You're right, it could be a matter of preference, but it also depends on the brand of personal blender you buy. If you want to pulverize frozen foods or ice cubes, you need a personal blender with a powerful motor, and not all of them stand up to such hard work. From what I've read in the product reviews on amazon.com, I wouldn't recommend the Magic Bullet brand, because I found a lot of negative reviews related to design flaws and customer service. This seems to be one of the cases where the knock-offs seem to work better than the original (and I'm not sure the Magic Bullet actually is the original, it just may be the first to get famous because of the informercials).
To be honest, I didn't expect mine to work nearly as well as it did, because I also heard a lot of complaints about the Magic Bullet, and so I wasn't really interested in buying one (or any of the knock offs) for myself. But one day my mom called and told me she had bought the Cooks Essentials Rocket Blender by Bella Cucina from QVC for herself and for my sister and they loved theirs so when Mom asked me if I wanted one, I told her I heard the personal blenders didn't work very well and asked her to tell me what they used theirs for, and it sounded like I would use it.
As luck would have it, QVC was discontinuing the model that my mom had bought, so it was on sale for nearly half of what my mother had paid for the other two (She asked me if I wanted the newer model, but I didn't want her to waste the money, so I told her I wanted to make sure I got exactly what they got, and didn't care that it cost less than what she usually spends on my birthday).
I didn't have high hopes for it, and figured it wouldn't last very long - but my Mom was so enthusiastic about it, I was happy to make her happy (she finds me hard to buy for. I ask her not to buy me anything, but she doesn't consider that an option).
I loved it imediately, and became paranoid about mine breaking down. So I started doing the product research (which if I had bought it myself I would have done m before buying it - but I wasn't going to tell my mother which brand to buy).
I went to amazon - and started reading the poor (1 and 2 star) reviews. I always read the poor reviews, because some companies actually pay people to write good reviews. With the bad reviews I get a better idea of the potential problems. Then I read the 3 and 4 star reviews (I tend to ignore the 5 star reviews), then I go to youtube and watch demonstrations of the product (check out the "eggies" review - so NOT easier than peeling eggs. The secret BTW of easy peeling boiled eggs is to use eggs that are a little bit older - just past the sell-by date - it's ok they're still good).
What's funny is that I actually found recommendations for different products in the Magic Bullet reviews (I started with my own brand and the reviews were pretty good, so I went to other brands to compare). I don't remember how all the brands stacked up, except that I'm not sure I would buy the exact same model or brand again - there were products that got better reviews (but were more expensive), and mine does have a flaw that some of the reviews mentioned (although I'm not sure it's a design flaw as much as a user flaw) - if you don't have the lid screwed down really tightly, it can get "stuck" in the base. I haven't had a problem since realizing and preventing the cause.
When it dies, I'm going to face a dillema - buy the brand I know works reasonably well for the way I use it, or consider the brands that got even higher reviews (but are also more expensive).
I definitely have been converted to high-powered, personal blenders though. I won't ever again buy any blender that doesn't pulverize ice into a fine, snowy texture within a minute or so.