The fine print is worse. If you cancel, you owe a fee equal to the rental price for the remainder of the year.

Companies pivoting to rent seeking is an awful trend.

e machines did this back in the 90's/00's to predictably failed results.

Everything old is new again...

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

Bleak.

Nothing says trustworthy like half a kilometre of disclaimers

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.

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.

$85 a month for a mediocre laptop that I'm probably not allowed to modify in any way? Yeah, nah.

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!

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.

Fuck HP and everything they sell

HP has happily facilitated occupation, apartheid and genocide for decades. Fuck em straight to hell

This sounds like leasing renamed. Not unusual in the enterprise space.

mouse clicks are refillable

It's not unlike leasing a car. It has its (tax) advantages.

Having said that, this is Needful Things level of deal.

I really wonder who would (basically) rent a laptop. You can get used ones so cheap.

*This does not seem aimed at business.

Add this to the post of reasons I stopped buying and selling HP.

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.

bill gates level syphilitic abortion of a forced hardware upgrade

I'm sure they'd love this.

How is that laptop $3000?

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.