Companies pivoting to rent seeking is an awful trend.
this post was submitted on 10 Feb 2026
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The fine print is worse. If you cancel, you owe a fee equal to the rental price for the remainder of the year.
so at this point just buy the damn computer is what i'm taking from this
e machines did this back in the 90's/00's to predictably failed results.
Everything old is new again...
"This computer will never go out of date" indeed.
Bleak.
Starting at $35 per month you too can rent an AI laptop that will fulfill HP's every need.
That's actually not that expensive if it keeps them alive, they are notoriously hell bent on harming themselves
Dude if my parents could have paid 9.99 a month to keep my brother alive it would have saved them tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills.
That kids every existence was antithetical to the concept of safety.
Not so distant future. Subscriptions on premium air... basic air includes toxins. Same for water. The fuckers that created the contamination are the ones selling the subscription. CAPITALISM!
I can't wait for the the renewal where the price doubles, the speed is limited to protect the battery, the privacy policy changes and they share your browsing data in real time, sell your fingerprints and facial recognition data and give you kne day to renew at the higher price or cancel without penalty like those cocksuckers at Adobe do.
The exec behind that needs to be homeless
The exec behind that needs to be homeless
god bless 🙏
7.HP AI Companion requires 32GB RAM for local processing.
WHAT THE FUCK
What is surprising about this? LLMs are giant memory consumers.
yea, i'm surprised, 32GB is goddamn ridiculous for anything, let alone for a shitty hp branded autocorrect
fuck AI, fuck HP, and fuck "laptop subscription"
the saddest thing is, people will sign up, if for no other reason than they have no other option
yea, i’m surprised, 32GB is goddamn ridiculous for anything, let alone for a shitty hp branded autocorrect
32GB is actually considered the bare minimum for most of the common locally run LLM models. Most folks don't run a locally run LLM. They use a cloud service, so they don't need a huge pile of RAM locally. However, more privacy focused or heavy users with cost concerns might choose to run an LLM locally so they're not paying per token. With regards to locally run LLMs, this would be comparable to renting car when you need it vs buying one outright. If you only need a car once a year, renting is clearly the better choice. If you're driving to work everyday then clearly buying the car yourself is a better deal overall.
You are perfectly fine not liking AI, but you're also out-of-touch if you think 32GB is too big for anything. Lots of other use cases need 32GB or more and have nothing to do with AI.
I agree with your frustration with subscription laptops. I hope people don't use it.
well hp is aware that laptops are quickly becoming out of reach money-wise for a larger and larger chunk of consumers, they just had to figure out some way to exploit that.
$420 a year for a laptop doesn't sound like robbery at first, until you consider it's just money out the window, and they're 100% harvesting every 1 and every 0 input and output from that laptop that they still own/control. i haven't even looked at the fine print, which i'm willing to bet makes the whole thing exponentially worse
It all reads like a giant racket. AI requires 32GB of RAM on your laptop, 32GB of RAM is expensive, so you have to lease, and it's expensive because AI requires RAM to run in the cloud. It's a problem in search of a solution, and it keeps making new problems along the way.
Its only a problem if you want to run AI. If you don't want AI locally or cloud based, then no need to spend the money on the high end 32GB model (for AI purposes) or paying for a cloud subscription. No one is required to get the 32GB model if they don't want it.
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Nothing says trustworthy like half a kilometre of disclaimers
$85 a month for a mediocre laptop that I'm probably not allowed to modify in any way? Yeah, nah.
This is the start of corporations trying to completely phase out owning your own hardware.
This needs to fail hard or it will spread to every other major vendor. But in this timeline every evil deed seems to succeed and be rewarded. Be sure to hoard your old hardware, you'll likely need it later.
This is the start of corporations trying to completely phase out owning your own hardware.
No, this is just a company that is trying to rename the old leasing concept.
This needs to fail hard or it will spread to every other major vendor. But in this timeline every evil deed seems to succeed and be rewarded. Be sure to hoard your old hardware, you’ll likely need it later.
In the enterprise world this is already a thing, companies already lease many devices (pc, laptop, copy machines, cars, phones etc), it not seems to be that much different.
In the private world, if you have the option to keep the laptop at the end the the rent period, you basically paid for the laptop in instalments, which again it nothing really new, it is already used for phones.
In my opinion the only real big problem is if they stop selling the laptop and only allow you to rent them
In my opinion the only real big problem is if they stop selling the laptop and only allow you to rent them
not only then. also if they make owning prohibitively expensive, or otherwise inaccessible.
mmmmm lets see here
for the pavillion 16...
$34.99 a month with no protection plans available and no option to buy out over time and requires a 650 credit score...
or $979.99 for a one off purchase with the ability to have a protection plan ontop of it (this same laptop is also on a sale via HP for 429$ if you use their financing system...)
I don't see how this is helpful to the general consumer. The typical user doesn't replace their laptop every year, and at the prices they give you end up breaking even around 2 years. You would need to be processing an upgrade at least every 2.3 years in order to make your money worth it. I've had the same laptop for 8+ years now. I don't know anyone who had a laptop fail outside of accidental damage prior to the 2 year mark. Most system issues appear prior to the one year warranty end date if something was /going/ to happen.
I can see how this could be helpful for a company that has temp workers.. but even then it's not like the company couldn't just re-provision the laptop and give it to the next person.
I could see this being more handy if accidental was included on it, but out of the current offerings it's just not worth it for anyone.
Ever since my first HP laptop -- before I knew any better -- I have despised HP and every product of theirs I've ever had to use. Consumer laptops full of bloatware. Online knowledge bases poorly designed. Printers full of bugs. Gah, they're just the worst.
HP has happily facilitated occupation, apartheid and genocide for decades. Fuck em straight to hell
Fuck HP and everything they sell
This sounds like leasing renamed. Not unusual in the enterprise space.
It's not unlike leasing a car. It has its (tax) advantages.
Having said that, this is Needful Things level of deal.
mouse clicks are refillable
Some years ago there was a fake ad on that, but even then I couldn't decide if that was a joke or a market test
The Epstein class of billionaires demand that all serfs enter subscription for living, if you do not comply your taxes will find someone willing to enforce it. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.
I really wonder who would (basically) rent a laptop. You can get used ones so cheap.
*This does not seem aimed at business.
businesses used to rent computers all the time but im not sure how many do in this millenia.
It's still likely less hassle than amortising capital expenses for something that will likely be written off well before end of life and then needing to dispose of it. As a consumer of fire sale disposed laptops, renting shouldn't be allowed.
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My employer leases our computers for 3-5 years. I get a new model when my lease runs out. I don't really mind the guaranteed refresh except having to move all my stuff over. I would be way more pissed if they moved to BYOD.
People who want new but can't afford the capital expense.
Add this to the post of reasons I stopped buying and selling HP.
They've exploited consumers to the point that they can't even afford basic needs, but no worries, they'll rent them back to you indefinitely.
How is that laptop $3000?
I'm sure they'd love this.
Didn't everyone start off with a year in that movie?
That was the most unrealistic part, they'd absolutely make you pay upfront or you would just die instantly the moment you hit 21 or whatever the age limit was.
bill gates level syphilitic abortion of a forced hardware upgrade
These also come with a 5G subscription. Not saying it justifies the price, and I don't know what that would cost separately. But some of these prices are less than the cost of an ISP plan.
It's a slippery slope. They get you with the cheap 5g, normalize laptop subscriptions, then in 10 years you're renting hardware and it's considered normal.
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