We've spent our week of introspection asking hard questions of ourselves and each other. We're ready to share what we've learned.Links Referenced in the Vide...
Then they need to preface every video with that. “We ran all these benchmarks and testing using hundred-thousand-dollar equipment and are presenting this as a factual review, but please keep in mind this is all entertainment and not educational and the numbers are made up so just disregard this whole video.”
I would contend that most of the YouTube tech channels, even the ones with great reputations for quality such as Hardware Unboxed and Gamers Nexus are barely educational as well.
While they can point to fewer mistakes made as a result of their methodologies, I don’t believe there is any real scientific value in the conclusions they reach from testing that is far too limited with far too small a sample size. They can paint broad recommendations - product A should be better than product B because our testing showed 20% better numbers.
But when the metric variances between products are small, none of the testing methodologies can really tell you which of the products will work better in your system. They haven’t tested enough of them, and in enough situations to have a clue. And I think any of them claiming that there is inherent value to their methods are really just defending their product which is the video they’re getting eyeballs in front of so they can make money from advertising.
Yes, if you buy product X tested on whatever YouTube channel, your mileage may vary.
However, LTT had several graphs where they showed egregious performance increases in newer models of graphics cards compared to older ones. Somebody drawing a conclusion just from the relative performance increase of over 200%, even if the numbers would’ve been slightly off otherwise, will be more likely to make a bad decision based on the relative (non-existent) insane performance increase.
Check out Gamers Nexus. In their last ITX case review, you can see just the level of immense detail, specifications and testing for a simple computer case.
I sighed … but only because I agree. GN is very into dense, which is totally fine and I’m happy they’re doing what they do, but I am not thier audience.
I don’t think their reviews are generally intended to be watched from beginning to end. I watch the introduction, the conclusion and any parts I’m specifically interested in. But yeah, it’s not entertainment :)
Otherwise I like kitguru for some more lightweight information
They’re staying smaller. I don’t know if they could maintain that quality while growing wildly. But they are doing a really good job. I think the issues in ltt came from the bigger size and huge growth.
Think of LTT as top gear for computers. If you want to learn stuff I don’t know look at tutorials?
Part of their problem is that they are a bit ambiguous in what they’re actually aiming at. If they just went full throttle let’s water cool a computer with mountain dew, or in the other end of the scale actually bring in their labs to the forefront of the content that would be fine, but at the moment this kind of weird mix in the middle and it’s hard to pin them down on anything, it changes from video to video and without any real indicator to tell you what type of video this is going to be.
Maybe the labs stuff should be split off onto its own channel. That way, people that want that kind of content, and only that kind of content, can go subscribe there. Without having to deal with all the, let’s see if I can heat my pool with my giant rich guy server rack stuff.
Are there any better youtube channels than LTT. Hes too big now and bigger dramas. I am not learning anything of value these days from his videos.
LTT is entertainment, not educational.
Then they need to preface every video with that. “We ran all these benchmarks and testing using hundred-thousand-dollar equipment and are presenting this as a factual review, but please keep in mind this is all entertainment and not educational and the numbers are made up so just disregard this whole video.”
I would contend that most of the YouTube tech channels, even the ones with great reputations for quality such as Hardware Unboxed and Gamers Nexus are barely educational as well.
While they can point to fewer mistakes made as a result of their methodologies, I don’t believe there is any real scientific value in the conclusions they reach from testing that is far too limited with far too small a sample size. They can paint broad recommendations - product A should be better than product B because our testing showed 20% better numbers.
But when the metric variances between products are small, none of the testing methodologies can really tell you which of the products will work better in your system. They haven’t tested enough of them, and in enough situations to have a clue. And I think any of them claiming that there is inherent value to their methods are really just defending their product which is the video they’re getting eyeballs in front of so they can make money from advertising.
Yes, if you buy product X tested on whatever YouTube channel, your mileage may vary.
However, LTT had several graphs where they showed egregious performance increases in newer models of graphics cards compared to older ones. Somebody drawing a conclusion just from the relative performance increase of over 200%, even if the numbers would’ve been slightly off otherwise, will be more likely to make a bad decision based on the relative (non-existent) insane performance increase.
Check out Gamers Nexus. In their last ITX case review, you can see just the level of immense detail, specifications and testing for a simple computer case.
No thanks. If I wanted to pore over detailed specs, I’ll rather read it. His videos are boring as fuck.
I sighed … but only because I agree. GN is very into dense, which is totally fine and I’m happy they’re doing what they do, but I am not thier audience.
I don’t think their reviews are generally intended to be watched from beginning to end. I watch the introduction, the conclusion and any parts I’m specifically interested in. But yeah, it’s not entertainment :)
Otherwise I like kitguru for some more lightweight information
They’re staying smaller. I don’t know if they could maintain that quality while growing wildly. But they are doing a really good job. I think the issues in ltt came from the bigger size and huge growth.
Think of LTT as top gear for computers. If you want to learn stuff I don’t know look at tutorials?
Part of their problem is that they are a bit ambiguous in what they’re actually aiming at. If they just went full throttle let’s water cool a computer with mountain dew, or in the other end of the scale actually bring in their labs to the forefront of the content that would be fine, but at the moment this kind of weird mix in the middle and it’s hard to pin them down on anything, it changes from video to video and without any real indicator to tell you what type of video this is going to be.
Maybe the labs stuff should be split off onto its own channel. That way, people that want that kind of content, and only that kind of content, can go subscribe there. Without having to deal with all the, let’s see if I can heat my pool with my giant rich guy server rack stuff.
Dawid Does Tech Stuff is as least as entertaining as LLT but without the inaccuracies or the drama: https://youtube.com/@DawidDoesTechStuff
Dave2D is great for laptop and mobile phone coverage: https://youtube.com/@Dave2D
Paul’s Hardware is good for tech news and build guides: https://youtube.com/@paulshardware
Kit Guru has consistently good hardware reviews: https://youtube.com/@KitGuruTech
Sara Dietschy has probably my favorite general tech channel on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@saradietschy
+1 for Dawid does tech stuff. Proper entertaining and funny, less clickbaity too.