Question Are you a brand loyalist?

[SHaines]

With tech evolving every day, we're seeing big leaps forward in the tech we take for granted. For the most part, we tend to pick the best available item, regardless of brand. However, some of us may still have some preferences for specific items.

Do you consider yourself a brand loyalist for any of your tech? If so, why that brand?

For me, I've broken the habit of buying Sony headphones every single time I upgrade. When I was younger, Sony was the only name brand I could afford, so I just got used to using their equipment for pretty much anything related to music. I did use them pretty much exclusively for about 30 years though.

How about you?

 

[bit_user]

off topic

Eh, that's kind of ambiguous. A couple more words would help make it clear that it was a mod-edit.

But thanks for taking on board my feedback.

 

[NightShade_7]

That's your opinion and it's fine. Some people are budget constrained... Linus is a tool - he's all about the clicks.

This is so true lol. He's like a lifestyle influencer, but with tech. He promotes this high end hardware filled experience which is good to have and all but I have a friend who's become 'influenced' by Linus and will never settle for anything less than the best. While this is usually a good thing he bought this unreasonably expensive 'All ROG enthusiast desktop' that is well beyond his means, and is a totally inefficient purchase because of the higher pricing on individual parts. And a plethora of other hardware he doesnt need. My point is, if this can happen to an adult, it can happen to kids as well who might adopt an unhealthy lifestyle.

 

[ModsByCorey]

Lifetime ASUS customer for a long time. Lately though, I'm taking interest in Corsair too.
As a casual gamer/modder I don't really need to follow other brands.

 

[Kronny]

Not so much brand loyalty but if building a pc I do try to keep components the same brand but purely for incompatibility reasons.

 

[Rameyukk]

Most of the time, yes I'm a brand loyalist.

CPU = Intel.. While I admit AMD is better in the current generation. I'd still pick Intel.
Motherboard = Not really, as long as it's reputable based on features and usability. But usually either Asus or MSI.
RAM = Corsair, no question.
SSD = No preference, as long as its fast and reliable.
GPU = nVidia, always but manufacturer brand, not so much as long as it's a balance of price value vs quality and reliability.

Home Entertainment = Everything needs to be Sony. From TV, soundbar, Blu-Ray player, the whole thing needs to be a single Sony brand.. I like the synergy of a single-brand ecosystem. Sony has that minimalistic elegant look that doesn't look too flashy. I don't like flashy stuff, which is why I love Sony.

Smartphone = Also Sony. I've been a loyal Sony smartphone user since Z2, then Z3, then Z5 Premium, now XZ1, and I'm upgrading to the Xperia 1 Mk.II. Again I love their minimalistic elegant design that screams premium luxury without the pricetag of a Vertu. Most other phones like Samsung, iPhone, while I admit they're really good phones. To me they scream "extroversion" that's too flashy and screams that "I'm a samsung user". Sony is like a person in a suit drinking coffee with a corporate business partner. It reflects my taste.

Personal Music: I used to like Sennheiser for its German Engineering. But Sony's innovation with High-Resolution Audio and their wireless LDAC just made me switch. So I got all my devices from my home entertainment, my phone, my headphone in a perfect synergy of Sony. Even I'm interested in that expensive Sony Glass Speaker.

So mostly I'm a brand loyalist, but I admit that my brand loyal isn't always the best. As long as there's no deal breaker (for example, if Sony decided to adapt iOS, I would stop using them. It's good that they're Android)

 

[iaskstuff]

cpu= intel
cpu cooler= noctua
gpu = nvidia card with samsung memory inside, preferably zotac
ram = gskill with samsung memory (bdie)
ssd/nvme = samsung
case fans = noctua
motherboard = msi
hdd = western digital
get samsung things wherever you can it is just as reliable and durable as it gets
case = thermaltake (i like cube cases like the X5 or X9 riing)
phone = samsung
monitor = Benq
peripherals i go for hyperx, they're the best value for keyboards, mouses, and headsets

i tend to look at who makes what is inside the components to decide, hynix i run the other way, samsung i take out my wallet to pay (although it is empty right now) xD

 

[Clariska]

