NZXT Flex’s Economics – Is it Dystopian?

It’s difficult to summon rational discourse over something that, in its description, one could issue summary judgement that it is a horrible idea except a few niche scenarios. Let me throw the pitch your way: NZXT Flex is a subscription pre-built PC service that starts at $59/month that delivers a pre-built PC to your house with no commitment. When you’re done with it, you return it and every two years you’re allowed to send it back in for a new pre-built that is upgraded. This isn’t leasing, this isn’t rent-to-own, this is a subscription service meaning that there are only two options – pay the fee and have the pc or return it.

In just reading the sales pitch, it makes me seethe at the concept where gamers are encouraged to rent a PC that they’ll never own and will always entangle them and their ability to game to a monthly fee. It sounds nightmarish, but I can also be wrong. Maybe it’s economical. We need to do some research together.

The Economics of NZXT Flex

We’ve got 3 tiers available:

We’re going to assume two years of subscription service, the implied life of the pre-built before you’d want an upgrade and the maximum amount of time a service like Affirm would finance a PC purchase.

• Tier 1: $59 x 24 = $1,416
• Tier 2: $119 x 24 = $2,856
• Tier 3: $169 x 24 = $4,056

The cost to rent each unit for two years runs between $1,416 and $4,056 depending on specs. Let’s collect the specs and compare to some other PCs on the market or does NZXT even have a price tag to buy them outright?

Comparables

The PCs themselves actually have price tags. They’re for sale themselves. Let’s look at the prices:

• Tier 1: $829
• Tier 2: $1,599
• Tier 3: $2,299

It looks like you’re paying roughly the total of each PC over a one year period of time in order to rent it.

Viability

How viable is this then? Looking at the numbers, spreading $829 over 2 years would be $35 a month or $69 a month if it was financed over a year. The rental payment is roughly equivilant to the actual financing payment if one were to finance the unit over a year. Meaning that yeah, this is a really bad deal. You don’t own the PC, you pay more than financing and still have to have the viable credit in order to subscribe.

This doesn’t make sense in almost any context except lease to own, which even then you’re paying nearly the same amount. A lease to own contract on $829 is $1,881 total or $465 more assuming you don’t take a 90 day or 6 month option. This isn’t about accessability, as bad credit consumers (who won’t qualify for Flex) can get as good of a deal as the subscription is offering.

The fact that none of the money goes to any equity into the item is just, frustrating. The supposed warranty is already on the existing PCs you buy and the “free upgrade” is more or less unneccessary when, in a PC you own, you can just switch out the parts you need to and save the money on other new ones (or sell your pre-built and use that cash towards the next one).

Dystopian

Everyone thought it would be nice, inexpensive smart speakers and smart locks. How much did it quell the OCD and anxiety the common population felt about their home security to be able to stare at a cellphone screen and see the status of their porch and the locks within their homes. To ask questions and receive answers anywhere within the house.

Now those devices work against you, when your subscription to your PC lapses the smart locks lets them in to retrieve the PC gaming rig. You laugh to yourself, considering the door lock subscription has expired, so you can’t lock your home anymore as-is.

In the world of business, PCs as a service is an absolutly great idea. You don’t have to worry about service, you don’t have to worry about inventory and when you hire a new employee a new PC is sent right to them ready to go and when they leave they return it, while you only pay a small fee per PC. It’s a great idea.

In the world of consumers, it’s just not a good idea at all? It’s a slippery slope to a subscription based you own nothing world. The fact that I get ads non-stop on Facebook for it is even more radical, direct from NZXT and then from I assume affiliates.

To Be Fair

If you were on a trip somewhere for a month or two and needed a gaming PC, this in theory could work assuming the location already had a monitor, mouse, keyboard and an area to set it all up in (plus microphone/headset/camera/etc.).

A lot of the marketing materials say no up-front payment, but ultimately these are kinda luxury items. Consoles and the Steam Deck are much cheaper. You could own a steam deck by saving just a few monthly payments and have the same gaming experience thereabouts. If there was some situation where a large payment to get started wasn’t working, this could in theory work.

Short term rentals though is the only place it makes some applicable sense. Even then, on the cheapest unit, after four months you’ve invested $240 which is roughly the cost of a used Steam Deck.

Accessability isn’t jiving for me, because no one should be in a situation where they’re so desperate for a PC that renting one for $200 a month makes reasonable sense. It’s definitely a purchase you either save for or finance with a reasonable finance option.

Just Say No

I can only ask that before anyone uses a service like this, consider the repercussions but financially and systemically. Supporting computers as a service to consumers is supporting a future where you own nothing and what you have access to is directly correlated to your ability to support monthly payments. Especially when economically it’s not even as good as the worse financing options.

I can provide a laundry list of ideas to be able to accessibly own a PC:

• Buy a used pre-built, saving 20%+ over the costs of it at retail.
• Employ various saving methods to acquire the PC within a reasonable time for cash (considering the $59/mo subscription / $829 tier):
  • 6 Months: $138 a month
  • 3 Months: $276 a month
  • 12 Months: $69 a month
• Buy the parts yourself over time and build the PC.

Ultimately, if you do go with it, at least understand that you can return it at anytime. So there’s no commital. You don’t have to do it forever.

I can be biased though. Maybe there’s something I don’t see, some angle of opened accessability in the market that I don’t understand. Looking at it all I can see is dystopian subscription services. A future where you’re paying $500+ a month just to play video games:

• $150/mo – Gaming PC
• $50/mo – Periphals
• $100/mo – Internet
• $50/mo – Gaming Services Subscription
• $50/mo – Productivity Services Subscription
• $100/mo – In-Game Subscriptions

That’s actually feasible right now. That could literally happen, right now. An adobe subscription and then an Xbox, Discord and Playstation pass (or Ubisoft) gets you for the subscriptions. A few war bonds or passes, etc. can get you quickly to $100 a month (especially in gatcha games). The PC subscription is there and services like Grover would handle the Periphal payments.

I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all. Let me know your thoughts in our comments section below.