Everyone maybe thinking what the hell is this man on about. Well I do not want to offend anyone and have no intention to. Why do I spend at least three hours off my day on these forums? Well the ambience, the friendship I have gained with some members and the guidance we get when we ask for it. But here comes the negative feedback. The reviews we are getting seems to be getting shorter ands shorter. It could be some people have not got the time or it could be we are not getting the goods to be reviewed. Is there not a way with the likes of Parge, Hamas and say maybe truegamer to give help. I have read some of there stuff they have put up and it so detailed and really take in what they say and it makes sense, as well as no short cuts. I just find lately I am looking elsewhere fit reviews on equipment that I want. If I Ann talking trash here and have offended anyone I'll shut it.
Since the journalism went freelance I'm amazed that more forum members haven't been poached to help with the editorial side of the site. It would bring back that community vibe that the forums have been missing for a while.
I've not read an article on BT for months. Sorry guys, I just don't consider BT a trusted source for HW reviews anymore.
Well, it's the usual time and money issue. Professional reviewers now work on a freelance basis and no company is going to send kit for review to a loose bunch of strangers. Members often do not have the time. I've been promising for ages that I'll do an in-depth review of my Surface RT, honest...
I have the time It is a shame that things aren't being reviewed like they once where. The last review I looked at was for the Corsair M65 by a youtuber. Oh to be a famous youtube personality and get sent stuff for free.....
I have to agree too. When i first joined there were a lot more reviews and they were a lot more in-depth. I only come here for the forum now. There are much better sites out there for the reviews.
I get the time and money issue, but surely if there were several forum members interested in becoming freelance reviewers then something could be done in an attempt to harvest this enthusiasm, knowledge and experience? Surely proactivity is preferable to watching our once beloved site crumble in to obscurity? No tech site can realistically expect to cover everything, but Bit-tech really has to step up its game soon. The parent company made £4.1m pre tax profit last year, which can't have been based on a philosophy of leaving things to fester. If Bit is to become the go to site for PC tech and modding then it needs to become great again. If the plug gets pulled on this site then we can kiss goodbye to the forums as well (based on past history).
This is exactly what I am getting at. Now you know why I won't volunteer as I could not have said this better. There are members here willing to help. If they have to get it proof read before hand then do so.
Not to mention help and support from current Bit Tech staff. Bazz is almost always on Steam. Though probably busy in the labs.
I remember when the site was full of modding tutorials case builds, over-clocking and cooling, all sorts of interesting articles I miss the old days.....
I do agree to this. I can see how there's only so many "this is how you cut a window/blowhole" articles, but at the same time some features on hardware like arduino, pi's, software like MSI afterburner and stuff like that. I as an enthusiast find myself meddling with all sorts of software like DXtory, VAC, xsplit, autoIT, bandicam, fraps etc etc and it would be nice on some articles on stuff like this to raise interest and debate in the community. Even articles on how to make OLD machines for things like emulation from newer components would be helpful. This post is a bit muddled as I have lots of ideas floating round in my head, and although I sympathise the cuts made at BT (as well as not wanting to bring up ideas done 1000 times) there's still plenty topics to be written about. Out of curiosity, say if i was to write an article for BT, what is the procedure for submission to the main site?
There are certain products that, in my opinion, Bit-Tech excel at reviewing like Cases, GPUs, Mobos, HDDs/SSDs, CPUs but for other things I look elsewhere for like PSUs, Monitors, Keyboards, RAM. I also like the range of games that are reviewed - I've played some fantastic games I never even would have heard of had it not been for a review on here...
