$2490 total cost

Assuming most people won't need to buy the desk or additional LED lights.

Other costs people might add is the power strip/backup and stereo system.

What operating system or essential software did you buy, and what was the cost of this? Do you use an older speaker system that continues to perform well?

This was a great article.

Any recommendations for transferring everything onto the new PC?

I would like to get a newer PC so I can finally play newer Steam games that won't run on my older laptop. It is always hard for me to figure out the best way to transfer my data, and retain axcess to my old software installations. Windows always organizes installs items in double or triple locations, needing all of them to run things as before. Last time I ended up doing a copy of the user files and program folders onto external USB drives, and it's not pretty, but feels a bit safer with most of my saved data off the main drive where the operating system lives. Had to lose or reinstall most software.

Is there a way to possibly keep my old laptop running and able to communicate/network to the new PC and Monitor? Or would it be better to ditch it and get everything off. It already runs hot and sluggish with all the additional fans I use to keep it cool while running.