Extended warranty on laptop

[Handy Al]

I'm buying my wife a laptop for Christmas. Is the extended warranty worth the additional 1/3 in cost?

I usually pass on extended warranties.

[cgallery]

Manufacturer's extended warranties are better than superstore warranties. Best Buy typically takes 3+ weeks to do significant repairs (bad power jack, for instance). I've also had Best Buy tell one of my customers that they tested their Sony machine and found no problem. There was a subtle (but unmistakable) problem w/ the sound and I ended up having to take the machine to Best Buy myself, with the Sony customer service rep on my cell phone, to have the Sony rep tell the Best Buy idiot that there was a problem w/ the motherboard and that it required replacing.

In the end, Best Buy did replace the motherboard but the entire fiasco went on about six weeks.

[JoeyGee]

Normally I would say no, but I have heard of several stories lately of laptops going bad after the warranty expires. I believe this is true of the "consumer" lines, which you will find at BB, Circuit City, etc. If you are not technically savvy and enjoy tearing those things apart, I would buy the extended warranty.

If it were me, I would go online and purchase a "business" line (ex Dell Latitude, not Inspiron). Those are built much better and have minimum 3 year warranties. Of course, you pay much more for these models.

[Lonnie in Orlando]

Most consumer advisors say to not buy the warranty. Even so, I extended the warranty on my HP 6150 laptop.

Funny thing ...

Three different HP tech folks told me that the extended warranty was $139 for "pick up and exchange", and $259 for "pick up and exchange plus accident coverage.

The next day I called to order the warranty. I was told that the "pick up and exchange" was $119, and the PU&E with accident coverage was $149!! I bought the $149 plan and printed a pdf of the confirmation email.

- Lonnie

[cgallery]

If it were me, I would go online and purchase a "business" line (ex Dell Latitude, not Inspiron). Those are built much better and have minimum 3 year warranties. Of course, you pay much more for these models.

Actually, many Inspirons and Latitudes use the same motherboards with the only real difference being the firmware. They can be reprogrammed to say whatever the user/tech desires. So when I install it in an Inspiron, I flash it to as a Inspiron. When I install it in a Latitude, I flash it as a Latitude.

[leehljp]

I tend to keep laptops 3 years and then pass them along to someone in my family. My 2000 purchased laptop is still going. LOML's 2001 LT is still going with a daughter. My 2003 LT is used by another daughter. I did not buy extended warranty on any of those.

ONE PROBLEM FOR FACTORY WARRANTY, for me:
I did buy the extended warranty on my current LT and it has held me back. It has a 100 gig HD and any attempt to put a larger HD at a reasonable expense will void the warranty. I need a larger HD for my photos and music as well as business attachments (PP, Excel and Word).

I can have a new and larger HD installed by the company at a huge expense (IMO) and keep my warranty for another year, or install it my self and obviously void the warranty. Currently, I have to keep taking files off to a storage drive about every 6 months. (This is different than "backup", which I have.)

Do you have a tendency to fill your HD? Do you tend to install other items or tinker with the computer itself? Warranties are usually voided by this. If this does not apply to you, then the warranty might be worth it.

[maxparot]

It depends on how computer literate you are. 95% of computer problems are software related not hardware. Aside from the harddrive and the display there is very little to go wrong after the first few days when 99% semicondutors that are going to fail do. Manufacturers do burn ins on products to avoid these failures and that leaves physical damage as the #1 cause of hardware failure. In this case most warranties will not cover the problem. So what's left is harddrive failures. Replacing a drive isn't all that difficult. Getting to the final diagnosis of your problem may be.
Also something to note is consumer reports suggests not going for the extended warranty on most products.

[djkert]

If you don't need multimedia stuff, I'd say take a look at the dell latitude/hp compaq line also. They may have the same motherboard/processor etc. but they are much more durable. They have a stronger case, better keyboard, and shock protection for the hard drive. when you price the comsumer laptop with the warranty it isn't much different than the business line. One thing to note. I have a HP business line (compaq) and the speakers suck. Other than that it is great though. Keep an eye on slickdeals, as they have some good deals, even from BB or CC if you need it by xmas.

Also, I got a warranty from BB and it was real bad. I got it back from repair and its like they never touched it. Still didn't work when I got it back. IF you can mail order directly from a manufacterer.

[gerti]

1/3rd in cost? When faced the same question for my current laptop (MacBook) I decided against it. Chances are that any manufacturing problem will show in the first year. And if it breaks in the second year I'd rather pony up the other 2/3rds for a new one.