Warranty - to buy or not to buy...

I am considering the purchase of an M17x r3 and have been following the threads here. I noticed that a lot of people are buying the 3 and 4 year Advanced warranty.

Pricing it out, the warranty on the system I want comes to $519. That's nearly 25% of the total system cost. I realize that it covers accidental damage, but that seems a little steep to me. I would think that I have a less 25% chance dropping it or frying a component.

Is the accidental damage the main driver for why you would purchase this warranty? Or is there something I am missing?

 

Yes, people are mainly buying it for accidental. While speaking to the dell person today, he did inform me that neither warranty (basic nor advanced) covers things like theft or natural disasters. Also, they do not cover if you buy components non-Dell stores and it fries your system (the example he gave me was if I bought ram from amazon and it fries my mobo, it doesn't cover that). Aside from that, warranty is not voided if you upgrade components on your own.

 

don't you dare go cheap on the warranty... this is an expensive rig and it does have it occasional "faults" down the road. don't shoot yourself in the foot I'm begging you! Heard way too many horror stories to cheap up on warranty (google). Treat this as an investment because it's one of the more expensive things you'll buy.

 

Warranty is good for:
- Like insurance, you pay premium up front, and worry-free using ur lap.
- Also added some value for resale.
- In my experience, a good lap will still have problem after 2 years heavy used. My 2k+ HP and MBPro died after 1.5 and 2.4 years, respectively. So 3 years warranty is always good for long-term. I dont recommend 2 years warranty since only few laptops will fail between year 1 and year 2, plus the difference with 3 yrs warranty would not be that much once you decide to take out some cash for it.
Not if:
- You are almost over your budget (you can always extend it later, but at a higher cost of course)
- You are technology addicted and do not want to be left behind next 1-2 years when ppl will be using Ivy Bridge etc. You will want to sell it very soon and that way 2yrs warranty is good enough.

My own recommend: always go for complete care.

 

I fit into both of these categories and got the 3 year advanced myself. I figure I'll most likely sell it within 3 years and move onto whatever else is best... That and I really didn't want to spend more money I don't have than whats necessary.

 

Im not completely sure, but see if you can buy the 1 year warranty now, and upgrade it later, that way, if sometime down the line ( pending when you can ) you feel the need to upgrade your warranty, you can do so.

 

Lol. I doubt if you can "feel" it.

 

Whats funny is that Accidental stuff is usually covered under your renters insurance But you have to verify with your insurance agent.

However, what renters doesn't cover is when theres a manufacturing defect. IN that case you have to have a manufactures warranty or your screwed. Personally I think $100 extra for the accidental is definitely cheap if you look at regular insurance premiums.

 

If you "use" your renter's insurance your premium goes up.

Buying "additional" warranty down the road costs more than buying it up front.

I've had a machine with 5 years of warranty, and I've more than gotten my money's worth.

Things go wrong. Not all of the 500 parts that go into a laptop are perfectly made every time. Are you willing to toss several grand of money in the recycle bin simply because you couldn't afford a couple hundred to insure it? The worst problems do not happen in year 1. They happen in year 3 and 4.

 

Not sure if anyone gave OP a straight answer yet, butttttt....

BUY the warranty damn you. I'm a cheapo and even I bought it. If you're gonna use this for more than 1 year, then you def want to buy it. Especially if you're a student and move around alot.

Someone close the thread for him. He knows that he needs to buy it, and just wants second opinion (kinda like how I did too).

 

I typically don't recommend buying a warranty that is over 10% the price of whatever you're buying. Statistically the odds are in the favor of the company, otherwise they would not offer the warranty.

BUT it really depends on you. Do you have the time, and are you comfortable repairing a laptop yourself? Or perhaps you'd rather just not mess with it? Will your laptop spend most of its time in one place at home, or will you be travelling with it a lot, increasing the chances of failure due to handling? Will access be limited to yourself, or will this be a family computer (especially with kids)? These are all questions I ask people when I'm asked to give a recommendation.

Myself, I don't buy them, and I've never regretted it. But that's me, I tear down and build laptops and computers all the time and am extremely careful with my stuff. For other members in my family *cough* wife *cough* I've been known to buy insurance/warranty on an item, because it has a higher chance of failure due to being dropped, a kid jumping on it, etc. It is a big chunk of money...only you can decide if it is worth it for your circumstances.

 

I'm actually a bit like you. This is actually my 2nd warranty ever. The first time I ever bought a warranty was with launch PSP. I was paranoid, and the warranty only cost like 50bucks or something, which I found useful cuz it was fresh-swap at gamestop. Nothing ever went wrong, so on the 364th day I just swapped out my psp for a brand new one.

This time around though, I bought it for the reasons you listed: travelling. Grad school is coming up, so I'm weary.

For those who are in shoes like mine (is that even correct use of 'in your shoes'), warranty is a good idea.

 

IMO a 2-3 year warranty is a good ideal.

Also depends on how long you plan to keep the laptop.

The extended warranty also helps with the re-sale value of the laptop, as the new owner has some assurance when buying the used item.

 

I got the 3year advanced. I do plan to keep this thing till it dies.

 

But you can! I just bought a 1 year ext and can do it again in another year. And one mpre year after that. For a total of four years. It just costs more. $279 per year vs. $560 (or so) up front.

 

I got the 4 Year Advanced Plan for $411 via AAFES. Have it on my M1330 too and had to use it when i drop it. All was free but shipping because i'm on Okinawa.

 

Let me tell you guys something... When I purchased my mobo (m17x R2), I only got the normal warranty (1 year). Yes, I know it is foolish to do that.

But the extended warranty was way too much out of my budget.

However, 2 weeks back I got a call from dell and told me that they have a special promotion and that I can buy the warranty at 50% of the actual price.

Believe me, I paid 400$ for 4 years warranty, when at first I would have paid that much only for 2 years.

I guess, you may be able to take the chance and at the end of your 1 year warranty call them or write to them about the same. I am sure that they will work out a deal for you, especially that they make extra money out of your system.

This is my experience...

 

I do generally buy warranties for my electronics just because they are so expensive to repair and you never really know what the build quality is. I guess my concern was just the price that Dell is asking. 25% of the unit cost just seems a little steep to me. But I saw most everyone in those other threads talking about adding it to their build and wanted to get an idea of why they were doing so.


EDIT: RAWR!! I was in Hirr back when I was playing Eve.

 

I bought it because this is the first time I've ever heard of having the possibility of a dude coming to fix it, rather than me having to send it in, risk of losing it in the mail, and wasting 1month or so not having a computer in my hands. So it's mostly the convenience of it

 

just a heads up though, you cannot upgrade from basic to advanced later on. one will usually have to stay in the same type of warranty whether its basic, or advanced, or premium (if one chooses to upgrade, he can only upgrade to premium).

so lets say u had basic, and u want to extend it + upgrade, you will not be able to upgrade to advance, you will only be able to upgrade to premium. Theyve basically taken advanced completely out of the picture after the purchase.

 

No they haven't...You can upgrade to Advance but according to ALL DELL REPS, Advance does NOT include accidental even though ALL THEIR LINKS SAY THEY DO.

I went with a square trade warranty. $230 for 3 years (no accidental)

99% of the time Square Trade refunds your original purchase price, so, in 3 years, I can spend $3,000 on a laptop that is 3x better

 

How long do claims take through Squaretrade?

Anyone know if warranties are refundable through Dell?

 

forum cleanup -

Warranty discussion is here -

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/549462-questions-alienware-warranties.html