Worth buying a new laptop or better to upgrade desktop? w/ €800

[PlayerDot]

Sorry guys, this might be a lengthy post.

So, now that I'm in Germany and while the Internet sucks more than an industrial grade vacuum cleaner, the prices for PC components are about half if not a third of the prices I'm used to in Slovenia, while the prices for laptops are about the same, maybe a bit cheaper.

What I'm wondering is, since it would cost about the same amount of money, would it be better to upgrade my desktop computer or buy a better laptop?

The laptop is soon to be 2 years old but I bought the cheapest I could find:
Laptop Acer Aspire E1-731:
CPU: Intel 1005 M (1.9 GHz, 2MB L3 Cache)
GPU: Intel 4000 HD
4 GB DDR3 memory
500 GB HD
Average run time about 2-3 hrs.

My desktop is 3 years old, and I have to say it's * redunk how much I overpaid due to taxes and spiked prices in Slovenia.
Motherboard: Asus-P8Z77-M-1155
CPU: Intel i3-3225 @ 3.3 GHz
GPU: Nvidia Geforce 660 GTX
8GB RAM DDR3 @1600 MHz by Corsair
HDD: WD 1TB SATA @ 7200 RPM
PSU: Corsair ATX 430W

My budget is within the 800-1000€ range so obviously I cannot improve both. I'm running Windows 7, might consider upgrading to 8.1 in the future.

I mainly use my laptop for office work, when at school or away from home, but it's very slow when I'm doing anything but just writing simple documents or browsing the Internet. I'm often gone from home for weeks or months and since wifi isn't always available, it'd be nice to play not so demanding games, but even games that don't tickle my desktop at their most demanding points cause my laptop to freeze or experience serious framerate issues. It really sucks when you're in a foreign country with nothing to do and even GBA emulation lags you.

As for the PC: I'm on it pretty much most of the day and I game a lot. I don't expect anything near the 4k gaming experience, but I like it when my games run smoothly without having to sacrifice too much of the visuals... which is something that has started happening with newer games.
First I thought it'd be something as simple as just upgrading myCPU and RAM a little bit, but it appears that buying a more recent CPU would require a new motherboard and I'm not sure whether compatibility with the GPU is an issue. Then, due to the noticable attrition of my PSU and the extra consumption, I'd need to replace that part, too. Probably...
So in the worst case scenario, I'd have to replace everything but my GPU, I'm guessing.

What do you guys think?

<Language, please>

 

[cub_fanatic]

The desktop would be much cheaper to upgrade. Your motherboard is fine. An i5 3570k would be ideal. You should also be able to afford a R9 390 on that budget. You could go higher like a GTX 980 or even Fury series but the 390 is an excellent GPU for the money. The only other upgrades I think you need are an SSD for the desktop as well as one for the laptop. A Samsung 850 Evo 250 GB is what I would go with. You can use the old HDDs as secondaries to run games off of and just put the system and program files on the SSD. You can buy a HDD caddy that replaces the optical drive of the laptop with the secondary HDD. An SSD will be a significant upgrade for both machines.

3570k - 175€
R9 390 - 300€
2x 250GB Samsung 850 Evo SSDs- 160€

total 635€

IMO, you don't really need a powerful laptop for office type work. You are not going to be able to play newer games on that thing, though, unfortunately. By the way, your laptop doesn't have the HD 4000 in it, it is a crippled version of it and is called only HD Graphics with no number. It is almost useless for gaming. But, since you said you play most games on your desktop, I suggested to do most of the upgrades to that. You would have to spend quite a bit on a decent gaming laptop and wouldn't have much left over with that budget to get anything decent for your desktop. You could get a cheap, low end i3 Haswell laptop from Acer with the rest of a 1000€ budget (365€) but it still wouldn't be able to run most newer games with decent frame rates. So, for now, I think you should just do the SSD and HDD caddy upgrade and just use it for work.

 

[PlayerDot]

IMO, you don't really need a powerful laptop for office type work. You are not going to be able to play newer games on that thing, though, unfortunately. By the way, your laptop doesn't have the HD 4000 in it, it is a crippled version of it and is called only HD Graphics with no number. It is almost useless for gaming. But, since you said you play most games on your desktop, I suggested to do most of the upgrades to that. You would have to spend quite a bit on a decent gaming laptop and wouldn't have much left over with that budget to get anything decent for your desktop. You could get a cheap, low end i3 Haswell laptop from Acer with the rest of a 1000€ budget (365€) but it still wouldn't be able to run most newer games with decent frame rates. So, for now, I think you should just do the SSD and HDD caddy upgrade and just use it for work.

Thank you for your reply. I've spent the past couple of days looking at various websites and stores that deliver here, but it seems that the prices here are almost twice of the prices you projected. Except for the SSD. Those seem to be much cheaper... but they are all MLC here.
Also. Did you mean to buy both the CPU and GPU used or boxed?
I'm a bit iffy and skeptical about buying used parts. I probably wouldn't even feel comfortable selling my GTX 660 if someone offered me €100 for it, for fear it might not perform as reliably as expected.

