Protection/insurance plans for laptops a MUST for 1st-time buyers?

[Xpred]

I am about to purchase my first laptop. I was told by my friends that their laptops usually break down and its quite normal for others as well (Don't know how true this is) after 1 year or so and needs some kind of service every year or 2 years. Well, they all had bought maybe like $100-300 worth of "protection" plans from retail stores such as Circuit City, BestBuy, CompUSA, Fry's, Office Depot/Max, etc...

They told me that the warranty for most providers say Toshiba or Dell is bad and their service is slow. So getting something fix (which they say again will likely happen sooner or later with a laptop) would be easier through the retail store since you don't have to send it in or anything. Is this true?

I'm more of a desktop guy as I've built many desktop PCs in the past, but I never knew laptops/notebooks were so fragile. But I need a laptop now and going to purchase one in the next 2 weeks. Hopefully my friends are telling me half of the story, but do you think it's also wise to get the protection plans/service plans too?

Thanks.

 

[WackyDan]

If you buy some cheap consumer laptop off the shelf at best buy or another retailer... then you are asking for trouble.

If you buy a business class machine from HP, Dell, or Lenovo - then you are getting a far more durable product with the Lenovo ThinkPad rated tops for durability and support.

Those service plans are a huge profit center for the retailers. Buy a business lappy over the web, and you can typically get a 3 year warranty and add the OEM's accidental breakage for about $179.

 

[Xpred]

I am thinking of getting a Toshiba. Is that still good? I was just wondering whether anyone actually gets these service plans or not.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Here's a straight fact for you: any consumer-level warranty is going to be "slow," whether it is from the manufacturer or Best Buy/other retail stores.

If you want good warranty service, buy a business-class machine. Dell Latitude, Lenovo Thinkpad, HP nc/nx series. I can't speak to Toshiba, but in general I don't see much point in recommending them as they don't offer a lot for the money compared to most other brands.

My Thinkpad T42 has only had to be sent in for service once. I don't have onsite service, so I called the 1-800-#, talked to a guy in Georgia who overnighted me a box, I overnighted it back (on their dime), they fixed it the day they got it, and overnighted it back the day they got it. Dell's depot service should be the same way, not sure about HP.

I paid a little extra for the Accidental Damage coverage on my T42. I sort of used it because I had them send me a different model keyboard and new battery with the Accidental Damage coverage as a bit of leverage. I also like the extra piece of mind that pretty much no matter what I do to it, they'll fix it. All of the tools I use to do what I do, laptop included, I generally abuse. Sure if I had a less sturdy laptop or a crappier warranty, I would be nicer to it; but I like being able to not have to baby my possessions and expect them to keep working :evil: I've abused this T42 and more than 2 years later, it is still going strong.

 

[Xpred]

Ah.. how much was your protection plan?

 

[fbrdphreak]

I don't remember now, I got it through my school anyway. But if you configure a Thinkpad I think they call it "Thnkpad Protection." Dell calls it "Complete Assurance" or something.

Do read the fine print on it though. On HP consumer machines for instance, they limit you to replacing each major component only once. So if you accidentally damage the LCD, they replace it one time only. Same for a whole list of the notebook's "major" components.

 

[AmigaMan]

I typically only buy an extended warranty when the product I'm buying is something I can't easily replace due to it's expense. For my $400 TV, buying extra insurance isn't worth it since I can replace that easily. On my $1500 Dell Inspiron, I only had the default 1 year warranty and the LCD started developing problems a month after it went out of warranty. Although I was able to replace it, I wish I had gotten the extended warranty ($1500 isn't chump change). Then again, if the Dell hadn't broke, I wouldn't be typing this on my new MacBookPro. However, at $3000, getting a new MBP would not be easy to swallow, so I bought the 3 year AppleCare warranty.

 

[Golgatha]

Originally posted by: WackyDan
If you buy some cheap consumer laptop off the shelf at best buy or another retailer... then you are asking for trouble.

If you buy a business class machine from HP, Dell, or Lenovo - then you are getting a far more durable product with the Lenovo ThinkPad rated tops for durability and support.

Those service plans are a huge profit center for the retailers. Buy a business lappy over the web, and you can typically get a 3 year warranty and add the OEM's accidental breakage for about $179.