I was fixed on msi/coolermaster.My case are CM and mobo are msi.My gpu use to be gtx 1050ti gaming edition.I got a Killer deal on a Gigabyte 1070 ti which are even cheaper than a 1650.It even has a 1 year warranty.I wanted a msi gpu.The seller had a plain 1070 but R 3499 i got the Ti for R3650 on a bid(south african currency)so price to performance the ti made more sense

 

[Joseph57]

Personally, I often check reviews of a product I am about to purchase, I do not go by the reviews of a place that is attempting to sell me something because I have learned by experience that those reviews are often skewed. I am not "product brand" loyal, but I am familiar with the popular brand names and I do avoid those brand names that have no reputation for quality parts and service. (sometimes I have found this out the "hard way"...lol)
Sometimes I do a custom build for others and I do shop around for the best options, for the best price for the best quality and service. It is a very delicate balancing act...price and parts quality
jmho

 

[henterpriser]

Always. Asus and Sony.

We take step in the republic way!

 

[Curious Corpse]

I may look like a brand loyalist with all this Razer gear sitting in front of me. That is more of making sure i have matching peripherals to avoid having to run multiple software. For the last 12 years if a keyboard or mouse goes out I buy another Razer just to keep things matching. Plus i have matching gear at work just to keep things the same at work and home. Corsair and other brands didn't really catch my attention back then. Changing out all this equipment at once would be costly but with the latest Synapse 3.0 update not making it through my works firewall. I my be forced to switch soon.

 

[Panzerbjorne39]

Never, I always research exactly what the best specific product is using Reddit usually due to it having like-minded humans instead of someone being paid to write a review. I won't choose something expensive just based on liking the brand because I know I could simply be unaware of something I'd much prefer for the same price and I don't want to regret getting the worse version when I eventually discover the better one.

I enjoy Reddit for the memes and stuff but man, I take all serious stuff, like anything pc related with a giant grain of salt and heavy skepticism. I’ve come across so much misinformation and shot that’s just plain wrong over the years. My observation is most people on Reddit are very young and have limited experience, basically parroting what Youtube tech channels tell them.

 

[AgentXLax]

In most cases no. That Said Motherboards Asus or Gigabyte. Video cards EVGA nVidia cards. Hard drives Western Digital or Seagate. Keyboard Logitech or Microsoft.

 

[mygard]

i am .. its like once i find a product that works .. esp when they go beyond my expectations i stay with them till they screw it up, and thats done by making me buy a product that is garbage

 

[posteriorout]

not a brand loyalist as such, but for my last few builds (for myself and others) I've used ryzen processors. Cant fault them and have had no reason to use an equivalent - and often more expensive - intel processor. GPU wise, depending on the budget, i'm open to any that meets the needs of the build.

last system i built was for my daughter, shes only 12 and isnt really interested in streaming (at the moment). used a ryzen 5 2600 coupled with an RX580 8gb (msi variant) and for what she does on it (minecraft, fortnight etc.) it handles it superbly.

Cooling wise, if its an aio i find myself always going for corsair. cannot say for any particular reason, i just like them (I know there are 'better' aio's and nothing that can really compare to a custom build).

i guess the only brand/item that is unsurpassed (for me at least) and where i would say i always have faith in the product is the nzxt kraken g12, such a cracking bracket for gpu water cooling (where a custom block doesnt exist etc.). Reasonably priced and simple to install, even for someone with no real experience of water cooling.

 

[hasaba]

It depends. I'm definitely biased towards some brands, but I would never blindly buy a product out of loyalty.

Fractal Design makes my favorite cases, and I have used a Fractal Design case in every build that I have made for myself. I like their design language, their durability, and their emphasis on silence. However, I know that there are other good options too, and I always do research before purchasing. I definitely have a bias towards them though.

I had a Noctua cooler on my old build (an i5-4690K overclocked to high heaven), and it worked wonderfully. I hated the aesthetic of the brown fan though, and am happy to see that they now make other colors. That being said, my current build uses a basic Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black, because a Noctua is overkill for a Ryzen 3600 that just sips power. When I do a custom loop in the future with a 12-core or 16-core Ryzen, I'll probably opt for Noctua fans on the radiators. I have a bias towards Noctua as well, but not exclusively.

