If you had a friend/relative that had never mined anything before and wanted to learn --- would you have them start with a Crap CPU on their desktop (not a gamer, so no GPU of any merit available), buy a GPU to mine with, or buy an asic to mine with?
*** In this individual's case an asic is likely the best long term option due to their power costs, location, time, etc...***
I would use either
sidehack's r606 for btc
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5131245.0jstefanop's apollo for ltc
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5081750.msg48523684#msg48523684they both use about 100 watts will fit on a desk and are quiet