Incidentally, one of the stickiest lessons I received from my Econ 101 prof was that if you ever have a choice to go out with a couple with kids or a couple without kids, you should opt for couples with kids, for they value their leisure time as though it was ground up rhino horn.
On the other hand, how long does it really take to build a new PC? Maybe an hour for research and ordering parts... another two hours at most to put it together. Seems like a small investment for something you're going to use a lot.
Do you have kids? Finding time to use said built PC is as precious (in the early days of children) as the time spent researching and building. I read somewhere that new parents lose 6 months of sleep in the first 18 months of having a child. Provided this estimate is wildly inaccurate, new parents are still trying to catch up 2-3 years later.
I have two kids under two, and I've built two PCs in that time. It takes a few hours, but I enjoy it. It's relaxing to do stuff like that at the end of the day. My alternatives are watching TV or reading Hacker News, and I don't see how that's any better :).
Well, sure, but if you spend a bit more money it will take no time at all, because somebody else will do it for you while you get on and do something else :)
