I can understand why you are being a bit sceptica re reviews Syphus..
I dont think I have seen ANY site where things are reviewed PERFECTLY - without ANY bias and comparing it with ALL the other products. this would be impossible. However much of an expert you are and have all the money in the world, you can only do to a certain extent.. and even if you do a near perfect job spending hours on comparing products, it will only be a few days or weeks before newer products or newer technologies make your reviews not so perfect.
Reviews are essentially perceptions of the writer based on their experience and knowledge of the product. Some people know better than others, so the quality will inherently vary..
A reviewer is only expressing his views or opinions on a product. When someone buys a product, it is upto the individual to read a few reviews, (some will be from people like syphus, some from homer, some from computwiz, some may be from a person who is a great fan of dell because that is the only brand he ever used..) and make up their mind.
We wont and cant claim with any of our reviews saying "this is THE review and you should make your mind up based on it" .. People are savvy, they read many reviews and make up their mind.
But should these things (there is bound to be variation in quality, we can only review some products and not all, someone in the know may not agree with a review written by someone who doesnt know anything etc) put us off sharing our views or experiences of products or expertise on anything with others?
I never had an acer, but until syphus says it here, I dont know. Now I will be sceptical re Acer. (I wouldnt take it as seriously if a newbie says it). If people know the forum and whose reviews are to be taken seriously, then they will know how to weed out a biased review.
I am not saying we will let the standards slip, I am just saying all sorts of people can express their opinions in reviews which we dont have to agree with..
I am playing around with various formats of reviews/other improvements (example
www.laptopreviews.org.uk - to get an idea of how a review thing in a blog format work) - but i havent decided anything yet.
(Syphus, that site is only a trial thing with a couple of test posts from a friend - so ignore the content)
Anyway, as I said, we will discuss this and decide and have an open mind until we discuss everything further.