbook. These mini-laptops suddenly seem to be everywhere, most of them weighing no more than a hardback.

I thought it would be a straightforward process. My wish list was simple. I wasn’t keen on paying more than €350, and it had to have a decent battery life, to avoid some future nightmare where the thing dies minutes before a story is due to be filed from the road. I vaguely thought it would be nice, but not essential, if it was white.

First I went to PC World, where I stared blankly at some 15 different netbooks, clueless as to what differentiated them, apart from price. Even the most knowlegeable and patient salesperson cannot adequately explain in three minutes the pros and cons of 15 netbooks. With addled head, I left without buying anything. A week later, I went back. By then, the piece of information I had naively assumed was static – price – had already shifted downwards on some models.

At that point, I had gone online, looking at some of the many reviews of netbooks on different technology and consumer sites. It was dawning on me that most models had different versions, and that everyone in cyberspace appeared to have different opinions on their merits, whether it be their aesthetics, battery life, screen clarity and so on.

Another week passed, and I still hadn’t bought anything. I was overwhelmed by choice, by the forthright, varied but seemingly knowledgable opinion of others, by the nagging worry that whatever model I bought would instantly be outdated, or drop in price the minute I carried it out of the shop. It had become a head-wrecking task. In the context of so many opinions, trying to find reviews I trusted – or even reviews that were consistent on battery life – I was lost. But I kept on reading.

I thought it was all sorted when I turned up yet again at PC World, this time ready to buy a netbook based on information garnered from internet reviews that assured me the battery life was between six hours and eight minutes, and six hours and 20 minutes. “Ah no,” said the salesman. “That model has a battery life of only four hours. We’ve tested it. Here in our shop. I saw it with my own eyes.”

Again, I left without making a purchase.

Internet tools that were supposed to help me instead flummoxed me. It’s not the first time this has happened. I have often used the hotel review site Trip Advisor to read about hotels I’m thinking of staying in. No matter how much they are moderated, in common with every other website of aggregated reviews, Trip Advisor gets some biased reviews, whether they’re written by the owners themselves or other interested parties. That’s a given. But mostly, they are written by ordinary people who have stayed there themselves, whether for business or leisure, and premises are ranked by star ratings.

The truth is that although I do look at Trip Advisor, I rarely find it indispensable, or even very useful. What it does is confuse me. Again, it’s where the intersection of choice meets online aggregated opinion. Do you believe the person who reports that the room is horrible and outdated, with surly hotel staff, or the person who says it’s small, but clean and central for the money? What I usually do when opinions conflict is to read more widely, thus confusing myself still further. What I’m really doing is looking for the impossible – the perfect place to stay, guided by the opinion of others.

I'M NOT SUREif this isn't a huge exercise in time-wasting. It becomes paralysing, always wondering what other people are thinking about restaurants they've been to and you're considering visiting, the books they're reading that you haven't read yet, the hotels they've stayed in where you might go. Everyone has an opinion. All this information leads to expectations of a kind we never had before. With all the information we now have access to, there sometimes seems be an accepted view that we are thus automatically entitled to the best of everything. If you do the research, seems to be the theory, then you have no excuse for ending up eating a terrible meal, or reading a poorly written book, or staying in a hotel that is only mediocre, or buying a netbook whose battery life will fade away as swiftly as the grin of the Cheshire cat.

Except quite regularly, all of these things do happen to me, despite sometimes intensive prior research. Should I feel dim about this failure rate? The thing is, I’m not sure if my hit and miss rate for finding restaurants, books, films, hotel rooms, or travel destinations is really any different from pre-internet days. Too much research can take the pleasure out of a possible outing to the cinema or a restaurant, or from the spontaneity of buying a book I know nothing about. It can also contribute to the difficulty of making a decision.

So I’m going back to PC World to buy my netbook, and this time I won’t leave the shop without making a purchase. I already know whichever one I buy will perform within a certain sliding scale of what all netbooks do. It won’t be the perfect netbook, but that’s absolutely fine. I’d rather have something that works now than waste any more time trying to discover what it is I really want.

Who To Believe? The Contradictory World Of Online Reviews

TRIP ADVISOR

Le Chantecler hotel, Quebec, Canada

Michelc12 *

“Despite the setting (beautiful lake, nice natural surroundings), the service is horrible. The food from every single hotplate seemed to be straight from the frozen aisle. The waitress was lost in space. In summary, pricey room, horrible service at front desk and cheap food.”

ckent233 *****

“Loved the Chantecler hotel and the whole city of St-Adele overall. Had a great time! We would definitely go back again, people are so lovely and very helpful. I recommend taking the buffet breakfast – it is so worth it, such a good deal!”

AMAZON

Wolf Hallby Hilary Mantel

mck *

This book “stinketh”. I read through two-thirds (painfully) and then threw it in the trash bin, which pained me to no end. I’ve rarely seen the Booker committee make such a disastrous mistake. Perhaps this choice was some smartly decided joke about the pretentiousness of literary pundits and their prizes. If so, it would serve us all right.

John R Graham *****

Ms Mantel’s stupendous novel weaves and soars, both in narrative style and in material. From the kitchen boys to Henry VIII to diplomats to the theologian and philosopher Thomas More, Mantel peppers her story with the horrific violence, court formalities, and jokes both witty and vulgar, each in its way emblematic of a chaotic age. Not to be missed – a masterpiece.

SAMSUNG N110

laptopmag.com

“Samsung has extended the touchpad and increased the six-cell battery’s capacity to give this N110 netbook a lengthy seven hours of runtime. Add in a top-notch keyboard, and you have the netbook to beat.”

nynetbookreviews.co.uk

“What truly sets the Samsung N110 apart is the six-cell lithium ion battery, which they say will last for 9.5 hrs. This may be so under test conditions, but under normal use, expect battery life to be just over 8 hrs, which is still exceptional.”