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NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 03 Aug 2024 17:20:47 +0000
From: Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action
Subject: Forget Mice... are you ready for subscription COMPUTERS?
Date: Sat, 03 Aug 2024 13:20:47 -0400
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So, this idea has a little more meat to it. Computer manufacturer NZXT
(they make boutique gaming PCs) wants to make PCs with a subscription
(or perhaps rental) fee. Prices range from roughly $50 to $170USD per
month (plus initial shipping costs), depending on what sort of
computer you get. NZXT also promises "seamless upgrades" every two
years and 24/7 support

Read about it here: https://nzxt.com/collection/flex

In some ways, this is a more COMPREHENSIBLE plan than Logitech's silly
"forever mouse" idea (or HP's subscription ink service). Computers
--especially gaming PCs-- can require a significant outlay of cash at
the start, and if you've only limited savings then I can see the
appeal of paying a little per month instead of handing over a huge wad
of cash all at once.

   [I don't agree it's a good idea, but I can see the appeal to some]

But just off the top of my head I see several problems with this plan.

Most notably, for what you're paying, you aren't really getting that
good of a machine. Their highest-end option would cost you over $4000
USD, and all you get is an i7-13700 CPU, a GeForce 4070, and 32GB of
RAM. That's not a /bad/ computer at all (it's pretty close to what I'm
using right now) but it's /waaaaaay/ over-priced for what you get.

Then there's the problem of ownership. Imagine this: you rent this
computer. You use it for games, sure, but everything else too: email,
content creation, online banking, etc. But times are hard; you've lost
your job, money is tight. You can't afford the monthly subscription
anymore. NZXT can seize your computer -- and all the data on your
hard-drives. Are you comfortable with that idea?

Want to upgrade? Maybe that 1TB internal drive isn't enough, or you
don't want to wait two years for a GPU refresh? Can't do it without
violating the rental agreement.

Your options on hardware are fairly limited too. Don't want a tower
chassis with a big plexiglass window? Wish the high-end option had a
CPU that was AMD instead of a 13th gen K-class "burn yourself to
death" Intel CPU? Tough noogies. You got three choices, and that's it.
(well, six if you include color variations; you've got black AND white
chassis to choose from :-)

But I think the biggest hurdle NZXT is facing is that none of their
options are /necessary/. I'm not a fan of cloud-streaming games, but
the simple fact of the matter is that it is a much more accessible and
inexpensive way to play games, if that's what you're after. With
something like GeForce Now, you pay ~$200 USD for two years service.
sure, you'll still need a PC (although it also runs on mobile devices)
but you can get away with a /very/ underpowered computer. For $600,
($400 potato-PC, plus two years GFN subs) you get image quality about
the same as you'd get from the best NZXT "Flex" option. And you get to
keep the PC at the end.

Because that is, ultimately, the price-point against which NZXT Flex
is competing. It's not the gamers who want a high-end PC but can't
afford the $1800 up-front price-tag; it's the gamers who balk at a
$500 PC. The first group will find a way around their problem: they'll
save up, they'll go with a lower specc'd machine, whatever. But
ultimately they'll get a competitive computer that costs significantly
less than the FLEX offerings and without its other disadvantages.

But FLEX could work for the second group; the ones who don't see any
chance in the immediate future of having $2000USD to blow all at once
on a high-end PC. But why spend $4000USD when you get pretty much the
same performance from streaming for a tenth the price?


Does NZXT's FLEX PC program appeal to you? Do you see any other
advantages (or disadvantages)? Do you think it'll take off and we'll
see competitors start offering similar programs? Or are we doomed to
discrete sales and streaming-on-potatoes for the foreseeable future?