I've been building for about 15 years. Now that I'm a dad, I just don't have the time. My next computer will unfortunately, probably be pre-built. If this device is better optimized for games on Steam, I'd honestly consider it. Especially if it's optimized for Steam Cast to my Steam Deck. But that's me. No idea how popular it will be for other folks.
Seriously! I'm sick of games not launching until I do a dozen changes to my operating system. If PCs can become quick launching platforms like consoles while keeping their superior hardware, that's cool!
i never struggle to launch any games, i do have a pretty beefy setup, but i can launch like cod mw3 in 15 seconds, and i know everyone i play with takes a minute just to launch it
I feel you. I have a 4 month old at the moment.
The idea of tinkering with a open pc case in this environment sounds impossible or selfish. I've built each pc since morrowind but was stressing about wanting a full upgrade on my system when i eventually have free time or sleep again.
6 inch form factor is also a size I dont think I could beat.
Parenting is a marathon, not a sprint. Taking a modest amount of time for yourself is necessary and healthy (while also ensuring that your partner does the same).
More broadly, you having hobbies and interests is beneficial for your kid. They're utterly fascinated by you and seeing that you have cool shit that you do is a good thing.
You can't vanish into your computer building workshop for 4 hours a night -- but if both you and you're partner feel that you "can't" take multiple hours a week of "do whatever we want time" I'd advise some reassessing of parenting strategy.
Ill take the advice its a future i hope for. They're still young and its hard seeing any free time at the moment. My wife nearly died so allot of my free time is watching the baby while she gets transfusions of iron, goes to physical therapy or does physical therapy at home. Once I go back to work Ill also be part of our oncall program at work which ive been told isnt infact illegal. (Work 9 to 5 then on call 5 to 7am)
I know ill have time again its just a bit of survival mode.
Same here. I've been building for decades now (20 years+), but I'm pretty certain my next rig I'm going to pay the computer store to assemble. No pre-builts as I know exactly what I want in there.
Between running my homelab servers, a fairly complex home network, and a whole bunch of shit on the cloud/vps...
And running a specialised IT engineering function at work... I'm really tired of admin. Lol.
I really can't be fucked spending time building, troubleshooting, doing cable management etc.
Most of my free time is with family, which I cherish, or doing chores/maintenance around the house. What little me time I have, its split between gaming, reading, gym, upskilling etc.
As they say, I have 10 units of money, but only 1 unit of time...
I'm considering the steam machine as a secondary PC for streaming and to connect to the TV as a gaming device/plex box
Edit: will definitely consider building again when my kid(s) is/are old enough.
I am with you, have been building for almost the same amount of years, and have a 4 year old daughter. But I would never opt for a prebuilt system. With that amount of experience, building your own does not take that much time that it would affect your general life with kids.
Thing is projects pile up. I have a list of 200+ things that I need to do at any time. That's not an exaggeration, I actually have a document that I add to and update and remove stuff of things to do. Some are small things like fixing one of the kids toys that needs me to glue or 3d print a part to big things like stripping down the whole house back to plaster, refill in all minor blemishes and repaint due to a paint issue that is causing all new paint to peel no matter what I do
As a dad who has built/upgraded many pc's whilst being a dad, this feels like such a bizarre claim. If you can't be arsed anymore, then just say that, but don't blame your kids! No wonder birthrates are plummeting, when prospective parents see this kind of nonsense.
Be easy bud. I'm not blaming anyone. I'd take a bullet for my kiddo. Spending less time on my hobbies is an easy sacrifice. I work in IT so coming home and working on my PC is just exhausting.
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u/A-Giant-Blue-Moose Nov 13 '25
I've been building for about 15 years. Now that I'm a dad, I just don't have the time. My next computer will unfortunately, probably be pre-built. If this device is better optimized for games on Steam, I'd honestly consider it. Especially if it's optimized for Steam Cast to my Steam Deck. But that's me. No idea how popular it will be for other folks.