Buying guides

What to look for before you spend money.

Guides in preparation

These are the guides currently being written. Each one answers a single question: what should you actually buy, and what should you ignore?

• Choosing a gaming mouse. Sensor, weight, shape and polling rate — which specs change your aim and which are marketing.
• Choosing a mechanical keyboard. Switch types, layout, hot-swap and why "gaming" keyboards are often worse than office ones.
• Choosing a monitor. Refresh rate, panel type, response time and the resolution your GPU can actually drive.
• Choosing a graphics card. VRAM, bus width and the price tiers where the value actually sits.
• Choosing a headset. Open vs closed back, impedance, and when a separate mic is the better buy.
• Building a first PC. The order to buy parts in, and where cutting corners costs you later.

How our guides work

Every guide follows the same structure:

• The question. What you are actually trying to decide.
• The specs that matter. The numbers that change the experience, explained without jargon.
• The specs that do not. What the marketing sheet emphasises and why it rarely matters.
• Price bands. What you get at each tier, and where the value drops off.
• What we would buy. A clear recommendation, with the trade-off stated.

Guides are based on published specifications and aggregated reviews from other outlets. We do not claim to have physically tested products unless stated explicitly.