Image: NZXT
Rental services are in all places now. If you can’t outright afford something costly, you can usually bag any individual that will lend it to you for a month-to-month rate, whether it’s a dwelling, a car, a sofa, or a DVD.
So, maybe it’s now now not all that elegant that any person is now renting out elephantine-fat gaming desktop PCs, however it definitely is elegant to hear that that “any person” is case and accessory maker NZXT.
The NZXT Flex program at a glance
The NZXT Flex program is essentially a month-to-month subscription for a fleshy gaming PC. Costs range from $59 to $169 per month based on hardware configurations. The plans have no contracts so you can cancel at any time, and return transport is free with a prepaid label.
The company is providing three different pre-constructed gadgets headlined by Nvidia RTX 3050, 4070 Large, and 4070 Ti Large graphics cards in uncover of ascending mark. (The promo page says the Player One package makes utilize of an RTX 4060, however the RTX 3050 is currently reside on the uncover page.) Each pre-constructed package comes in an NZXT-branded case: the H5 Float, H5 Elite, and H7 Float, respectively.
But a gaming PC isn’t a sofa—this can want periodic refreshes to stay relevant. According to the Flex program’s FAQ fraction, each PC package gets a free upgrade after you’ve stayed subscribed for two years. (The exact details of the upgrade aren’t spelled out, however presumably NZXT will bump the tiered packages up at some level.) To swap out your current subscription PC for a extra notable one ahead of then, it’ll be a flat $100 charge plus the increased value of the upper tier.
To be clear, right here’s now now not a financing plan or a rent-to-acquire setup. If you rent an NZXT PC for ten years and then cancel, you’ll detached have to ship the PC back despite having paid far extra than what it’s charge.
Is the Flex program charge it?
A puny napkin math (and the aid of PCPartPicker) displays that over the direction of two years, you’ll be paying significantly extra than each PC is charge by way of hardware at all three tiers. Granted, that napkin math doesn’t account for the markup of a pre-constructed PC, the transport charges, or the hassle-free service.
But even so, renting a gaming PC is indeed a “bad deal” in purely financial phrases. (And you don’t have to accomplish considerable research to ascertain that because NZXT is outright selling near-identical packages on the same page.) But that’s also fair of fairly considerable any rental service.
The value proposition right here is 2-fold: you don’t have to front all the cash of a tall-trace purchase, and you have the flexibleness to cancel or upgrade on a whim. Plus, NZXT is providing a “lifetime warranty” with these Flex PCs, with free swap-outs for any severe points aside from theft.
So, the NZXT Flex program appears admire a decent option if you ideal can’t cobble together the four figures mandatory for a high-notch gaming PC. Mix it with an Xbox Game Pass subscription for immediate access to masses of excessive-quality games. It’s also a low-hassle option if you’re contemporary to PC gaming and want to examine out it with low commitment. (That’s especially valuable if you’re a console gamer who’s intimidated by the platform.)
Some caveats to bear in thoughts
There are two provisos that give me pause.
The NZXT Flex program doesn’t comprise a mouse, keyboard, video display, headset, or speakers with the PC. If NZXT wants this to be a one-stop shop for prospective PC gamers, it’s a hard ask if the possible buyer also wants to aquire a complete bunch of dollars charge of accessories.
NZXT’s FAQ also says that when you subscribe you’ll win a “contemporary or admire-contemporary Gaming PC.” That sounds admire NZXT will likely be refurbishing gadgets after they’re returned and transport them out to contemporary subscribers. It makes sense from a industry standpoint—the overhead would be massive in the occasion that they constructed contemporary PCs for each customer and sold the returned ones—however I can’t assist however feel admire a lot of players wouldn’t feel great about paying a top rate for what’s essentially traditional hardware.
<a href="https://www.pcworld.com/author/mcrider" rel="author">
Author: Michael Crider</a>, Staff Author, PCWorld
<img src="https://www.pcworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/author_photo_Michael-Crider_1635298804-1.jpg?quality=50&strip=all&w=150&h=150&crop=1" height="125" width="125"/>
<p>Michael is a 10-year veteran of technology journalism, defending all the pieces from Apple to ZTE. On PCWorld he's the resident keyboard nut, always the usage of a contemporary one for a review and constructing a contemporary mechanical board or expanding his desktop "battlestation" in his off hours. Michael's earlier bylines comprise Android Police, Digital Trends,</p> <a href="https://www.pcworld.com/article/2416966/nzxt-wants-you-to-rent-a-gaming-desktop-pc.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> » ...</a><br/><a href="https://www.pcworld.com/article/2416966/nzxt-wants-you-to-rent-a-gaming-desktop-pc.html" class="button purchase" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Read More</a>