Every year on my birthday, I treat myself to an unreasonable purchase. Something that I always wanted but wouldn't just buy it normally because it wouldn't be practical or reasonable. Something like an expensive toy, or a fun gadget, or a hobby kit.
This year I'm indecisive between the Steam Deck and the Meta Quest 3. You might ask why would that be unreasonable. Because I have a family with a newborn now so I don't have much free time to game anymore. It would be a waste because I can only play like once or twice per week.
I would love to hear about your desire for an "unreasonable purchase" (within your budget).
Yeah, a steam deck especially sounds like it would be ideal for a g*mer who has a newborn - that ability to immediately suspend the game by hitting the power button and resuming instantly later sounds kinda perfect.
I'd personally lean away from a steam deck towards one of the other similar devices unless you're completely devoted to your steam library but that suspend feature alone would make the steam deck my top choice if you added childcare responsibilities into the equation.
a steam deck can be put down immediately if the newborn needs attention. a vr headset will make it hard to even realize your newborn is there. seems like an easy to decision to me at least. i know nothing about the alternatives to the steam deck though, admittedly.