I had an EVGA GPU in my old build, and it was reliable and worked well. I did like their older design language compared to their newer, less "solid"-looking designs. My current build uses an older EVGA PSU that has better OEM components than their newer models (this is a trend that I'm seeing with Corsair's newer PSUs too unfortunately). I wouldn't hesitate to recommend most EVGA products simply for their customer service and reliability.

Gigabyte has never given me any problems either, but I have heard more problematic anecdotes with them. Generally though, it seems that their higher-tier hardware in particular is good quality and reliable. I built a PC for someone with a Gigabyte board, I have used their ITX boards exclusively, and my current Gigabyte GPU is very quiet and has a nice backplate.

I like MSI, especially their motherboards. They don't skimp on stuff like power delivery, networking, and audio circuitry on their mid tier boards either, which I appreciate.

AMD: ahh, the underdog! I remember buying a laptop with an A10-4600M APU years ago that only recently died. For my workstations though, I have gone Intel (for obvious reasons) until my most recent build. Though I understand their reasons for not supporting 4th-gen Ryzen on B450, I'm still pretty miffed about it. That's the thing about duopolies - AMD or Intel will always have an underdog/overdog relationship, and as either company pulls farther ahead of the competition, the incentives for them to cater to consumers will wane.

Dell: I like their monitors, have owned Samsung monitors in the past too but I would pick a Dell monitor over most other brands. I am eyeing a refreshed XPS 13 or 15 in the near future, those things look amazing. Just hope that they release Ryzen 4000-based models soon.

 

[nibb0r]

I think it's worth putting my opinion in here, mostly because recently I have seen one brand in particular come up consistently as manufacturing the best-on-paper device in category after category. That brand is Asus.

I'm typing this on an MSI laptop, a GT62VR which I bought just before the bitcoin surge. This was the cheapest GTX1070 (non max-Q) machine that I could find, and I picked it up on Amazon for $1269, April 2017. But I use it as a desktop replacement--its chassis has great room for the cooling fans but I wouldn't really travel with it.

That machine is being transitioned to an Asus GU502GW with RTX 2070 Max-Q in it. This is a truly portable yet powerful 15.6" laptop. It supports USB power delivery charging, up to 65W but that's plenty and it downclocks to about half speed when charging like that.

The other benefit to switching laptops is that now my Asus MB16AC portable monitor will be able to run with displayport alt mode over type-C port instead of using displaylink over USB data which is laggy. This monitor I've been using since probably 2018 and it's been amazing. Just one cable to run it, and it works just fine on my desk. As opposed to all other portable monitors on the market at the time, it supports both DP alt mode and video over data connection.

If you ever go looking for an enclosure for an NVMe SSD, you will only find one good one, the Asus Arion. Don't bother gambling on the other enclosures on the market unless you get something like a Lacie which comes with its own storage. There's just no other bare enclosure on the market nearly as good!

If you want a 2020-ready NAS, you realize that a single 1 Gbps ethernet port just won't cut it. You'll find a few that might have a 2.5 Gbps or 10 Gbps port, but there is only one that has two 2.5 Gbps link-aggregrate-able ports, the Asus Nimbustor series. This in combination with a laptop with a USB to 2.5 Gbps or 10 Gbps adapter and with how few the non-SFP 2.5/10Gbps router/switch choices are these days Asus is again the only performance choice.

Did you see the Asus G14 reviews recently? Of course you did--the AMD 4900HS CPU absolutely wiped the floor with every previously released laptop CPU.

The phone I use? Almost forgot to mention--it was one of the first with a 120Hz display and basically the first good phone with a big battery at 6000mAh, the ROG Phone II. After seeing the Pixel 4's 90Hz screen, paltry battery, and some other unfortunate disappointments, this phone was a clear choice.

That said, I notice that Asus' customizations to their software are... mediocre at best. The GU502GW laptop does some funky GPU clock changing when plugging in a type-C charger so the screen blacks out for a half a second. Don't get me started about the bloatware to change the keyboard backlight. The ROG Phone II has a "Battery Manager" which watches every application you run (even after disabling everything possible) in order to nag you when you run a benchmark ("please oh please turn on X-mode before running geekbench oh pleaassee"), and I was looking forward to the Android 10 feature where you can see the password of the current wifi hotspot, but for some reason Asus stripped that from their version pushed to the phone.

