How much warranty is enough????

Hey guys just wanted to know what warranty I should get with my M17 lappy... Going to get a machine that will be good for 2 years until ssd come down in price... So will be Eventruly upgrading the Processor, hard drives, and memory myself... So should I just get 2 years warranty with accidental damage?? Or since I'm gonna upgrade which the warrant us then voided just get standard...??

Also do processors change in shape much?? Will I find it difficult to upgrade fitting right size and what not??

 

you answered your own question dude...you want your laptop to last 2 years. So 2 yrs protection might not be a bad idea.

Me, i went with the default 1 yr warranty. Theres no point for me to spend more on warranty as i change my laptop often. My current m17x is going on ebay or going to my wife by next yr

 

I agree with SlickDude80 if your keeping it yes.. Also if your going to upgrade yourself, keep the cpu, ram hd's anything you replace. That way if something go's wrong mobo, FX board or what ever you have the OEM parts to put back for warranty. I just had an issue with my Area 51 and put the OEM parts in before remote view by Alienware. Sending me a new mother board and drives out Monday for me to install. Helps since I have a 2 year on it.

 

Okay I'll probs never sell the pappy since it gonna cost me $3GS but upgrade yess... For what's the point of selling it when you can just keep upgrading also what about my last question about sizes?? Also don't they have tamper screws on it so they know if you have touched it??

 

This is what I'm getting was gonna get best of best but now I thought I will get something that will last me and I'll upgrade later for cheaper.. Wat u think??

Alienware M17x R.3 R3 non-3D Custom Built to Order
System Color
Soft Touch Stealth Black
Processor
Intel® Core™ i7 2860QM 2.5GHz (3.6GHz with Turbo Boost, ...
Processor
Intel® Core™ i7 2860QM 2.5GHz (3.6GHz with Turbo Boost, 8MB Cache)
Thermal Paste - Lower temps and extend life of system!
Stock thermal compound
Operating System
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
Video Card
2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 580M
LCD Panel
17.3-inch WideFHD1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED
Memory
Kingston HyperX 12GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (3DIM ...
Memory
Kingston HyperX 12GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (3DIMMS) - 1600MHz not supported on 2630QM - installed by HIDevolution
Hard Drive
500GB 7,200RPM SATA-II HDD
2nd Hard Drive Bay (installed by HIDevolution)
750GB 7200RPM HDD - INSTALLED BY HIDevolution
Internal Optical/3rd HDD Bay
Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW ...
Internal Optical/3rd HDD Bay
Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
Battery Options
85 WHr 9-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery
Power Adapter
240 Watt 3 Prong AC Adapter with 6 ft Power Cord (will ...
Power Adapter
240 Watt 3 Prong AC Adapter with 6 ft Power Cord (will work worldwide, includes FREE plug adapter for those without "U.S. style" outlets)
Wireless Cards
Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO for Gaming & ...
Wireless Cards
Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO for Gaming & Video
WirelessHD
VIZIO XWH200 Universal Wireless HD Video and Audio Kit ...
WirelessHD
VIZIO XWH200 Universal Wireless HD Video and Audio Kit with Internal 60GHz WirelessHD Transmitter
Bluetooth
Bluetooth 3.0 Included
Warranty and Service (Dell warranties are valid worldwide with service tag transfer request)
2 Year Advanced Service Plan (adds Accidental damage pr ...
Warranty and Service (Dell warranties are valid worldwide with service tag transfer request)
2 Year Advanced Service Plan (adds Accidental damage protection)
Office Software
Microsoft® Office Home and Business 2010
Security Software
None
AlienFX Color (Color can be changed later to any color using supplied AlienFX software)
Nova Yellow
Avatars and Wallpapers
Alien Red Glyphs
Pre-Installed Games
Steam and Portal™ Factory Installed, World of Warcraft ...
Pre-Installed Games
Steam and Portal™ Factory Installed, World of Warcraft Preinstall Edition , Eve Online, Factory Installed

 

How much warranty you need, is probably a desicion you should make up on your own, based on "how" you're going to use the PC.

But, i'll tell you my story;
Had only 1 year warranty, no acciedental damage warranty,
and the PC crapped out on me 1 week after that the warranty ran out.
(The left-side USB ports meltet because of overheating or some )

They wanted 3500 NOK (625 USD for repairing it, so i told them off.)


