Notebook shopping; do I really need an extended warranty?

It’s time to go laptop shopping. I’ve decided that I need to have my own computer instead of relying on the one that’s been issued to me by my employer, so off to Fry’s and Circuit city I will go.

What I’d like to find out here is what people’s opinions are regarding the extended warranty that I will inevitably be offered, and pressured to accept. Is it really necessary? I’ve never heard of a laptop breaking down. And the one I have has been going strong for at least two years in spite of once having been dropped on a polished marble floor. It was not in its case at the time.

Given the prices that I’m finding, like $700 or so for the type of machine I’m looking for, I question whether it’s worth it to pay another $150 - $200 for a warranty.

I’d say it’s worth it. With it being a laptop, it’s likely you’ll drop it at some point. The monitor probably won’t take kindly to dropping.

First, most manufacturers would want you to buy an extended warranty, mainly because it’s almost pure profit for them

my criteria for if an extended warranty is worth it is simple…
find out the out-of-warranty repair price for the machine in question, on MacBooks it’s generally around $300 for the Apple flat-rate repair, covers everything except physical damage, that OOW repair has a 90 day warranty on the repair itself, MacBook Pros are generally $350ish flat-rate

AppleCare for a MacBook is generally around $250, MBP Applecare is $350ish

basically, one repair and it’s paid for, thing is, you might never even need to have it repaired, it’s a gamble

not sure what PC laptop exteded warranties cost, but i’d imagine its something similar

I got one with mine and it paid off. When my heat sink got dusty, Fry’s fixed it for free and gave me a loaner, which was very handy since the repair took forever.

And I really pissed them off when I refused to pay $100 to back up the disk I had backed up before I brought it in. Just in case, of course.

If that’s the case I think I’d rather pay to have it repaired, when it needs it. And the computer wouldn’t be going outside the home very much, so the risk of physical damage would be minor.

One would assume so.

If you get a plan that covers battery replacement and accidental damage, it can be worth it, at least if you can swing for like a three or four year plan, in which time it’s reasonably likely your battery won’t be so hot anymore. I got AppleCare with my iBook and I had to use it twice - motherboard and hard drive failures. Circuit City offers accidental damage plans with battery replacement. It is pure profit for the company but I like to know that this thing is covered because it’s not like I could fix it myself. Like a peace of mind thing.

It’s an insurance policy.

One thing though, computers become obsolete pretty quickly. For the price of an extended warranty, (maybe just a little more) I can pick up factory refurbed just-barely-obsolete machine on ebay. If I had the original machine for a year or so, then the replacement will probably outperform it in meaningful ways, have the next version of the OS loaded, the next generation of smaller lighter batteries, the brighter, more detailed screen, etc.

So I take my chances, pass on the warranty, and if I lose the gamble, I look at it as an opportunity to upgrade earlier. If I was purchasing at full MSRP though, I might not be so cavalier.

I had the coverage on a Dell laptop, (Back when laptops were a significant investment) and was glad I did, as the thing broke when it fell about two feet onto a carpeted floor.

On the PowerBook, no warranty. It’s two years old and still fine, other than the big dent where it was slammed into a doorframe. Ouch. If it wasn’t in a case at the time, it probably would have been wrecked. But that was only physical damage, so AppleCare wouldn’t have covered it.

Interestingly, the PowerBook is on its third battery, thanks to proactive replacement of potentially bad (ie: catching fire) batteries. Seems like every six months, there’s a battery recall.

Back to the OP… Spending $200 for protection on a $700 laptop? That’s not going to be top of the line, so in two to three years, you’ll probably be just itching to get a new laptop. I’d spend the $200 on upgrading the purchase - either look at laptops at the $900 pricepoint, or use the money to load it up with RAM - at least 1 GB.

I guess it depends on the cost. I kind of wish I’d bought one on my Gateway a year and a half ago when I got it, because 2 weeks ago I had a mysterious “Won’t boot up, no way no how” issue and thought I was well and truly fucked. Luckily it came back to life, but I’ll get the warrentee next time.

When I purchased it originally it was just for internet and fun stuff, but now I use it for work, so I also depends on how long you could be without it if you didn’t have the money to fix it right away in case of a problem.

I’m no expert on this, but personally, I don’t think it’s worth it unless you’re buying some kind of super-duper really expensive machine, OR the machine is going to be used and transported by a child. It’s cheaper to just buy a new laptop if need be (and probably you won’t need to).

I think you should buy this insurance for the same reason you should buy any insurance. If you couldn’t afford to manage the repair and need to have the computer, buy the insurance. If you can afford the repair or can afford to do without the computer, don’t.

My general philosophy: insurance shouldn’t cover things you could expect to have go wrong, and could afford to pay. That’s just cycling your money through one more layer of profit-taker.

Consumer Reports says that extended warantees are ripoffs. With two exceptions:

Laptops
Hi definition TV.

Laptops are fragile and the warantee is well worth it the first time you drop it and crack the screen. Or spill water on the keyboard (yes, many warantees – Dell and Toshiba, to my knowledge – will specifically cover that).

My daughter got it on her laptop and used it twice: once when her USB port broke and needed replacement, and another time when she spilled water on the keyboard. It more than paid for itself, especially since you probably would have to get a new computer instead of doing a repair.

Do it. I had a friend who would always send in his laptops the last week of their warranties to get basically everything replaced. Sticky keys, scratched screens, loud fans, the whole works. As he put it, it was like getting a brand new laptop after 3 years for only $100. Pretty good deal.

If the warranty covers accidental damage then I think it is definitely worth it. Usually they’ll have a three year plan or something. The day might come when it is droppped or coffee spills on it or your kid smashes the thing.

There is another option that hasn’t been mentioned. I just recentally bought a laptop myself, a $1500 one. I decieded to stay with the default manufacters one year warrenty. I was still worried about accidental damamge and theft (which isn’t covered by the extended warranties). I decieded to get insurance on it through an actual insurance company. State Farm offered me a complete risk insurance plan for $35 a year. However, they require a property insurance plan (Renters or Homeowners) to ride the plan on, so all together its costing me about $110 a year. About the same as the full 3 year accidental warrenty offered by the manufacter, and its a replacement cost pollicy.

You might want to check out your other options before signing up for that extended warrenty.