Alienware M18x: Should I Go for the Extended Warranty?

Fair enough. I look at it from the point of view that something with long warranty left on it is easier to sell than a machine with little or no warranty remaining. Personally, I'd pay more for a 2nd hand machine with long warranty than one without, so you could argue that you get your money back for your longer warranty when you do decide to sell.

I took 4 years warranty - do I plan on keeping for 4 yrs? - nope. I reckon 2 yrs tops. I'll then be in the position to sell my current machine with a full 2yrs warranty left - and get more for the machine because of it.

 

If you are within the US or CA and need a warranty quote send me a PM or e-mail [email protected] Brother Stevie has the UK ones haha.
It's good to have partners here who can help you get better pricing

 

Hahaha! - well, we all do what we can to help out, right?

 

True... true haha.

 

Brother stevie, would it be possible for you to extend your kind offer my way. I have been waiting 2 weeks for a reply from Dell regarding warranty upgrade.

 

Most certainly! - just shoot me a PM with your name/contact details/service tag and I can have my chap get in touch with you over it. Hopefully save you a bob or two in the process too.....

 

Hey guys, I received the prices for a warranty extension:

1 year - €145+vat
2 years - €275+vat
3 years – €450+vat
4 years – €520 + vat

They're very, very high. I was thinking of going for the 3-year extension, would total to 531 euro with VAT... that's about $700! Would you advice just going for the 4-year extension outright? Or would a 3-year extension be enough? A 3-year extension would mean a warranty till 31/10/2017

 

I received my m18x about a month ago and it came with the one year standard warranty. I entered my service tag on the website and apparently 2 additional years of warranty will cost $394.20. Do you think this is worth it? Or should I wait until my current warranty is about to expire?

 

according to people here when they wanted to extend it was around that that price for 1 year extension.

 

If you check the price of a motherboard, a 7970M or 680M GPU, or some of the other high-dollar components, that's pretty reasonable. Even so, if you go through one of the reps here in the forum on the warranty extension, you might get a better deal on it than what is posted when you look online. If you're going to do it, I say do it now. It's not likely to get any cheaper as time goes by.

 

I never take the extended warranty, but if you look at it plainly, it just takes you 1 little defect or fubar part and you'll very quickly already surpass the warranty price. So in general it's very worth it i'd say.

 

100% worth it, unless you like the thought of ponying up for a new $600+ gpu if one should die outside of warranty....

 

I used alien ware autopsy to check how much my warranty upgrade was. 3 year extension for 469.i thought about getting it but I really don't know if I need it. Ate these machines that unreliable? And I mean with no abuse.. Such has high temps or high over clocking ect.

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2

 

It's not that they are unreliable. I have had my current machine for just over 12 mths now and nothing at all has gone wrong with it. As with all things, the older they get, the more likelihood there is of something going wrong. I would say that I have a fairly low to medium usage scenario where I don't constantly bench or game, like other owners probably do. I think the best way of looking at warranty is to ask yourself "can I afford to put right something expensive if it did go wrong?" - if you can answer yes, then you don't really need to worry about warranty. Same goes possibly if you are one of those people who can afford to change your machine every 12mths or so - I got mine with the assumption that I did not want the potential risk of having to shell out if something major went pear-shaped and I also planned on keeping it for a good couple of years. My logic also was that when the time came to sell/upgrade, I could offer the potential buyer a good balance of warranty, which is always a good thing when it comes to selling for peace of mind.

It's all about your own attitude to risk, and wether you want to take that risk or be more cautious and take that risk away for a reasonable premium. Warranty is like having good brakes on your car, you miss them most when they are not there

 

Thanks for the input guys. I was able to purchase 2 additional years of warranty for $375 before taxes. Seems like a fair price for protecting my investment

 

I always buy enough warranty to cover my planned use. Normally I buy 3 years and sell the laptop between 2 and 2.5 years.

I like knowing that when I sell the laptop that the new owner is covered and has the option to extend the warranty themselves.

 

with the poor quality of Alienware laptops (there is a reason i have three M18x), Im glad for the warranty but again, the warranty suckes also. I was without a computer for 6 months, how did Dell compensate for that? Gave me a computer with lower performance then my previous.

 

Really, if you think they are that bad quality wise, why would you have 3?

 

I only paid for one......

 

Maybe you should sell them , if they are poor quality, and go for a quality brand?

