Methodology

Two review tiers

Every ggrigs review carries one of two tier badges, visible at the top of the page:

Tested by ggrigs — first-hand review

We physically own the product and have used it. The review includes our own photos and our own observations. First-person testing language is allowed because it reflects real experience.

Editorial roundup — sources cited

We have not personally tested the product. The review aggregates findings from cited reviewer sources and the manufacturer’s published specifications. Every factual claim links to the source. We never claim personal experience we don’t have.

Scoring

Scores run 0–100 across four dimensions: Performance, Value, Build, Features. The overall score is the unweighted mean.

On first-hand reviews, scores reflect our own assessment against a category rubric.

On editorial roundups, scores aggregate normalized ratings from cited reviewer sources (publisher ratings where published; qualitative findings normalized where not). These are not claims about testing we did.

Full normalization + weighting documentation lives at docs/06-methodology.md in our public repository — work in progress.

Sources we cite

• Manufacturer spec sheets (always the primary source for published specs).
• rtings.com — independent lab testing; our first stop for measured performance data.
• Tom’s Hardware and PCMag — long-form editorial reviews.
• Notebookcheck — laptop benchmarks and sustained-load testing.
• Community consensus via enthusiast subreddits for mature-product reviews where first-hand publisher coverage is thin or stale.

What we don’t do

• We do not fabricate first-hand testing claims on products we don’t own.
• We do not run sponsored content that isn’t clearly labeled as such.
• We do not display aggregated price data (e.g. “lowest ever”) without explicit retailer permission.
• We do not include Amazon-tagged links in our newsletter (Amazon Operating Agreement restriction).
• We do not use AI-generated images for product identity shots.