I looked into Lenovo's extended warranty. You get the 1 year warranty up front and you can extend it for another 3 years (for a total of 4 years) for $132 I believe. Totally reasonable IMO.

 

[dementedlemur]

On the Dell laptops I've purchased I added complete care to each of them. For my first one it was definately worth while as I broke the screen on it. They had the part to me the next day along with a tech to install it.
I know that Best Buy has/had accidental damage warranties available, but their pricing is much higher than directly through Toshiba would be.
I would say that if you can afford to get an accidental damage warranty and especially if this is your first laptop, do it.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: Golgatha

Originally posted by: WackyDan
If you buy some cheap consumer laptop off the shelf at best buy or another retailer... then you are asking for trouble.

If you buy a business class machine from HP, Dell, or Lenovo - then you are getting a far more durable product with the Lenovo ThinkPad rated tops for durability and support.

Those service plans are a huge profit center for the retailers. Buy a business lappy over the web, and you can typically get a 3 year warranty and add the OEM's accidental breakage for about $179.

I looked into Lenovo's extended warranty. You get the 1 year warranty up front and you can extend it for another 3 years (for a total of 4 years) for $132 I believe. Totally reasonable IMO.

Their warranty pricing is cheap for a reason - low TCO (Total Cost of Ownership).

 

[HomeyFoos]

I have had quite a bit of experience with consumer extended warranties on Toshiba laptops through Best-Buy. Here is how it works. It cost $300-$400. For 3 years, the first 3 times it breaks, they fix it for you free of charge with no concept of time in mind. Meaning, if their in-house tech's can't fix it or if they can't get the part, they ship it off to a 3rd party repair shop and the machine is sent directly to your door when fixed 2 weeks later. If you need any data-recovery, they try to stick you for an additional $100. So get your stuff off of there before you take it to them to fix. If they cannot fix it , they will replace it. Or if it breaks a 4th time after them fixing it 3 times, they will replace it.

This is good and bad. The bad is that both Toshiba's I have owned went completely through the program. The first one I bought had to be replaced 2 years later because they could not fix it. This was a good thing because they gave me $1799 in laptop credit and said 'pick'. So 2 years into our agreement, I was out of it with a new laptop. I chose Toshiba again (thinking it wsa just a bad model), repurchased the extended warranty (another $300), and walked out. 2.5 years later, my Toshiba has been back to Best-Buy 3 times now and is currently at the 3rd-Party repair shop. When it comes back to me, the race is on. Will it break one more time before March of 2007. Because if it does, I will be able to replace it with a new machine for the full retail-value of my current machine, $1899. In 2004, that didn't get you much. Today it gets you quite a bit. I would be limited to a brand found in Best Buy but it could be worse.

The short of it is if you are going to buy from BB or CC, get the warranty. Your Toshiba will break. There are no 2 ways about it. Your Sony will break. So will your HP. However, I don't really recommend you doing so or buying Toshiba, Sony, or HP. They do break.

You can look at this one of two ways. Either I got value for my warranties or I paid an extra $300 for them to admit that their crap was never that good to begin with. Either way, the last 5 years has been spent with laptops that break and when they are working, aren't that great anyhow. Things have changed and I believe you CAN get a good machine at BB or CC but you are paying for it one of many ways. Listen to these guys if you aren't concerned about your GPU. They know what they are talking about.

 

[fbrdphreak]

BB's laptop warranties are better than most retail stores, my gf had (maybe still has, not sure) it on her dv1000. But all of their other warranties are going downhill in terms of the restrictions they put on it and I wouldn't be surprised if that happened to the computer warranties eventually.

Anyway, that aside, realize that you can send your laptop in for any verifiable problem Whether it is a sticking mouse button, loose power connector, anything they can verify that isn't accidental damage or abuse. Get that third replacement!!!

