Does the strain make a difference to you?

I'm not an expert on weed but I like to research all the different strains. Any weed I get is through my friend, who tells me what he has been told what strain this is but I get the feeling they aren't always true. I know he doesn't really care about the names, or even sativa vs indica. In the past I've been told I had Purple Gorilla and White Widow. (Also had lemon haze, and bubblegum Kush in Amsterdam)

The "White Widow" is dubious. I mean I don't care that much but it's nice to know!

Does anyone have tips for ID based on appearance etc?

Like I said, I'm hardly experienced. For most of my early weed times it was "weed" and it did the job. Now I'd like to research what I have and learn about it like a fine aged rum.