Solar everything.

To: Santa

A VR headset, an AMD GPU for my PC, a 4TB SSD, an electric car, my own house, a clothes dryer, a dishwasher machine, a recumbent exercise kit, a pull up bar, new shoes that aren't falling apart and don't hurt my feet, a bedframe for my floor mattress, an electric blanket for winter, my $700 per month medications I had to give up, and a partner (they love me).

Kind Regards, Zarobi

I have been putting off buying new SSDs to replace internal HDDs that I've had for at least 5 years. They're starting to fill up with crap I've been hoarding over the years and quite frankly, I don't want to pay x3 or x4 times the amount for something I know doesn't cost that much.

It's all just flash NAND. That shit is everywhere. They can't tell me it costs $400 to make one 4TB 'cause I know it doesn't. That's utter BS price fixing.

I'm praying to Primus that my HDDs can outlast this hell hole we're in rn and at least give me the chance to replace just one of them.

Don't even get my started on NAS like Synology. That's a whole different rage bait.

The new Framework Desktop with 192GB unified memory, specifically for LLM inference. I've looked at the numbers and there's no scenario for me in which it's economically sensible to upgrade from 20GB gpu vram + rent EU API inference for larger models. Even if the tokens became more expensive by factor of 10 overnight, by the time the hardware paid for itself it would already long be obsolete.

It's an impressive machine, but I just can't justify the purchase.

A DSLR Camera with decent zoom for astrophotography. I don't want anything too modern, I just want one like what I used to have.

Or a cool computerized telescope with decent zoom that hooks into my computer and automatically tracks things and can take photos.

I do like nature, landscape and city scape photographing to though, so DSLR is good for both.

A FUCKING HOUSE

Oh hundreds of things.

5 years ago, I'd be out every night systematically removing flock cameras. I have the skills, the tools, and the experience avoiding getting caught. Instead I told myself these things weren't going to happen and these skills will ever bring me joy. So I cleaned up, got married, finally went to college. I have a career I'm dedicated to and it isn't even dubiously legal.

I see why we aren't out burning things in the streets now. I can't drive 5 over without worrying that a traffic stop will land my wife in alligator Auschwitz for being the wrong color. I can finally afford to buy food for my kid and it's subject to the whim of people who want my kind dead. I don't care about everyone else enough to risk what little I actually have.

Healthcare

I was supposed to take my first real vacation with my wife. We had a honeymoon, but it was mostly going to the US for her to meet my family in person. I am almost certainly losing my job, so even a hot bath (many in Japan take one every night) and heat/AC have become a luxury now. The problem is, I need the vacation because my mental state is bad, but I can't take it because I need to save all of the money I can to hopefully not lose the house. If I lose the house, I die.

I wanted to upgrade the RAM and maybe the storage in my laptop, but I kept putting it off because I was being cheap.

I really want to do an electric conversion of a Geo Tracker.

One with a blown engine showed up on Craigslist for $1k two weeks before my daughter's due date.

Next time.

Two 8TB HDDs to finnish my NAS....

A modern PC build. Can’t afford a new GPU or RAM. Mainly so I could actually get some use out of a monitor that isn’t fifteen years old.

I want a new gaming computer and a gigantic monitor/tv to plug into. I'm broke to the point of skipping meals currently.

Motorcycle. I had my previous one for 17 years and travelled many kilometers with it. However, it has worn down up to the point of the replacement parts being more valuable than what the bike would sell for. In other words, it was a write-off. As I ride my bicycle to work and I have too little leisure time already, I simply cannot justify buying my own motorcycle again.

Fortunately, my FIL has several and will lend me one if I want to.

Plenty of things, but the first that came to mind was the same as OP. The Steam Frame looks really cool, but at the price it's a whole thing.

Same for other electronics - a Framework laptop, building a new desktop (good luck to me there), a Steam Deck.

Lots of newer video games. It's easy to turn down some of them, because I know I haven't made time to play a lot of what I already have. Likewise for books in general, where money isn't a bottleneck but time and space are.

Pokemon cards - just recently had a mini-convention day here in town with a bunch of collectors/vendors selling. Made me really want to go back and fill out my weak collection of WotC classics, but the price (vs how much I care) is a bit prohibitive.

A new bike to replace my 8 year old one. I can afford it, but I can't justify it. I will probably cave once winter boredom sets in or there is a black friday discount. I've been sitting on it for about a year.

Also a new car. Also sitting on that, waiting for the price to drop to 25K or less, probably next year. my current car needs tons of work, so I have been stretching it out because I didn't want to drop 5K on a 10 year old car that I was going to replace soon anyway. It's great, but I just want something that's quieter and more comfortable for long highway driving, which my current car isn't. after about 2 hours the seats in my current car start hurting my back and the noise from the roadway hurts my ears.

I have no disposable income. the list is long. name brand soda. little plastic doodad so it keeps a toilet puck from dissolving in the full tank between flushes. on the high side an electric bike. honestly even when I had income coming in the steam frame is to rich for my blood. I got a steam deck after a year or so when the price decreased and that was when tech part prices went down over time.

So many fountain pens.

A new NAS.

A new keyboard (my wife took my mechanical board so maybe I'll actually get this. The keyboard maxes at three simultaneous keys and it's killing me).

Everything to make my basement game room a reality.

A desk (currently using a borrowed old folding table from the in-laws).

Several books (like the annotated Lord of the Rings).

Resin 3D printer.

Instead of any of those I'm saving for an anniversary gift for my wife and to replace our cutting board which is about to split.

Buy a classical guitar.

I've been eyeing them for about ten years now but I don't play enough guitar to justify the cost just yet. At some point I'll probably just wake up one morning and buy one and play it plenty and wonder why I waited so long.

A car. I live a few kms away from the nearest town and drive a borrowed one (with a horrendous gas mileage...)

In 1995: a virtual boy

In 2015: an Oculus Rift

In 2026: a Steam Frame