"is that this review is ... pretty much purely based on the personal preferences of the author."
You've found the core takeaway about nearly all "product reviews" in nearly all publications. They are almost all simply "the personal preferences of the author".
These authors have neither the time, nor the science skills, for anything even beginning to look like a rigorous scientific review, and so the "best" vs. "ok" vs. "not recommended" tags applied result because the author liked the particular shade of pink used on a trim piece on one, or liked that another one looks like the Apple computer they are using, and so forth.
But they are never based upon any objective criteria, and are never (nor ever were intended to be) reproducible in any scientific fashion.
Yet, as you say, they have "great power" to influence buying decisions on the part of folks who read their reviews.