so the title says it all. if you’re willing to read my situation, thank you.
Married, Father of two. Recently purchased a gaming laptop that’s around PS4 quality. But I play GTA V, Ace Combat 7, PS2 via PCSX(only my own ROM copies, really), nothing FPS, and sadly nothing new has really piqued my interest(maybe starfield?) PC game purchases are either Steam or GOG.
I usually play games away from the kids as I don’t particularly like them seeing Dad gunning down people(but they’re really bad people!) And while attached to the wall I can play to my heart’s content, battery power is pitiful with the dgpu activated. I need a desk and controller to play, so it’s as akward as ipad gaming and lap burningly hot when I try to play on the sofa.
As a Dad, I have very little time for personal entertainment. maybe an hour daily, up to 3 hours if I decide to cut into sleep.
As a Dad, purchases for my own use have to go through a pretty long vetting/authorization process. That gaming PC I mentioned above was telegraphed a year in advance(hey my current pc is having hardware issues, hey my current pc is ungodly slow and I can’t help w/ the kids online homework, hey my current pc is almost 10 years old…) It’s a gaming PC, but I also use it to edit premiere for my tiny YT channel
From what I can tell, the steamdeck can give me comprable or less gaming performance than my gaming PC, in a much more portable, single piece hardware that I can play on the couch, staying in the same room as my wife and kids while they do other stuff in the living room. the convenience is appealing, but I’m just thinking of the energy I’d need to put into it to get a clear OK as opposed to the side eye and comments such a purchase out of the blue would create, just for the ability to do something I can do already on my gaming pc(albeit a little less easier if I had a steamdeck)
I’m personally thinking I’d rather spend that kind of energy on a future, more capable steamdeck 2, on the off chance some new game I want to play comes out my pc can’t handle.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m happily married, and get along great with my wife, but I’ve noticed I get the stinkeye a lot more for any purchases for myself that are solely entertainment related
I’m in a similar boat as you. Married, Dad of 7, barely any time to game etc.
You’re going to get the stink eye regardless lol. Probably more so sitting in the same room as your wife while you game.
The steam deck will give you slightly more opportunity to game and being able to set it down whenever you need to go into dad mode is super nice compared to having to run in from a different room or area of the house when crap hits the fan. Your wife will def notice that you aren’t slumped away at a desk and are more present, although mine doesn’t like any gaming noise while she reads so I got a cheap Bluetooth headset to remedy that (g435).
I’ve found that I use my gaming pc for my shooters that I play with buddies once a week when I have more time but everything else gets played on the deck. Currently going through all the resident evil remakes and REALLY enjoying all the indie recommendations from this sub (dredge, Dave the diver, vampire survivors).
As far as price goes I’d recommend grabbing a 64gb lcd and just swapping to a bigger storage yourself. It’s very easy.
All in all if gaming is your hobby and you want to do a little more of it I’d say go for it. Should be a little easier on the authorization portion at the price point……. Unless you are trying to go OLED LE lol.
SEVEN KIDS!?
my hat’s off to you. if I had that many, I’d just be happy to sleep!
we both carve out time for our hobbies. We’re both kinda home bodies. I’m a tinkerer, but not by trade. If I had the floorspace I’d probably have a garage full of tools that could burn, break, cut off my fingers :)