Do you buy Extended waranty when you purchase a laptop?

myversa

Do you usually buy Extended waranty when you purchase a laptop?

How long does it usually take for you first notice your laptop has big problem that needed to be fixed?

Thank you.

celeron_266

the LCD died about 2.5 years after i bought my laptop 6 years ago...since i only use it as a desktop replacement i connect it with a monitor and keep using it

after about 1 year my hard disk died...since i find the laptop to be a bit on the slow side (athlon 4 1.2GHz)..i decided to purchase a new desktop

after ~1 year later i somehow decided to fix the laptop...so i bought a used laptop lcd screen for about 100 dollars from ebay...and purchased a new hard drive...the computer is fully functional now...infact...i am using it for work and to type this post right now!

the only problem with the laptop right now is the battery...it only lasts for ~50 minutes of usage...

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

Princess_Lee

原帖由 Traum 於 2008-4-4 00:42 發表
From a consumer's point of view, given that notebooks are so cheap nowadays, why bother getting extended warranty? Just start with a decent brand, stick with your regular backup plans (b/c you should  ...

I agree with Traum completely. For the previous few laptops I bought extended warranty but there were no problems for a few years. When there was a problem with a HP, the FutureXXXX people said its a "software" probem and "restored" (not even with my official Windows but with their store brand) and charged me $90

I was stupid but no more

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

Intelstan

I never buy warranty for either laptops or desktops.  They are total ripoffs.

One of the guys at futureshop was trying to 大 me too.  He was asking whether I was a licensed technician and what I would do if there was a big scratch on the screen in the future.  Totally ignored him.

hoshi

Never bought any extended warranty.  

I'm lucky that the notebooks I used had no problem within the first year.
Usually the hard drives died some time after that and I just replaced them myself
(I always chose notebook with user accessible hard disk).

After 2 or 3 years even if there were some problems usually I didn't bother to repair.
Notebooks' specifications are usually worse (compared to desktop) to begin with,
by that time you might already want an upgrade anyway.