It still makes a difference for hash, different strains can produce different amounts of different hash, it can be very different depending on strain, even using the same technique (mainly bubble/ice hash when i did it).
If you're growing then it's best to use proven clones if you have access to them, it cuts the variation out from the seeds & saves you a job selecting the best one(s) to keep. Better to have a clone that you know is good than a pack of seeds with a fancy name. For a lot of the named strains they started off as elite clones & those were awesome, but they've had varying success trying to produce a good stable seed line from those clones, they're never the same. F1 hybrids are usually the best seeds, where it's two well stabilised & unrelated strains crossed, but you never know if they're really true F1 "x" seeds or if the seed vendor has been breeding it further down the line. I worked for a seed vendor for a while & it's a very seedy business to say the least, a lot of the names are pure hype & most of the prices are just to trick the gullible.
Most strains are indica/sativa hybrid, or pure indica. Pure sativas take too long to flower, they get really big & the buds are thin, they're only really suitable for outdoor grows in tropical regions. Any Afghan, Pakistani, north Indian, Kush is a pure indica, but it has often been crossed with others that have some sativa genetics.
If you've got a choice at some legal dispensary or coffee shop or whatever, ask them what they recommend, have a look at a few different ones, they might have some slightly cheaper strains with less fancy names that you prefer to the most expensive ones. Judge it more on look & smell, you can usually at least get a good idea of the taste from the smell of it. Usually if there are a lot of big fat crystals covering it, it's going to be strong stuff, although the crystals themselves can vary in potency & the balance of cannabinoids in them, sometimes they can be less obvious & really strong too.
It's best to keep changing strains too, I get more of a tolerance if I'm always smoking the same weed, variation is good. I think some strains are particularly bad for tolerance, or just aren't as strong as they look/smell, AK47 always looks & smells really appealing, never gets me stoned.
You can easily tell if there have been common problems in the growing & curing from the smell too, if it has a mouldy smell it's easier to tell than by looking for tiny bits of mould. If it smells of ammonia then it was probably overfed or might be even more mouldy. Need to learn to avoid bad smelling weed, weed that smells of nothing is better than some overfed mouldy damp mess.
If you suspect some weed or hash has been adulterated then putting a very small amount in your mouth to taste can be good too. Sometimes it'll be sprayed with salt or sugar to add weight, or there's the notorious "gritweed" & "soapbar" that has a distinctive taste & texture in the mouth.