[jjice]

Personally, I'd prefer to pay up front for a machine that offers all this performance that I will own and can do whatever I'd like with for years instead of renting. I lean towards this for most things (housing is a bit different because of the size of the purchase). A computer isn't the kind of thing I wouldn't be sure of it's use to me, so I'd definitely pay up front, get better specs, and save money within a year.

If this didn't have the minimum hours of usage, the concept would be neat if you only spend 8 hours a week in some intensive software. That would be a great use IMO. I bet there are already a handful of those offerings though.