Saturday, April 13, 2013

Logitech doubles down on PC gaming with resurrected G Series


Logitech G Series
Everyone who has ever gamed on a PC has that one mouse that was the mouse to use. For the most part, you don’t hear people claim that their gaming mouse of choice is a Logitech anymore though. The company is looking to fix that with their all new G Series hardware.
You’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone that played Bioshock Infinite on a PC that would have rather played on a console. Until the next generation of consoles arrives, the performance gap between the Xbox 360/PS3 and current PC gaming rigs is significant. And just as PC hardware has improved, the companies offering high-end keyboard and mouse combinations have grown increasingly competitive. Logitech recently announced that they are rededicating themselves to the PC gaming market by releasing an all new line of equipment refreshes with the G Series.
The new G Series will consist of headphones, keyboards, and mice, all with matching branding and coloring. Starting with the mice, Logitech has announced the G100s, G400s, and G500s wired mice. Each of these three include a comfortable but unique design, with a rough texture along the inside thumb rests and outer finger grips. Logitech claims that this new texture is significantly less prone to wear compared to the material used on the previous G mice.
The $69 G500s and the $99 wireless G700s are the only laser mice of the group, and every mouse except the wireless G700s features Logitech’s snap in weight slot in the back of the mouse.
Logitech’s two new keyboards, the G19s and G510s, each offer a different approach to PC gaming. The more expensive G19s features 12 programmable keys with a full color display that interacts with supported games and apps, while the G510s focuses on offering 6 more programmable keys and a less functional display that only offers text in the display. Both keyboards offer custom backlight control of the keys, which can be controlled by an app on the PC. Neither keyboard offersmechanical switches, but both are comfortably laid out and make programming the custom keys a snap.
The G19s will be available soon for $199, while the G510s will be available for $119.
Logitech is also adding a 7.1 surround sound headset to the G-Series lineup. The G430 looks nearly identical to the G230 that Logitech already sells, but the added surround sound and the inline audio controls help set it apart. For $80 headphones, the G430 competes well with the existing products, and the addition of surround sound will appeal to the mid-range PC gaming market that hasn’t already invested in higher end headphones or speakers.
Logitech has certainly put a solid effort into resurrecting their decaying line of gaming products. The lineup focused hard on product concepts that have worked well for Logitech in the past, applying new textures and new technology to products that have already proven successful. If you’ve been a fan of previous Logitech hardware but have been waiting for a refresh, this is exactly what you’ve been waiting for.

No comments:

Post a Comment