I just wanted to point out that I'm not looking to even slightly compete with my desktop in terms of gaming experience.
I'd just like it if the laptop could play certain indie games or a bit older games without much lag... the games I have in mind are not more demanding than Torchlight 2 on medium, maybe. Hell, if I could play Dota 2 bot matches without having to see horribly pixelated textures, that'd be amazing to me, but I suppose that's stretching it.

 

[cub_fanatic]

IMO, you don't really need a powerful laptop for office type work. You are not going to be able to play newer games on that thing, though, unfortunately. By the way, your laptop doesn't have the HD 4000 in it, it is a crippled version of it and is called only HD Graphics with no number. It is almost useless for gaming. But, since you said you play most games on your desktop, I suggested to do most of the upgrades to that. You would have to spend quite a bit on a decent gaming laptop and wouldn't have much left over with that budget to get anything decent for your desktop. You could get a cheap, low end i3 Haswell laptop from Acer with the rest of a 1000€ budget (365€) but it still wouldn't be able to run most newer games with decent frame rates. So, for now, I think you should just do the SSD and HDD caddy upgrade and just use it for work.

Thank you for your reply. I've spent the past couple of days looking at various websites and stores that deliver here, but it seems that the prices here are almost twice of the prices you projected. Except for the SSD. Those seem to be much cheaper... but they are all MLC here.
Also. Did you mean to buy both the CPU and GPU used or boxed?
I'm a bit iffy and skeptical about buying used parts. I probably wouldn't even feel comfortable selling my GTX 660 if someone offered me €100 for it, for fear it might not perform as reliably as expected.

I just wanted to point out that I'm not looking to even slightly compete with my desktop in terms of gaming experience.
I'd just like it if the laptop could play certain indie games or a bit older games without much lag... the games I have in mind are not more demanding than Torchlight 2 on medium, maybe. Hell, if I could play Dota 2 bot matches without having to see horribly pixelated textures, that'd be amazing to me, but I suppose that's stretching it.

You can probably still get a 3570k new on Amazon for original retail prices. Buying used from a well respected seller is sometimes as good as buying a factory refurbished part. But, I'd also be iffy on sites like ebay and classified sites like craigslist. For most PC parts like GPUs, motherboards and PSUs, I'd probably only go new unless you can test them first personally. For Intel CPUs, though, if there is a return period and the seller is highly rated, I doubt you will have an issue. CPUs tend to last forever if used and installed properly (as in proper cooling, no crazy overclocks, etc.). Pretty much everything will fall apart and die around the CPU first before it dies on you if you don't abuse it. I have Pentium 4 and Core 2 chips that were sitting in my humid garage for years that still fire up and work with no issues. The same goes for RAM. The 3570k, though, is still fairly pricey used ($150 to $180 USD) even for a 3 year old chip. You could even use a 2500k in your motherboard and it will be a significant upgrade over your i3 as well. I've seen those going for as little as $99 to $120 (USD) used on ebay. They are pretty much almost the same as a 3570k but on the older 32nm process and with a 100 MHz lower stock clock.

As for the GPU, the R9 290 is the same as the 390 but with 4GB instead of 8GB. You can still find these new in most PC parts retailers and they are going to be a lot cheaper than the 390 because they want to get rid of inventory.

If you go with the 290 and 2500k, you'll save some money and you can use it on a low end laptop. Basically, anything with the mobile Haswell i5 and HD 4600 or mobile Broadwell i5 and HD 6100 or higher in it will be fine for the type of gaming you describe. You can even play more demanding games like GTA V and Far Cry 3/4 on one of those in 720p in low settings and get about 18-20 FPS which sucks for serious gaming but is playable for casual gaming. My Ivy Bridge i5 and HD 4000 laptop can do all that so the 4600 should be a tad better and HD 6100 even better than that. You want the i5 over the i3 even though the y are both dual core, 4 thread CPUs because the i5 has turbo boost. When gaming, you need high single thread performance and getting the i5 which has a higher clock speed will give you that. Something like this Acer with a i5 5257U and HD 6100 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834315167&cm_re=i5_laptop_acer-_-34-315-167-_-Product) would be a good little laptop for your gaming needs. Put an SSD in it and it rivals the base Macbook Pro. It even has a 1080p screen which is pretty good for this price range. Most of these low end laptops have 1366x768. You can still run more demanding games in 720p though. Also unusual for this price range is 8 GB of RAM and a 1 TB HDD. Most in this range come with half of each of those. So, if you can find something like this with the money you have left in your budget after upgrading your desktop, I'd definitely get it. Plus, you have experience with Acer laptops so you know what to expect in terms of build quality, software, key layout and service.