Here you go, a free article for Bit-tech, in the style of the site: We recently reviewed the Ducky DK9008 Shine 2, and whilst we loved the sleek, minimalist design and finish, we felt that some of the lighting modes were a touch gimmicky, and the eye-watering price would be a big turn off for most consumers. This high price was undoubtedly the result of a relatively small manufacturer having to source the individual components at a lower volume than the bigger players like CM Storm and Logitech, combined with the complexities of designing and assembling the keyboard to a high standard. However, Ducky have also been listening to their customers, and have just introduced an excellent non-backlit mechanical keyboard, the DK2108 Zero, at a very reasonable RSP of £70. This is less than half of the cost of it's more expensive stablemate, but is it only half as good? PHOTOS Much like the Shine 2, the Zero uses a fairly standard layout (available in both ISO and ANSI layouts), along with the very same Cherry MX switches. Our review sample uses Cherry MX blue switches which are clicky and provide a pleasing tactile bump, but all four of the main Cherry MX variants (Red, Black, Brown and Blue) are available as options. As ever, this choice is entirely subjective, so we would recommend trying out a few different options before buying if practical to do so. At first glance the only obvious points of differentiation are the lack of LED backlighting and a fixed USB cable. The dimensions and weight of the keyboard are very similar, so you might be forgiven for asking why you should be expected to pay £80 more for what is basically the same keyboard with fancy lights. How have Ducky achieved such a competitive price point? PHOTOS Well firstly the obvious, they have outsourced the manufacturing of the keyboard from Taiwan to mainland China. Taiwan is where Ducky's headquarters and manufacturing facilities are based, and many high end keyboards are manufactured there. The move to China has slashed the production costs of the Zero. The good news is that the quality of the product does not really seem to have changed. When compared side by side to the Shine 2 it becomes clear that the finish on the plastics is marginally inferior on the Zero, but in isolation it is unlikely that you would ever notice this. What the Zero does offer are individually backlit lock keys, as well as the F10 and F12 keys which when combined with the function key double up as Windows key lock and an key rollover toggle. The former is particularly useful when gaming as you will know if you've ever hit the Windows key during a game and been unceremoniously dumped back to the desktop! The latter allows you to switch between 6-key rollover (which allows Windows to register six simultaneous keypresses) to allowing N-key rollover meaning that any number of simultaneous keypresses to be registered simultaneously. Unless you are a competitive Starcraft player it is unlikely that you will ever need to use this option, but it's there nonetheless. PHOTOS The Ducky DK2108 Zero is an excellent mechanical keyboard at an extremely competitive price. Whist it lacks any fancy backlighting or macro/media keys other than volume controls, it offers everything you would expect from a standard layout keyboard, with the added sweetness of Cherry MX switches. These are rated for a lifetime of 50 million keystrokes, meaning that this keyboard should last you through years and years of regular, heavy use. Plus you can buy compatible aftermarket keycaps in a vast array of designs if you should so desire. Unless you really need backlighting and additional keys for your gaming, then it would be nonsensical to spend upwards of £100 on any keyboard. Whilst mechanical keyboards might not be fore everyone, the Ducky DK2108 Zero offers all of the benefits of a mechanical keyboard with a very sensible entry level price tag. A such we can heartily recommend it as the new de-facto standard in full-size mechanical keyboards. DESIGN 34/40 FEATURES 25/35 VALUE 23/25 OVERALL 82%
There is nothing stopping anyone posting hardware reviews on here, there should he a sub-forum for it with a structure like the one that Shirty has posted. It has been mentioned in the past and users seem to only be willing if the reviews get posted on the bit-tech site instead of the forums. I would be happy to write hardware reviews if there was a sub-forum and a good structure set up for it.
Sounds like a plan to me batman. I would post reviews in that style and allow Bit Tech to use them for free. Giving to the community and Bit Tech as a whole.
The only reason that I don't post any here is because there is no sub-forum for them with tags for different sections i.e. cooling, cases etc.
If we are going to wait for a sub-forum the forum will be dead from old age, mind it's not that far from being dead now you gotta love all those improvements they made
So are you saying Dennis Publishing made a mistake changing the site/staff to a freelance configuration? If no company will send kit for review to "a loose bunch of strangers" and surely that would have been a realistic probability known before decimating the team, why do it? Unless it's a calculated action ... sink or swim, we don't care?
