Everything is “good” according to NotebookCheck. They’ve come across devices with glaring problems, but even those get a high final score.

How are consumers supposed to distinguish between better and worse when three-quarters of all scores are between 80 and 90?

Here’s how NotebookCheck categorizes the scores:



00 – 49 % – Insufficient

50 – 62 % – Sufficient

63 – 74 % – Satisfactory

75 – 87 % – Good

88 – 100 % – Excellent

This means not a single one of the devices they reviewed in 2018 was unsatisfactory.

Don’t be so easily satisfied, NotebookCheck!

The Problem

Currently, NotebookCheck uses the Weighted Sum Model:

total score = weight × score₁ + weight × score₂ + …

where each scoreₙ is a percentage (decimal from 0 to 1).

It is severely flawed for this purpose. Suppose a ‘Multimedia’ laptop has an abysmal score in one category, let’s say ‘Temperature’ — it severely overheats. That would be a deal-breaker for most consumers in real life, but even if that score were 0, the device still has the chance to get a 92/100 overall rating!

A Solution

The Weight Product Model much more accurately predicts how consumers would consider a product:

total score = score₁ᵂᴱᴵᴳᴴᵀ × score₂ᵂᴱᴵᴳᴴᵀ × …

where each scoreₙ is a percentage (decimal from 0 to 1).

A horrendous sub-score now has the power to impact the overall score in the way a deal-breaker does.

Don’t get me wrong, NotebookCheck is still the best review website for portable computing devices. I commend them for using quantitative measurements and not just qualitative opinions. However, I hope they adjust how they score their reviews, because the current method really isn’t much help.

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