M17x R4 - 2 year + 2 year accidental damage or 3 year no accidental damge

Dear reader,

The new 17" from Alienware is too expensive for me. So I was thinking I'd get the M17x R4 with 680m which is on sale. But if my laptop develops a problem in the future I would really like if Dell could swap me for the new design Alienware 17 with an equivalent GPU at that time.
In which situation is this likely to happen also on which warranty plan? The 2 year + 2 year accidental damage or 3 year with no accidental damage (almost same cost)?

Please give me advise on this. I sincerely thank you in advance for your advice.

Best regards
Victor

 

2 + 2 without a doubt...........odds are good you'll be looking to replace the system in less than 2 years and having it covered from soup to nuts during that 2 year period is a great feeling to have.

 

Just a different view on the accidental damage. If you keep the machine at home as a true desktop replacement, any accidental damage should fall under the roof of your home contents insurance if you specify it on your policy. That's for the UK anyway. My machine stays at home, and although I do have the Dell accidental damage cover, basically, I am insured twice, which is a waste of money. The only reason I took it in the first place is that it actually made my purchase cheaper because of negotiating a deal when I bought it.

If you travel with the machine a lot, of course, accidental damage away from your property is something which is essential. It's worth noting that in the UK (not sure about US policies) you can aslo specify for cover for specific items away from the home.

My advice would be to check with your home insurance provider, get a price to include your machine home & away and compare it to Dell's price. Depending on how that pans out, you may feel that it's worth just going for the longer 3 yr system warranty and rely on home insurance to cover the accidental damage side of things. You'll probably find it is not that expensive - I think covering my £5,000 laptop costs as little as £5-10 per year under my home insurance policy.

Just my two pennies.

 

Thx Steve. I'm reading on this forum that replacing AW laptops in the UK can be a bit a pain. Especially if you want a brand new replacement.

 

Yes, it can be somewhat frustrating of EMEA customers to obtain the same level of service that our US cousins enjoy. There are several EMEA related threads, one of them my own, that show quite an appalling trend of poor treatment and shoddy after-market care.

 

To clear things up,
You can purchase accidental damage for the first 1 year only.