Laptops - Do you have an Extended Warranty?

[traveler]

There are a lot of laptop owners here at XS.

I'm curious to know if you bought an extended warranty when you bought your laptop. Or did you decide you don't need an extended warranty other than the one that comes with it from the manufacterer.

If you did decide to get an extended warranty, why, and how many additional years is it and does it cover additional things which the standard warranty did not?

Also would you buy an extended warranty or additional coverage for your next laptop?

[zanzabar]

the last time we bought my mom a laptop, she wanted the extended warranty. we got it and HP refered us to blue raven as they handle the warranty returns (they do most companies extended: hp, dell, acer, best buy, office depot, staples), the laptop had a 100% defective chipset (NV gf4 igp that was ROHS complaint), the laptop got rmad 6 times and was sent in 8 times, they were supposed to replace it affter 3 times it died with a new model but no 1 time was to hp, then 5 times to blue raven and they said that since the mainboard 3 times then the whole pcb set 2x it never had 3 replacements and then broke again hiding behind the laptop having less value than the cost of small claims court they just ed with us until the warranty was over and then we just got her a lenovo for $350. we even called abc for their consumer help and they got us nothing, even though they normally help to resolve most problems with services or atleast report but this time nothing, and we called visa but they said it was to old for them to help us.

so i dont like extended warranties, if u get a biz class product and a service contract then maybe (from dell or lenovo) but i dont see the point anymore since laptops are so cheap for web browser class devices and there is no point in better than that in a laptop anymore in a consumer level product.

[Hondacity]

Warranty service is usually some guys employed by a company that is contracted by hp/dell to work on the laptops. I know the guys around my area, and I meet up with them and watch them how they work on it.

[traveler]

Thanks for your replies zanzabar and Hondacity.

The name of the company that would be handling the extended warranty for the product I'm looking at is called Service Net. They take over after the manufacterer's warranty expires. They claim they have a network of over 30,000 qualified technicians nationwide. So I guess any service on the extended warranty would be local.

Anyone hear of Service Net?

http://www.newegg.com/HelpInfo/FAQDe...ule=10&Menu=13

[zanzabar]

thats the same town and street as blue raven, i would not go for it. newegg dose resolve things if the people they have services through mess up like for rebates but i dont think its worth it.

[traveler]

thats the same town and street as blue raven, i would not go for it. newegg dose resolve things if the people they have services through mess up like for rebates but i dont think its worth it.

If the laptop cost between $1600 and $2000, would that change your opinion? That's the price range for what I'm looking for.

[zanzabar]

If the laptop cost between $1600 and $2000, would that change your opinion? That's the price range for what I'm looking for.

why, for that much u can get a laptop for laptop suff and a desktop, and u dont gain performance over the $1400 or so.

if it breaks it will break in the 1st year most of the time, u can do what u want but by the warranties are always offered only when its profitable so it dose not really benefit u unless its incidental damage.

[traveler]

why, for that much u can get a laptop for laptop suff and a desktop, and u dont gain performance over the $1400 or so.

[snip]

I need desktop performance when I am hundreds or thousands of miles away from my desktop for days or weeks at a time.

What would you do if you needed desktop performance for a couple of weeks somewhere other than where your desktop is?

[tomb18]

About a year ago, I bought a Sony Vaio Z custom built laptop. If you are prepared to pay the price, it gives desktop performance in a under 3 pound package.
Last years model had a built in blu-ray burner and the 13" 1920x1080p screen, Raid 0 SSD,s 8g ram etc. I paid about $3500 for it but I had a number of problems. First the bluray laser failed, then the screen developed a line and eventually became completely defective. I had about 1 month left in the warantee so I decided to buy the extended warantee from Sony after it had been in the shop for 2 weeks.
The service could not give me an eta on the replacement screen so I called sony care, sent my paperwork, and on the 30th day I requested a new laptop as per the terms of the extended warantee. I just got the replacement a few days ago, and it was worth the price of the extended warantee. Faster processer (2.7G Core i7), SATA 3 raid 0 SSD's (1 GB/s sequential read!!) full HD display and at 2.5 pounds it's lighter than many netbooks.
Now, this laptop is somewhat more fragile and quite expensive compared with many other laptops, so I think the extended warantee is worth it. If you were to purchase a typical well made dell or hp laptop, for $1000 or so, I would say forget the extended warantee, you probably don't need it. I have three other laptops (my kids) which were around $1000, all by sony and none have given any troubles in the 2 years or so they have had them.

[zanzabar]

I need desktop performance when I am hundreds or thousands of miles away from my desktop for days or weeks at a time.

What would you do if you needed desktop performance for a couple of weeks somewhere other than where your desktop is?

so your buying a lanbox wit a monitor attached, i guess that works. u could go some ware like origin or falcon NW and pay a little more but they give u life time labor and charge cost for parts if it breaks post warranty and they have a 3 year in house warranty option.

