There doesn't seem to be an adequate forum to ask this so I thought I'd give it a try here. I've been wanting to upgrade my 2010 gaming laptop for a while and now seems like a good time to do so.
The thing is, I live in China (Beijing) and its not always easy to find what you want there. My two questions are:
1) Can anyone recommend good computer rigs (desktops) for me to look for here? My budget is around 15.000 Chinese Yuan (around 1700 euros / 2450 USD) for the tower itself and around 5000 CNY (580 euros / 820 USD) for the monitor. I already have logitech / razer accessories (keyboard, mouse, headset) so won't be spending anything for those.
I've been looking around a bit and for that price, most of the stuff sold in China include an i7-4770K, Nvidia iGame GTX780Ti, 32Gigs of (chinese?) quality looking ram, a 250GB SDD + a 2TB 7200rpm HDD. The thing is, it's a bit hard to find legit stuff and proper computer retailer offering bills and warranty. I've had several gaming Dell laptops before and was very pleased with the quality but the Alienware series is definitely overpriced for me (compared to other manufacturers). ASUS's ROG rigs look good and are one of the few "international, good quality" brands available here.
I've been using an Asus ROG laptop for four years now, and even though it had heating issues at first, I haven't had any problems with it.
What can I expect to get in terms of components for the price I am looking for? I could buy everything separately and build the computer myself but truth be told, I like to buy gaming configs from online manufacturers offering "configurator" options as they are usually tested for compatibility (I used to buy from overclockers.co.uk when I lived in Europe).
What about monitors? I've always preferred Samsung when it came to TVs/computer monitors but the Dell ultrasharp series seems nice.
Are IPS panels okay for gaming or is the latency too high compared to standard LED? Any good suggestions? Oh, maybe I should mention that I want to buy a MATTE screen preferably. ([censored] glossy displays, seriously...)
2) More random question: does anyone here have any experience buying computers in China and can give me any pointers as to where to look?
So far, I've crossed Zhongguancun off my list as nothing is legit, taobao as everything seems to come from Zhongguancun, best buy and the likes because they offer supermarket-like computers (.. not sure what you guys call those...). The only products that appear to have warranty (sadly) are Amazon.cn, Tmall, Dell... gaming laptops are easier to find but I haven't been able to find a proper gaming computer retailer yet.
Any information is greatly appreciated!