Not exactly - the reviews (both the tech reviews and the customer reviews) can be extremely helpful, you just have to take them with a grain of salt. I look at the trends and skim through the reviews to assess how credible they are. Take a look at these two items at Amazon - look at the number of reviews, what grade the reviewers are predominantly giving as well as the averages, and read a few of the reviews at each grade level:
http/www.amazon.com/Noctua-Heatpipe-Bearing-Cooler-NH-D14/dp/B002VKVZ1A/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1405892939&sr=1-1&keywords=nh-d14
http/www.amazon.com/dp/B00KFCRMSG/?tag=pcpapi-20
The first is a well-known, well respected fan cooler made by one of the best fan manufacturers in the business. If you go by tech reviews and by the customer reviews, even if you have never heard of that CPU cooler or manufacturer, you can be confident that you're going to get a popular, high-quality product that does exactly what it's supposed to do at the claimed performance level. While there's a lot of reviews at Amazon (and close to 900 at Newegg), an educated guess would put the number sold in the tens of thousands at least. You're probably looking at a review submission rate of 1% at best. I personally own three Noctua coolers (including the one I linked) and at least 14 fans, but have never submitted a review even though I like them a lot (obviously, lol).
The second is a new fan produced by the same manufacturer. Unless you're familiar with the product type and manufacturers, you might be tempted to think it's an extremely unpopular product that nobody buys (if lot's of people bought them, there'd be more reviews, right?), and based on the single customer review, it must be a piece of you-know-what.
In the first case, when I had no experience with Noctua, I found the tech and customer reviews credible and helpful. Based on that I purchased the D14 and have been very happy with it. In the second case, the few tech reviews that have been written so far I find credible, but the single customer review I will completely disregard. In my opinion, the reviewer obviously bought the fan in ignorance and had unreasonable expectations. I plan on buying that fan myself and if it performs as I expect it to, I'll submit a review even though I don't usually.
It's also possible to find products that are technically awesome, but are relatively unpopular because they're a niche product that most people don't find attractive because of cost, appearance, etc, or they just don't find it useful. Compare the number of reviews for this CPU cooler to the D14 in the first link above:
http/www.amazon.com/dp/B005O65JXI/?tag=pcpapi-20
There are 1,593 reviews of the 212 EVO, 88% of which are 4 or 5 stars. There are 2,634 reviews at Newegg, 91% of which are 4 or 5. Going by the absolute numbers, you might be led to believe that the 212 EVO is a better product. Technically, it's not even in the same class as the Noctua, but because it costs half as much, many more people can afford it, and within the scope of it's specs it performs well enough that most of the people who purchase it are very happy.
High-end gaming laptops is even more of a niche market than high-end gaming desktops for much the same reason. Many more people can afford a very good gaming desktop because it can be had for half the price. And unlike a desktop, for the most part what you buy in a laptop you're stuck with until you buy a new one. Most laptops are very limited in upgrade options, which is why it really pays to have a definite idea of which features are most important to you before you purchase. If you make a list of those features and compare them to what's available, you can eliminate 95% of the possibilities. Then study the last 5% to see which one makes the most sense for you.
As far as the GS60 vs the Aorus, I don't mind paying $2000+ dollars for a laptop that will make me happy but I think that both of them are overpriced. If I had to pick though, I'd go with the MSI - it's not AS overpriced as the Aorus. The 870M is more expensive, runs hotter (by about 17C depending on review), will probably produce more fan noise because of the temps, but will get you something like 37% better performance than an 860M Kepler and 27% better than the 860M Maxwell. So if you're looking for performance and are willing to accept the costs that go with it, get the 870M.