 

How on earth can you say the warranty sucks when you have have THREE Alienware M18x's off the back of one purchase (I wonder what specification the other two you have are.....) . Also, how can you say that the machine you told us about above is anywhere remotely NEAR a low end M18x - unless you had the exact same machine with an Extreme cpu originally, I fail to see how that beast is of "lower performance" as you describe above

I don't want to sound like I am having a dig at you, but...c'mon - where else are you gonna get service like that. It surprises me that Dell have not asked for the other systems back and you should count yourself VERY fortunate to be in possession of ONE M18x of that calibre, let alone THREE. I kind of bet that your original purchase was nowhere near the spec. of the machine you quoted above and that Dell bent over backwards to compensate you for any troubles you encountered, by way of upgraded components - that's the way they work when they know it's their fault. Trust me, I know from experience.

If Dell/Alienware are really that "sub-standard" in your opinion, sell up and go buy a Clevo - see if they can match Dell's warranty.......stop whinging about it

Some people do not recognize when they have it good, and your one of 'em....

(Dismounts the soap box).

 

Ok mister wiseguy.

I bought my M18x R1 in February 2012, a 2960XM with 580SLi, 32GB and 2x 256SSD ect..... Played and was happy for about 4 months. Suddenly the second GPU stopped working to make a long story, short, I didn't get a new computer before DECEMBER 2012! Meantime the laptop was in and out from service non-stop, changing the motherboard x times, GPU x times, basically the hole internal was changed over and over again in order to fix the problem. Each time they said that they had fix the problem but when I started up the computer first thing after receiving it back from service I saw right away that the second GPU had the Code 43 fault and didnt work so back to service.

After MUCH back and forward, they finally gave me a new computer in December 2012. And you know what they replaced it with? A R2, 3630QM, 16GB, 675M SLi. I had the top computer at that time, and it was replaced by todays top computes little brother. They didn't even compensate for the LONG time I didn't have any computer, I guess you would have been pissed to "stevejones" or mister " that Dell bent over backwards to compensate you for any troubles you encountered, by way of upgraded components"

My girlfriend bought me my latest computer (top brand from Dell as a surprise) as she wanted to make me happy after all the trouble this computer had given me, spend hours of hours on the phone with them. And worse of all, they didn't call me back to update me on the situation ect, I always had to call them up over and over and had to explain the HOLE situation over and over and over again. Anyway, my GF bought me my third computer one week before I suddenly got a call from Dell, telling me that they will replace my computer. So there I was left with my original computer, my replacement computer and the computer my GF bought me. I also stated that I wanted to KNOW the spec on the new computer they wanted to replace my old with so that I could discuss it with Dell and/if upgrade it if there was something I wanted to ask. This was okey but they went on and ordered the new computer and called me when it was on its way to me. They just replied "Ohh, to late to do anything now, hope you enjoy your new computer. I had a look at the spec and its an AWESOME CPU" The service guy actually said that, like the 3630QM was the flagship for Ivy bridge platform. It was the "lowest" CPU you can get for the R2! The 2860 in my old computer which was the Extreme Version. I was at least expecting a similar CPU for the new computer.

And already these two computer have been to service three times, (SLI cable twice and faulty sound on one of the computer)... Now I have a big stack of SLI cables as they keep failing every now so I can replace them myself.

So....f**** Dell.... :thumbsup:

PS:

Whats why I asked if I was the only one. I was shocked when I started up Crysis 3 (everything Max out with MSAAx2) and had 3-11FPS when I first started to play at the habor. First I realized that I hadn't activated SLi as I had just installed the new driver but when I activated SLi I didn't get more FPS but it was more stable around 10-11FPS. I had to go all the way down to low/medium with AA diabled in order to play with a stable 30+ FPS. I started up FarCry 3 which I play on MAX on everything and had stable FPS around 70-80 IIRC.

 

Are you saying that they let you keep the old M18x? If so, why didn't you sell your 2 "crap Alienwares" and cash out - I'm sure you could have gotten a top-notch set-up then, for the price of your old R1. And why do you still use their products, if you hate them so much? Dell's customer service may not be perfect, but I've still to hear about a company which lets you keep your "old" laptop and sends you a replacement, which is more modern albeit not having the best of processors.

 

Ok, since you don't understand my point of view, I need to set things in perspective.

