Comet

A store assistant took me over to the PC peripherals section. His first recommendation was a Logitech G11, which was priced £48.93, although didn’t offer an explanation as to why it was so special, other than to pick up the box and read it out to me. "Three modes for each key giving you 54 custom programmed keys per game. This is the one for specialised PC gaming. Will that be any good for you?" he asked.

Okay – what about other devices, joysticks and the like, I asked, what is the difference between the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro Twist Joystick at £29.99 and Logitech 3D Pro Joystick at £39.14? He wasn’t sure so turned the two boxes over and read them to himself this time. "I think it’s just because the more expensive one is newer and it has more buttons on it."

I was rather hoping for a greater explanation of features and a better range of products to be stocked.
Score: 4/10

Currys.digital

This was a busy store in the Trafford Centre and was, perhaps unsurprisingly, swamped with customers.

I happened across the store manager, who I told that I was looking for some PC gaming peripherals. However, it didn’t look like it was going to be my day. "I’m sorry, but we don’t have anything to suit your purposes in stock," he told me. "You could try Game or Gamestation in the centre, or you could try PC World."

Helping where he could, he showed me to the area filled with a good range of keyboards, webcams and a variety of mice. The cheapest was a PC Line wired optical mouse: a bargain for £5.91 while the Logitech VX Nano Cordless Laser Mouse was the most expensive at £48.92.

"This is all we have unfortunately, we are low on stock and don’t even have any joysticks in", he added. I thanked him for his time, and left a little disappointed.
Score: 4/10

John Lewis

The consumer electronics section was busy with three members of staff dealing with customers. I noticed another member of staff out of the corner of my eye about to walk into the back office. I approached, telling him that I was looking for PC gaming peripherals, asking what was available.

He told me that he would find a specialist to help me. He came back a minute later saying that the specialist on the products I was shopping for and that he was just finishing up with a customer.

When he arrived, I told him what I was looking for, but he said that while he had seen gaming keyboards before, they weren’t stocking them at that time. As he said this, a Logitech rep introduced himself and told me that I needed a Logitech G15 keyboard, pointing me towards PC World.

The specialist was on the ball with his insight and information into peripheral. It was just a pity that it didn’t have any.
Score: 6/10