 

[HomeyFoos]

Damn straight. When they asked me in 2004 as I was replacing my original if I wanted to re-up on the service agreement I said 'Of course, unless I can no longer count on Toshiba to break.' I allow them to do this to themselves. This machine, the IDE connection went bad. I assume because I pulled the drive out and got data off of it in an enclosure. So the drive was fine. Anyway, it wouldn't boot to windows. When I sent it in, the WiFi adapter was not working as well. When I got it back, the hard drive was fine w/ a new install but they did not test the machine very well because the WiFi was still broken. The very next day, I took it back to them and the clerk at Geek Squad argued with me that that wsa not the problem, but took it in and billed a zero charge for labor that came to like $160. Got it the next day. The WiFi card is STILL broken. I took it back a third time and that is where we sit. They opted to ship it off to the 3rd party facility.

I mean, companies like BB and CC do not even announce the earnings from Extended Warranties on their books. They stand to get in a little trouble for this because they are publicly traded. They are gaming the system with these warranties. I have little-to-no remorse for allowing them to fulfill their guarantee. The last Toshiba I had (the original purchase) was defective from the first day. If you bumped the bottom of it w/ your knee, the desktop would do a complete Zero-Lock. Screen would be on, mouse and keyboard completely frozen. Sent it back 3 times for this exact problem (and a broken optical drive) and not once did they fix the problem. The 3rd time I got it back, it was broken right out of the box. I took it up there, talked to a manager, showed him my documentation where I was VERY specific as to the problem and it was amazing how little attention they paid to that little slip. I would assume it's a combination of incompetence from Best Buy EE's and not caring from the 3rd-Party tech's, but it would appear the just throw the sheet out and determine what's wrong with it all on their own.

As much as I paid for the warranty, I pretty much anticipate that a replacement will happen. Thus far, I have gotten what I paid for.

 

[fbrdphreak]

I mean, companies like BB and CC do not even announce the earnings from Extended Warranties on their books. They stand to get in a little trouble for this because they are publicly traded. They are gaming the system with these warranties.

Interesting, I didn't know that.

I do know that they supposedly take all the money from the service plans and essentially earn interest on it, not touching the rest. *shrug* Who cares, I'm not exactly a fan of BBY.

 

[Xpred]

Well, I just purchased my first laptop at a retail store. The guys there gave me a very bad rap about how I would regret not purchasing their service plans because of batteries dying after 1 year + malfunction of other things (they talked for about 30+ mins on the why batteries will die out and everything else that "will" happen). So I was telling them maybe I wouldn't buy such a crappy item then. After telling them "I do not want a service plan" over and over, they finally gave me the look and the shrug of saying "Good luck with that anyways."

Well, anyways... think I made a bad choice? Maybe I should have listened to them people, eh?

 

[WobbleWobble]

Originally posted by: Xpred
Well, I just purchased my first laptop at a retail store. The guys there gave me a very bad rap about how I would regret not purchasing their service plans because of batteries dying after 1 year + malfunction of other things (they talked for about 30+ mins on the why batteries will die out and everything else that "will" happen). So I was telling them maybe I wouldn't buy such a crappy item then. After telling them "I do not want a service plan" over and over, they finally gave me the look and the shrug of saying "Good luck with that anyways."

Well, anyways... think I made a bad choice? Maybe I should have listened to them people, eh?

Remember that the sales people make huge commisions off of extended warranties. You made the right choice and don't look back.

 

[corkyg]

Here's my personal rule I have followed for nearly 30 years. First of all, extended warranties and service plans are extremely profitable for the vendor. Therefore, they may not be profitable for me. I prefer to be self-insured - IOW, pass on all that extra fee and put the money aside - best where it earns interest.

Those fees are based on accurate statistics - and you are in effect betting with the house. By not playing the game, you will win more than you lose over the long haul.

 

[BladeVenom]

They wouldn't try to sell service plans so hard if they were worth what you pay for them. It's probably only worth about half of what they charge for it, or less.

My old laptop lasted me over 4 years, and the battery it came with lasted almost 3. Other than being obsolete it still works.

 

[pkme2]

IMO I look at extended warranties as like playing Russian Roulette. There's always some stipulation that will limit their total coverage.
I have ordered Dell's for my students and occasionally ordered them with accident coverage but never extended warranties. Everybody have their preferences and the money saved goes for needed components.

If one has someone like your local neighborhood nerd, computer geek, or computer repair guy, you're in luck. Usually, the problems are software related. Computer failure unless its physical mishap, is relatively rare. I've had my laptops for many years and have never failed me.

Buying extended warranties are for a few, the majority can get by without bother.