So you say that if your brand new state-of-the-art BMW break down after 4 months of ownership, you would accept that they had your car in their workshop for 6-7 months trying to fix the car before they finally gave you new replacement car? And wouldn't mind that they didn't care to offer you a rental car (free of charge) during the time your car was at the workshop? And on top of that, gives you a lower valued replacement car and say that you just have to be live with that? And after all this, you would recommend that your friends get a BMW too because of their excellent, (but not perfect as you stated) customer service? And telling all your friends that your next car is so gonna be a BMW again? wow...you must be a sellers dream customer!

I said to them that if they want my old M18x, they can come and pick it up them-self and install the CPU from my old computer in my new R2. Haven't heard from them in 2 months now. Its laying there with a broken GPU, waiting for them Why I dont sell both my M18x? Because the money I will get from both will just be a drop in the ocean to me, its not about money here...


PS: I guess there gonna be someone out there telling YOU CANT COMPARE A COMPUTER WITH A CAR, fair enough but My R1 costed me around 60000 NOK when I bought it, that's around 11 000 dollars. How many of you have 11 000 dollars after tax after...lets half year working?

 

First off, I wasn't being a "wise guy" - I was going off the info you had provided, which was that you had x3 M18x's for the price of one - one of which was of a very high specification, as you posted. You can't call me out because of the lack of information you provided us with.

I wonder why, if you were soooooo upset and angry at Dell, your GF bought you ANOTHER one - knowing how annoyed you would have been with Dell over your first purchase/replacement saga.....why didn't you just tell her to send it back if you were that upset? - I don't understand the logic of keeping/buying another product of the same ilk if you feel you have been crapped on from a great height by the same company already. That's lunacy. Maybe you didn't tell your missus about it, I dunno but I know I would have told my missus if a company had crapped on me over a multi thousand dollar/pound purchase.

With that said, you STILL have your "original" machine AND the "replacement" that Dell gave you for it. Technically speaking, you should NOT have two machines for the price of one. Count yourself fortunate because it's either an oversight or a good will gesture on Dell's behalf for the "long wait" you had to endure. I appreciate your upset in not getting initially the replacement you deserved, but you are hardly in a position to cast stones at Dell given the fact you have a "two for one" deal goin' on. You should have not accepted the replacement specification they gave you if you felt it was not comparable.

Finally, and my last words on the subject, there is no point arguing over how you feel about Dell. If you are unhappy, take your cash elsewhere, don't let your girlfriend buy you more of the same and whine about it.

 

Ooops! Now I do need to activate my warranty! I was playing Crysis 3 a bit too hard... do you think warranty covers hard-playing damage?

 

Man there's a lot of female dogging going on in here.

To answer the OP's question-which doesn't need answering any more-yes, the extended warranty is worth it. As Arotished can attest, when these pieces of junk break down, Alienware will let you keep the broken one and send you a new one. And your significant other will feel so bad for you that he/she will buy you another near top-of-the-line laptop from the horrible AW.

I currently own two M18x R1, and one M18x R2. And I bought them all myself. And I bought an extended warranty for each of them. And one of them failed on me. Then I sent it into the chop house that is the depot repair. And it came back fixed correctly the first time, without a scratch on it. Problem solved. I'm still fat, dumb and happy. And I will be buying a R3 if they are ever released.

My guess is that Arotished must be the "sellers dream customer". Because the seller got not only his money, but his girlfriend's as well. Go buy a Sager and see how many replacement machines they offer you.

I do not own a BMW so I can't comment on their customer service. It's probably crap.

 

Might be

Anyway, Im sorry. I guess there are different view of what warranty should cover across the boarder. In Norway similar situations would NEVER been accepted by the buyer and the case would have ended in up much higher in the system.

 

Just to add my experience here.

I bought my M18x in June 2012 in Canada from the Dell website. When I first got it, uhmm... well, I actually experience a BSOD "atikmpag.sys" but since it was brand new and a one time thing, I thought to myself that it was okay, no big deal. Then, I also noticed that the subwoofer didn't sound too crisp at 100% and there was a tiny cracking sound. Again, I was looking the other way about this and try not to freak myself, hey it's Alienware right.

To make thing a bit worse, I had to return to Malaysia where Alienware is not widely popular at all (AW website here don't even list M18x in their products, not even the Singapore's AW), but they're starting to gain some customers for m14x and m17x.

