HP has a gaming laptop subscription service, where you pay monthly to borrow a rig but never get the option to own it

As the memory crisis continues to rage, and the cost of hardware only gets more expensive, the notion of renting out gear may start to feel a tad more natural. Enter HP as one of the first major manufacturers to step into the ring.

Though this has actually been around for a few months now (according to a post about it on Reddit), it's actually Linus Tech Tips which brought it to my attention. In their latest video, they explore both the gaming and non-gaming subscription, and my eye was caught by the first.

Importantly, the subscription (unlike many phone contracts) does not allow you to own the gaming laptop once you have paid enough to cover the MSRP. In return, you can upgrade your rental every year, plus you get better support, quick replacement, and the option to add accessories for a monthly fee.

At the low end, you can rent an HP Victus 15-inch laptop, with an AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS, RTX 4050, 16 GB of memory, and 1 TB of SSD storage for $50 a month. Right now, on sale, that exact laptop will cost you $950. That means 19 months of the subscription charge would actually pay for the model.

Up at the very high end, you can go for an HP Omen Max 16, with an Intel Core Ultra 9 processor, RTX 5080, 32 GB of memory, and 1 TB of SSD storage for $130 a month. That same laptop is currently $2,110 on the HP store, which means just over 16 months of $130 would buy you the laptop outright. The HP site includes a table explaining what each payment plan can get you. You can find it below.

Pricing up the other two subscriptions ($80 for the currently $1,500 RTX 5070 Omen 16 and $70 for the $1,300 RTX 5060 Omen 16) shows similar periods of less than 20 months before paying the full price of the machine. Admittedly, all of the laptops available are currently on sale, and end up around the 25 months at MSRP.

Though you can end your subscription within 30 days and send the gear back without having to pay for your return, there is a pretty hefty cancellation fee should you opt out after that. If you cancel the Victus 15 contract in month two, you are hit with a $550 fee. If you choose to cancel the Omen Max 16 contract in the second month, you will have to pay $1,430 and send the laptop back. If, however, you want to cancel during or after your 13th month of the subscription, doing so is free.

Moving over to the accessories, you can rent the $126 ($200 MSRP) HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless for $8 a month, or the $131 ($200 MSRP) HyperX QuadCast 2 S for the same amount each month.

I don't much like the idea of paying monthly for hardware that I will never own, and the longer I stay subscribed, the less that investment becomes worth it, in my eyes. As well as this, the big cancellation fees also mean there's no point taking the laptop for a spin for a couple of months.

When the likes of Amazon (and even HP) offer some 0% financing contracts, I would struggle to justify an HP subscription to myself (or my partner). Still, it's technically a way of getting a beefy gaming rig without having to pay all that cash up front.

In the FAQ for the HP subscription service, when asked 'Is the OMEN Gaming Subscription worth it?', it replies:

"For many gamers, the answer is yes. The traditional upgrade cycle keeps most gamers perpetually one step behind. But with access to a new laptop every year, your OMEN Gaming Subscription breaks that cycle completely, ensuring your hardware evolves as rapidly as the latest games do."

I suppose, with gaming rigs only continuing to get more expensive, gaming hardware subscriptions may be set for a heyday until everything comes back down again, hopefully before 2028.