About a year ago, I bought a Sony Vaio Z custom built laptop. If you are prepared to pay the price, it gives desktop performance in a under 3 pound package.
Last years model had a built in blu-ray burner and the 13" 1920x1080p screen, Raid 0 SSD,s 8g ram etc. I paid about $3500 for it but I had a number of problems. First the bluray laser failed, then the screen developed a line and eventually became completely defective. I had about 1 month left in the warantee so I decided to buy the extended warantee from Sony after it had been in the shop for 2 weeks.
The service could not give me an eta on the replacement screen so I called sony care, sent my paperwork, and on the 30th day I requested a new laptop as per the terms of the extended warantee. I just got the replacement a few days ago, and it was worth the price of the extended warantee. Faster processer (2.7G Core i7), SATA 3 raid 0 SSD's (1 GB/s sequential read!!) full HD display and at 2.5 pounds it's lighter than many netbooks.
Now, this laptop is somewhat more fragile and quite expensive compared with many other laptops, so I think the extended warantee is worth it. If you were to purchase a typical well made dell or hp laptop, for $1000 or so, I would say forget the extended warantee, you probably don't need it. I have three other laptops (my kids) which were around $1000, all by sony and none have given any troubles in the 2 years or so they have had them.

that POS is just a bunch of SSD, its only like 1200 without them and it offers no gpu power, and what did u think would happen if u bought a non ferrmi low range NV gpu that was ROHS complaint, its only been a trap for like 6-7 years in IGP and 5 years on the gpu. i got caught once with a laptop but getting caught post 680i and 8400-8600 i dont see how u would fall for it without knowing it was going to be defective.

[eBoy0]

I recently bought a laptop off newegg and decided the 50$ service net was worth it I guess, since I'm in school for another 2 years(hopefully) that 2 years of warranty was better than 1 year.
Called them just to make sure that it was 1 year AFTER the manufacturers warranty expires and operator was very friendly and helpful.
Though, the only thing that troubles me is, and I'm not sure if this is how all extended warranty works, I know it's not that way on say a car but..
"The contract is fulfilled with a replacement" is one of the bullets in their policy, meaning that once they send you a replacement, the extended warranty is done? So hypothetically, I send them my defect, and they send me another defect right back, lol..

[traveler]

[snip]

Though, the only thing that troubles me is, and I'm not sure if this is how all extended warranty works, I know it's not that way on say a car but..
"The contract is fulfilled with a replacement" is one of the bullets in their policy, meaning that once they send you a replacement, the extended warranty is done? So hypothetically, I send them my defect, and they send me another defect right back, lol..

Something that troubles me is the clause that says the maximum amount of liability on the contract is limited to the purchase price of the laptop.

So, yes, an acceptable replacement would be equal to the price of the laptop it replaced which would be the maximum limit of the contract.

[eBoy0]

Well you can look at it in your favor, if I'm understanding you correctly.
As price of performance is decreasing, (I remember old dell latitude PII were going for the price of what I bought my laptop for), within the limits of the extended warranty, $500 can get you a pretty nice laptop in 1-2 years,which most likely will be better than your defective one.

[Zayras]

I've had service from Best Buy on my old Gateway P-7811 FX... That said the extended warranty from Best Buy is around $100 per year (really not worth it), but I got back then I was still in high school and my mom got me the laptop for my b-day.

I took it in for repairs three times, at which point I believe they had said I would get a new one with similar parts. They said that wasn't true, only way to get a new one was if they couldn't fix it. Well, for being a Gateway they couldn't fix and I ended up with my ASUS G72Gx, which just got back from getting repaired - the old monitor was faulty so I got a new one and they extended my warranty for 6 months

To me it's worth it if you're spending a lot of money on a laptop. I wouldn't pay Best Buy price for service though...

[TVFREAKAZOID]

Here's what i think. HDTV's, computers, and laptops and other electronic items (depending on the value) i would most likely get a extended warranty. Its an insurance policy, you may need it you may not. But if you do buy an expensive laptop and after the manufacturers warranty expires which is usually 1yr (which i think is a BIG BULL S*IT) and something should go wrong well then your SOL big time. Money down the drain.

I bought a panasonic 42inch plasma back in 2006 for black friday. I spent a total with tax and the extra $200 for a 4yr extended warranty at bestbuy for about $1200. Long story short about into the 4th yr of the warranty there was some complaints about a slight purple haze that occasionally occurred (nothing big and not that noticeable). This model was discontinued and it was cheaper to replace the plasma. So my buddy just got the newer version of the panasonic plasma(2009 or 2010) of the 2006 model (he was able to keep is old one) and i got lucky and not sure how it happened but bestbuy sent me a check for $1200 plus (or what i paid for it back in 2006 and i was able to keep the plasma. And honestly the purple haze i could of lived with it. So basically i got a free plasma and then some.

Of course i think i got lucky but regardless they should replace it with something similar. I say go for it.