That was the most stupid decision i've ever made, also, if you have a long acciedental-plan, you can smash your PC 2-3 weeks before it run out, and get a new one pretty cheaply. (There is usually an ammount that you will have to pay, but it's cheap.) And in most cases, you will end up with an PC with newer hardware, since the hardware that was in your original PC has "gone out of production".


- Scott.

 

My advice: Buy as much as you can afford WITHOUT comprimising the gaming potential of the laptop you are buying.

Example: dont downgrade your videocard so you can afford the 3 year warrenty. But if you can afford to buy BOTH the better card and the 3 year warrenty...definately do it.

It seems to me that the people who have these longer warrenties seem to be ones who get there 3-5 year old computer replaced with a fancy brand new one the most often. Now, there is no garuntee that will ever actually happen, however, it is alot more unlikely (like a 2% chance) to happen if you are OUT of warrenty...

 

You do know that we have 5 years of reclamation in Norway? So as long as you didn't cause the damage, Dell have to fix it free of charge.

I wold not pay for any extra warrenty. But we are well covered here in Norway by laws. So you have to deceide if it's worth spending the extra cash on extended warrenty

 

Another thing that some of you can do...my credit card adds another yr of warranty...so i have 2 years eventhough i didn't pay for it

 

Depends on your tendencies. I bought a M15x in July, 2010. By the end of the year, I had upgraded the CPU, GPU, memory and PSU and had replaced the HDD with a SSD. So the only things of note left to be covered by the warranty were the motherboard and the monitor, which reduces the benefit significantly. When I bought the R3 this summer, I got full three year coverage on the theory that I would stay with the original configuration for the foreseeable future. So far I have upgraded the CPU, memory and HDD and am waiting for an appropriate upgrade for the GPU. If you suffer from the same tendencies, extended warranties don't make a lot of sense.

 

lol...unfortunately, i seem to have these tendencies too

 

Well, keep your original parts

 

You can do that of course, but the point is that the upgraded parts being used, and therefore the only ones that can break, are not covered, while the parts covered are in the drawer and don't need a warranty.

 

I think the point is if the mobo or something else go's out Dell will give a very cold eye if you can not put it back to OEM they can and do say your upgraded parts are or caused the problem. That said you can sell it with the factory parts with any warranty left and use or sell the upgrades on ebay. Just seems a little smarter to me than to take a brand new lappy upgrade it sell the parts and void the warranty then like some have said sell it for the next flavor of the month, like I..

 

I think my comments are being misunderstood, but it doesn't matter enough to clarify further. I keep the replaced original parts, mostly to protect the warranty on the remaining active parts, but also as insurance against failure of an upgraded component, but that does not alter the fact that I am receiving less warranty benefit as a result of the decreased coverage of active parts.

 

I can never afford to buy my laptop outright. I had the m1730 Xps before my R3. In each case I took a finance agreement over 3 years so I always make sure my warranty covers the same period, then after 3 years I look to upgrade. I would hate to be making a monthly payment on something that went wrong and wasn't covered.

 

Can't argue with that strategy. The ideal warranty is one that provides coverage which coincides exactly with actual use.

 

thanks guys i think you have answered my question.. i think i will only get the 3 year advanced accidental warranty... keep my system for 3 years then look to upgrade.... just a general question... How long can you upgrade your laptop for until you cant find parts that fit it anymore?? and find it difficult...

 

you do not need to keep the original parts.
like if u buy the laptop with normal hdd and put in an ssd
then the warranty applies on the laptop except the ssd because it's not dell.
i upgraded my alien with third party ram and ssd.
updated my system status with dell that i use other ram and disks and that is not the problem.

i went with 3 years warranty. better selling value when system still has warranty.

 

Yes, but what happens if, in the unfortunate situation,Dell decides to replace your system after many repair attempts?
You'll have to send them the old system, would you send it back with your shiny SSD and nice set of RAM you bought? I don't think so

 

I LOL'd but this man is telling the truth.

 

even if you send it back without the ram and disk dell wil not say a thing.
back in the days when met m1730 got fried i sended it back without ram and disks and got a brand new r1 back with ram and disks.
never got called about the missing parts.

 

you upgraded your system status? and told dell you changed your hard drive and they still covered you? just not the part you installed??