 

[PlayerDot]

CPUs tend to last forever if used and installed properly (as in proper cooling, no crazy overclocks, etc.). Pretty much everything will fall apart and die around the CPU first before it dies on you if you don't abuse it. I have Pentium 4 and Core 2 chips that were sitting in my humid garage for years that still fire up and work with no issues. The same goes for RAM. The 3570k, though, is still fairly pricey used ($150 to $180 USD) even for a 3 year old chip. You could even use a 2500k in your motherboard and it will be a significant upgrade over your i3 as well. I've seen those going for as little as $99 to $120 (USD) used on ebay. They are pretty much almost the same as a 3570k but on the older 32nm process and with a 100 MHz lower stock clock.

As for the GPU, the R9 290 is the same as the 390 but with 4GB instead of 8GB. You can still find these new in most PC parts retailers and they are going to be a lot cheaper than the 390 because they want to get rid of inventory.

If you go with the 290 and 2500k, you'll save some money and you can use it on a low end laptop. Basically, anything with the mobile Haswell i5 and HD 4600 or mobile Broadwell i5 and HD 6100 or higher in it will be fine for the type of gaming you describe. You can even play more demanding games like GTA V and Far Cry 3/4 on one of those in 720p in low settings and get about 18-20 FPS which sucks for serious gaming but is playable for casual gaming. My Ivy Bridge i5 and HD 4000 laptop can do all that so the 4600 should be a tad better and HD 6100 even better than that. You want the i5 over the i3 even though the y are both dual core, 4 thread CPUs because the i5 has turbo boost. When gaming, you need high single thread performance and getting the i5 which has a higher clock speed will give you that. Something like this Acer with a i5 5257U and HD 6100 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834315167&cm_re=i5_laptop_acer-_-34-315-167-_-Product) would be a good little laptop for your gaming needs. Put an SSD in it and it rivals the base Macbook Pro. It even has a 1080p screen which is pretty good for this price range. Most of these low end laptops have 1366x768. You can still run more demanding games in 720p though. Also unusual for this price range is 8 GB of RAM and a 1 TB HDD. Most in this range come with half of each of those. So, if you can find something like this with the money you have left in your budget after upgrading your desktop, I'd definitely get it. Plus, you have experience with Acer laptops so you know what to expect in terms of build quality, software, key layout and service.

Thank you very much for the feedback and information.

Here's my report:
The sellers of the used CPU on amazon generally have good feedback and ratings. I've inquired with some stores that sell new & used components in Leipzig, but they don't have the i5-3570k.

That laptop is absolutely amazing for the price and I'd buy it on a whim if Newegg actually delivered to Germany. Maybe if I could relay the delivery to here somehow.

As for the prices in my area:
3570k - €155 used +5€ delivery, (250+ for new)
GTX 980 - €550+
R9 390 - €330 used, €355+ delivery new, €360 if I pick it up from Cyberport
SAMSUNG SSD 850 EVO 250GB MLC - €93-100 ea

I think if I go for the R9 390 I'll stay within acceptable limits... BUT the added power consumption would force me to buy a better PSU, which isn't that much of a problem since I'd have to buy a new one sooner or later anyway.
I think at least 750W to have a bit of breathing room. What would I have to look out for with that?

 

[cub_fanatic]

It would be nice if newegg had a european distributor or at least used their ebay store to ship overseas. But I gather that this is a good enough value compared to what is available in your area that you are willing to pay extra to ship it over.

Unless I am mistaken, all of the Samsung 840 and 850 EVO SSDs use TLC NAND. If the Samsung SSDs you get have MLC NAND, then they are the Pro version or the seller doesn't know their true specs. Samsung's MLC NAND is supposed to be more reliable which is why they put it in the Pro drives. If it really is MLC, that is actually a good thing.

As for power supplies, one 390 can run off a good quality 550w or 600w PSU as long as it has at least 30 amps on the +12v rail. The 430w unit you have will not, by a long shot, cut it for the 390 or 980. Some of the better brands include Seasonic, Silverstone, Antec and XFX. Pretty much anything in those brands with an 80 plus bronze or higher rating will serve you really well. You don't want to take a chance on a lower quality PSU with a €350 video card.

 

[PlayerDot]

Alright. Seeing as I have time till Christmas before the next time I'll see my desktop, I'll work on figuring out how to ship that here and do a bit more research because it's obvious I don't know nearly as much about computers and components as I should, but hey, every time I browse this forum, I learn more.

Thank you very much for your help so far. Your replies have been very insightful.
Would you mind if I message you sometime later with an update as to avoid resurrecting the thread once the question was answered/suggestion was made?

 

[cub_fanatic]

Alright. Seeing as I have time till Christmas before the next time I'll see my desktop, I'll work on figuring out how to ship that here and do a bit more research because it's obvious I don't know nearly as much about computers and components as I should, but hey, every time I browse this forum, I learn more.

Thank you very much for your help so far. Your replies have been very insightful.
Would you mind if I message you sometime later with an update as to avoid resurrecting the thread once the question was answered/suggestion was made?

No problem. Also, you can keep replying on this thread as much as you want after it is answered. They usually don't close forum threads only the comment section threads. There are threads on here from the decade of the 2000's that are still open for posting.