One side benefit here is that you can be quite sure that a Taiwanese company will have less influence from the mainland Chinese security apparatus, if you are still worried since the Bloomberg report/Huawei/ZTE/etc scandals. Guess that applies to MSI, too! Cheers, guys! Hope you can beef up your type-C ports and devices!

 

[sim8t3]

Yes lately I've take. An interest in Asus over other brands but I'm not sure I'm going to stay loyal, Time will tell.

 

[Taniki]

Asus - love Asus components and laptops
Razer - gaming peripherals
Samsung - TV & Phone
Xbox - over any other console

I am very much a brand loyalist, if something suits me then why change unless there is a huge improvement and cost saving.

 

[Rick_S]

Only for graphics cards, since I do photo editing. Radeon is my "go to" . Processors, I started with AMD, and went to Intel, now back to AMD Ryzen 5. Motherboards, I had a bad experience having a 2 year old Gigabyte replace under warranty, so I am with Asus, for my AMD Ryzen now. Other than that, I mix and match according to what I find at a good price when I need it. I'm living mostly on Social Security, so I have to plan carefully!

 

[Sedare]

I'm trying not to be. As I'm doing more and videos on my YT channel and getting to experience more brands, I want to try and approach from the side of openness. Having said that, there are definitely brands I know more about and lean towards for certain parts like PSUs. However, I'm not one to poo poo a brand unless I've had a bad experience and even then I may give it another shot on a different product. There's so much variety out there with good quality that to restrict oneself to one, two, or only three brands, is to deny a new experience.

 

[jakjawagon]

For laptops:
Clevo>Dell>Lenovo>anything else>Acer

LG TVs, and to an extent, smartphones.

Every SSD I've purchased for myself is a Samsung, but not out of loyalty, they were just the best price/performance/capacity/endurance available at the time.

I used to always go for Intel CPUs, but since Ryzen released I mostly go AMD.

Be Quiet coolers, fans and PSUs generally, but not exclusively.

 

[Deleted member 2720853]

No, I go where the performance is.

 

[Spec13]

No hardcore brand loyalty, but certainly companies I would never give my business.

 

[exroofer]

I would say I am more of a "anti brand" loyalist.
Grew up farming for a living, and my father demonstrated to me over the course of year this prionciple.
"If you don't like how company/business treats you/people. STOP GIVING THEM YOUR MONEY"
This was in the early 80's, so no internet rage being a thing.
So that puts Intel and Nvidia on my personal " Will not buy" list.
The computing market means I give my money to the red team.
Thankfully, from Ryzen first gen on up, I haven't had to make severe performance sacrifices to do this.

So I guess my "brand loyalty" would go like this.
Amd cpu's.
Higher end Asus boards. I personally have never had an issue.
Amd video cards. ( please let current success increase the size and quality of the drivers team! )
G skill ram. ( Because Samsung B die makes Ryzen happy. Very happy. )
Logitech mice, because they fit my hand very well, and have had excellent durability for me.
Samsung SSD's, fast, great migration software, very reliable for me.

 

[PewterScreaminMach]

I would say I develop brand loyalty based on my real-world experiences. If I order a device from one company that seems like a good value on paper and I have a good experience with it, I'm certainly more likely to purchase that brand next time. And this "loyalty" increases with the number of positive experiences I have. Excellent customer service - when required - also increases that loyalty.

That said, it's much easier to lose my loyalty - or at least have me consider competitors next time around - than it is to gain it. One overall bad experience that is not handled well by the company will turn me off from them for at least a few years, maybe longer.

It's like going out to a restaurant. If I go somewhere and order an item I end up absolutely loving, I'm likely going to order it again when I go back unless the other items are extremely tempting. And the more I order that same thing and continue to have good experiences ordering it, the less likely I am to try new items on the menu. I've grown an attachment in a way that makes the experience about more than just the one experience; the new experience every time is something to look forward to and that brings up fond memories (I like food, OK?).

But as soon as I get a "bad" version of that item (not cooked properly, not seasoned properly, etc.) I have now lost some - or all - faith that I will get a good version of that again. The next time I go back, I will now be more likely to try a different menu item. Or if the experience was really bad I might just not go back to the same place at all and try a completely new restaurant.