Apple Cascade
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/laptop-computers/all-laptops/
If you’ve ever tried to shop for a new laptop online at BestBuy’s site, you may notice that most of the Apple laptops have an absurd amount of reviews (usually in the thousands), and very positive reviews at that. PC laptops, on the other hand, typically only have a handful of modest reviews. Given that there are so many good reviews for these Apple laptops, they must be good, right?
However, I would wager to say that there is information cascade happening – not necessarily a wrong cascade – but a cascade nonetheless. Apple undeniably has has a large fan base, and will get many initial positive reviews on its products. Because products are sorted by how good their reviews are, Apple laptops will rise to the top of the page rather quickly. People will then follow suit and buy the same laptops, thinking that if so many other peoples like this laptop, then it must be a good laptop. The people that buy laptops based on reviews typically are not knowledgeable enough about computers, and when they write their own reviews on the laptop that they just bought, we get comments like “I love this laptop!” that really offer nothing insightful about the laptop, but boost the laptop’s ratings anyways.
In this way, going for the laptop with the highest rating isn’t always the best route to go. While most other laptops only have modest reviews, they are typically much more insightful, and lets you know exactly what the pros and cons are of said laptop.