pkphilip

While this is OT, but I want to share my point of view from a technician side. Customers not buying warranty is in fact a good thing, that means more business for me when things happens.  Most of the time, customer's desperation to get it up and running in short period of time means they will pay for it even if you jack up the price.

Since I fix all major brands of notebooks, other than Panasonic and high-end Sony (made in Japan/USA models), all of them share a common problem - mass production somewhere in Asia.

Mass-production means higher output at the lowest possible cost, higher inventory turnover means increased product cycles, in the end, more profit.

That translates to poor quaility and workmanship. Take Apple for example, the newest MacBook Pro... the workers in Shanghai put an excessive amount of thermal paste on the CPU (more like scooping them with ice-cream scoop). The notebook fans dies prematurely because of poor heat transfer. Once I replaced the thermal paste to a thin layer, notebook temp dropped over 10C and fans do not kick in as often.

Unless you are a DIY person and have access to parts + service manuals, repairing a notebook is not advisible. Each models has their own tricks to open it, and things are just getting too fragile these days.

I would suggest extended warranty directly from the manufacturers, not the retailer. Because when things happens, manufacturers will fix it according to their standards, not some shady places who can fix things cheap by using old/refurb parts.

Common things that could go wrong in 1 year:
1) hard disk - easiest thing to die, especially from Seagate model Momentus 5400.3.
2) Motherboard faulty - most of the time due to ESD
3) Recovery Partition not working
4) Optical drive not reading

Common issues w/ notebooks that could go wrong after 1 year:
1) LCD inverter failed
2) Fans not working
3) Power connector loose
4) keyboard keys hard to press
5) Battery not holding charge

Sony and Apple are known to be costly to repair. Can definitely consider Sony Care or Apple Care.

On the other hand, HP and Compaqs seems to have a much lower repairing rate for at least 3 years. Machines that are brought back for repair are mostly Pentium 4 M or Pentium M based.

Philip

pkphilip

Software issues are user's error, warranty nevers cover it. The only time I think it is cover is when pre-loaded software does not even start (ie. Recovery Partition screwed up).

Pay close attention to the cardholder's agreement for those cards who has ext. warranty. Many of them no longer covers computer and accessories.

Amex and RBC Visa are the ones that I've dealt with before and the they are quite generous.

Philip

pkphilip

Maybe I dealt with Mac more these days, Mac owners treat their notebooks like treasures. They are also the creative bunch, I've seen very good decorations on plain Macbook. Since most Macbook are white, it's a delight to work on one with artistic work on there. (also have the opportunity to check out the owner too.. hahah)

I've also seen some of the worst notebook. I was working on one that was covered with food crumps, jam on the lid, sticky gum-like thing on the adapter... the whole thing was just gross. Another one that we worked on had ant infestation inside, and we declined service for health reason.

Philip

pkphilip

One incident yesterday that I dealt with:

I've a iBook G4 14" that has a faulty logic board. It was purchased in May 2006 with ext. warranty. The unit was purchased for $1649 and ext. warranty was $249. The cost of replacing the logic board is close to $900 parts/labour included at our location.

When I faxed in the quotation to the warranty company. They decided to offer a cash settlement of $946 to the customer. The owner was so glad to know she will be getting cash towards to buy a new Macbook even she has to fork out another $400.

Good or bad thing?

Philip

pkphilip

Technically, Visa does, but I know some are secretly taking out computer and computer accessories coverage. Need to check carefully on the agreement.

Philip

pkphilip

I would say, if your laptop is made by Toshiba, Sony and Apple, get the warranty. Toshiba is common to have motherboard and power related issues. Sony is getting worst these days as the quality of the new VAIOs are lowered to meet the low price, the parts are also crazy expensive (100+ for a fan+heatsink module). Apples are reliable due to unibody, but if something on the keyboard is wrong, the unibody top case cost over $250.

I repair HP, Sony, Toshiba, Apple daily.. I have just seen all problems, and most problems are due to user created problems.

Philip