Hi i know this is slightly an odd question but ive always wondered - do review sites that review hardware components and other things like cases get it free from the companys or do they actually buy it themselves and just review it???
I think some buy it. Some of the big ones like Anandtech get supplied with a test unit of the product, e.g CPUs.
I think [H]ard|OCP used to get company parts, but they seem to be buying their parts now, especially when it comes to specialty pre-builts. To me, that can work if you have money coming in as you can get a regular boxed product from a retailer and not get the selected part from a company while regular joes get the crappy, units that the company usually puts out. Us? Reviews are pretty scarce these days, since 98% of them have been done by me. I'd love to buy new parts, but I've got other things I need to address with my money, so getting review materials is going to have to wait until I get some disposable cash. I don't know if it's the case for every site, but we've not had a lot of success with manufacturer's replies let alone getting a product in.
i wonder which department you would have to contact to ask for a sample product to review?? Some website reviews at the end, they say thanks so and so i.e. thanks raidmax for supplying the case and im thinking how do they go about getting the product?
You have to have a reputation, you can't just 'jump in' with the big boys and expect to get free stuff. If you want to review things and become big to get free stuff then expect to pay for stuff for a long time to get a decent reputation. Even then it still might not work. Usually to get things from companies you'd write to them, some sites have a contact page/adress especially for obtaining review equipment.
Yes thats true, to be considered for a free test unit, your website would need reviewing for traffic, user base, readers, affect on the rest of the market by its opinions as well as the quality of the reviews themselves. Anandtech, [H], Toms Hardware all have very large base of readers so they would most likely be eligible. I doubt even one like Hardware Analysis would get one since only Sander Sassen writes there, but I could be wrong.
That's pretty much what we run into. We've grown considerably throughout the years, but we're not on the same level as Anandtech. If we were, Sniper would be in pretty good shape, and could very well be doing this as my job.
