Suggestion: Categorize the "What notebook to buy" section

[Mikeoo17]

I was thinking it might be helpful to categorize the "what notebook to buy" section with some broadly defined computer types. For example:

-Gaming
-Digital Editing
-School, business, and productivity
-Mobility and Portability

I'm not saying these are the best categories or that there won't be overlap, but it might help people "self serve". Screen size is another place people usually start their information search too, although that list is generally ordered from largest to smallest.

[too456]

I think the current system of answering the questions in the sticky in the thread is still the best solution, since one might want a system for work and play, or portability and digital editing, and so on. Because these categories might overlap, or peoples' expectations might overlap, answering the questions would tell us what they want precisely and concisely rather than generalizing into four or more broad categories.

On another note, I would like to suggest that the template for the questions in the 'what notebook to buy' section be enforced in every new thread, ie when someone creates a new thread then in the message box the template is already there for them to fill in. This simplifies matters and would make sure that no one posts without the questions being answered

[Melody]

Aside from the above suggestion of somehow implementing the FAQ into thread creation one thing that might be good would be categorizing the threads by country? Seems people (even those that fill out the FAQ) don't put the flag often.

Would also help people who recommend so that we don't end up with recommendations that either aren't available or that cost way more in another country

[too456]

Adding the question "which country do you intend to buy the laptop from" would suffice too

[Melody]

Adding the question "which country do you intend to buy the laptop from" would suffice too

There IS such a question in the FAQ

But it would just makes things easier on people recommending to see right away "ok I know the market in this country, I can help these people" instead of having to read every OP to figure it out. That was the initial purpose of having people flag their threads with their country.

[too456]

I suppose that is a problem, but how would the mods moderate all the countries in the world as a subforum? Even categorising the countries into their respective continents won't work, especially in Asia where Taiwan gets (almost) everything first, then it gets rolled out to Europe/US, then back to the other countries in Asia, so it's really hard to tell if a product has been launched if grouped as such.

[Melody]

True D: I guess we should make like "US" and "non-US" given the demographic at NBR these days lol

[too456]

That still doesn't solve the problem since Europe and Asia get staggered release dates and different products as well

[MidnightSun]

That still doesn't solve the problem since Europe and Asia get staggered release dates and different products as well

Generally, many of the recommendations do stand, though.

As for categories, I think the problem is mixed usage. Many students game, and some people who buy a notebook for business purposes may also use it for multimedia.

Regarding the FAQ, I think the best solution right now is using Andrew's form, which is as painless as it can get. The only problem is getting people to use it when creating a new thread: many first time posters don't see the sticky.

[Johnny T]

The WNSIB section (what notebook should I buy) used to be categorised. But like MidnightSun mentioned, the problem is mixed usage. That and people just generally don't notice the different sections. So it was revert back to the old days of one big section, which imo works best (for the time being).

Splitting them into US/Non-US might be a good idea. Different release dates (and model variations) shouldn't matter too much. You can make a recommendation, then the OP just go check. Even if the recommendation doesn't exist, it gives the OP a rough idea of what type of notebook he/she should be looking for, something to work from. Which is what we are here for right?