Upgrade or build new?

[mcgoo721]

when i expressed interest in building my own pc, a laptop was bought for my birthday last year. it's pretty good for what i need it which is just a bit of music and games (WoW to be exact, soon something else hopefully).

now though, i want something a little better. i know laptops aren't usually the thing to game with however mine isn't bad for it. so should i upgrade a few things with this, or go ahead and build a desktop to game on and have this for whatever?

things im considering doing to this- add more RAM, bigger hard drive and possible upgrade to a dual core processor.


i dunno what im doing really when it comes to building but have plenty of people around me to guide me. as far as price-- well if a desktop would be THAT much better but costs quite a bit more that's fine. im finding out processors for my laptop compared to ones for a desktop are pretty pricey.

 

[leroys1000]

Probably a better idea to build the desktop.
You can setup a lot better cooling for processor intensive
applictions like games.
You can also get higher performance parts for a desktop
than you can a laptop.

 

[Classics]

Heres some food for thought to help you with your decision.

Laptops--
Upgrading ram is easy enough for a laptop, but depending on the brand and model upgrading hard drive space can be a little harder. A lot of laptops (like my HP DV9000) require a adapter that does not come with the computer, and must be special ordered to plug in an additional hard drive.
Upgrading the CPU will be very hard if not imposable.
Also in a lot of cases a laptop will ship with a good processor, but a very poor Graphics Card. unfortunately you can not upgrade a graphics card on a laptop because it is onboard.

Desktop--
Building your own desktop computer is fairly simple, read the stickys at the top of the hardware page to learn just about everything you will need to know.
Building a desktop is usualy about half the price of buying a comparitive laptop I find.
So depending on how much money you are able/willing to spend should indicate how well it will run in relation to your laptop.


It is always cheaper to upgrade an existing computer then buying a brand new one. I would suggest that you post the specs of your laptop on this forum so that we can help you better decided on the best coarse of action.

 

[Compiler]

Notebooks are not usually upgradable. (Like less than 1% can be upgraded because they are bare-bones or partial upgradable... $2000+ models)

You can build a gaming desktop for about $600~700. Then add about $200~350 for an LCD monitor. You have a budget?

 

[mcgoo721]

i wanna keep it under a grand, budget wise.

my laptop is pretty good now i wouldn't need to do a whole lot but ive heard they are nearly impossible to upgrade. my video card is a nice one, my processor not too bad- i'd like to go dual core but currently it's rated at 2GHz.

 

[Compiler]

$1000 - does that include the monitor?

If you're not into high-res 3D shooter games like Crysis, then you don't need a $300 video card Is WOW and simular games is all you play?

 

[Compiler]

Over at www.newegg.com - get a Gigabyte motherboard with AMD 770 or 780 chipset ($80~85), AMD 5400 CPU ($75), 2GB RAM ($40), Case & 500watt PSU by coolermaster ($90), HD & DVD-Burner ($100) and an ATi 4670 card ($80) will give you a pretty powerful low-cost gaming rig that will play Crysis on low-res of 1024x768. Add $30 for keyboard and mouse (logitech).

Total = $500 + add $100 for Vista or XP. If going wit Vista, another 2GB would be good and/or perhaps the Ati 4850 card (add another $80). and it can be as high as $720... for just the computer. Leaves $400~280 for a 22~24" LCD monitor.