Late 2012, the speaker problem was getting really bad that I had to call Dell Service. Somehow they managed to fix the problem and the speaker is okay. Suddenly, another problem appeared. I was getting the white screen problem (where big red lines appeared after you reboot you device and cycles of BSOD commence). So, I called Dell again. After arguing about the problem and demanding a fix (at that time the only thing that crossed my mind was the graphic cards), they recommended for a change of motherboard. So they came and changed it. At this time there was an issue. Dell only provide the tech with new mobo but not with the thermal paste. Luckily, the tech brought his thermal paste. But the tech was a bit incompetent that he didn't reapply new thermal paste to the video cards, only the processors. Immediately after installation, during startup I still got BSOD and the white screen. And to make things worse, now my HDMI - IN didn't detect any device.

So, he went back with his report of unsuccessful attempt to fix my M18x. So I called Dell again, demanding a change for my video cards. Meanwhile, after exhausting efforts looking through the internet, I found out that there was a BIOS update and I went and update my BIOS. The problem seems to dissappear afterwards. But since I already called Dell, I just let them come and change my video cards. Unfortunately, Dell only gave me one video card change, not 2. Weird. So I had to choose which one. I don't think it matter anyway.

Now, I still have to call Dell to fix my HDMI - IN (I'm not so sure if they even know my m18x have an HDMI - IN and what it does) and my display actually started behaving weirdly. Sometimes browsing the internet the pages looked like a pixelated patch. And skyrim colors sometimes faded to almost black - and - white - ish - only which is really annoying.

And my warranty was going to end this May and I can't seem to extend it for some weird reason. So yeah, I believe extended warranty is TOTALLY WORTH IT if you aren't prepared to fork out thousand of dollars later on. Now if I can't extend my warranty because I believe, there are still tons of things that is wrong with my m18X.

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Forum Rules

 

Hakiim, I feel you. Here's my 2 cents: think of a friend you can trust in Canada, transfer the ownership of the M18 to him/her, ask him/her to extend the warranty for you before transferring the ownership back to you.

Hope it all works out in the end!

 

Seriously man, I've never really thought of doing that. THANK YOU!!! You might have just saved my spiritual life. Damn, I've got to be quick though.

 

Am I the only one who would be okay with them having my BMW for 6 months without giving me a rental, if they replaced my BMW and let me keep the old one?

6 month wait for a brand new BMW while still keeping my not so old still under warranty BMW.

Ummm... Win?

They let you keep your old alienware? Man I hope my breaks down in the warranty period. They can have the thing for 6 months if I get a brand new one, and I get to keep my old one! I'll kindly pocket that free two grand...

 

Exactly. If every "cloud" had a "silver lining" like that, I think a lot of us would be quite chuffed. A free M18x as a "spare", if you like, is not something to be sniffed at. Heck, even if the replacement machine was not quite as highly spec'd up as the original, you can still cash in big time with the old machine......

My only word of caution would be that selling something that technically does not belong to you anymore (as in "REPLACEment") could leave you up the creek without a paddle if that machine was ever requested back.

 

For anyone reading this, the question whether extended warranty is worth it, answered once and for all.

This is why you want extended warranty (motherboard dead, 1500$, left to the mercy of Dell):
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m18x/710505-r1-died-i-think-dell-just-ripped-me-off.html

 

Dell just called me and offered a year for $159

 

I have just extended for 2 years and i paid 526 USD for it.

 

Sorry to revive this old thread, but how many years of warranty would you say is reasonable? I currently have 3 years of warranty, and an additional 2 years (maximum duration 5 years) would cost me about $400. Would you say this is worth it?

 

I say 3 is the sweet number. My M17xR2 lasted me 2 years and 10 months until it broke early this month. Look what Dell is replacing it with in my signature. Honestly, when it comes down to warranty, Dell is significantly better than any other companies. Also, when people say it took them 3-6 months for their laptop to be replaced, they are doing something wrong. Dell replaced mine within 3 weeks (after 2 technicians and 1 trip to depot). Just be firm but polite to the technicians and representatives and most likely they are willing to help you out the best way they can. Once my new replacement comes through, I'm going to extend the warranty 3 more years again. Parts aren't cheap you know!

 

Just needed some advice for people like me who couldn't purchase the extended warranty at the time of purchase but need to purchase one nite before the year runs out ...any advice on how many years and what would be a reasonable cost/price ?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

Not sure on the costings, but the one thing I would say is get as much as you can afford. If that's 2yrs or 4yrs, go for the maximum you can get within your budget. I'm sure you would be able to haggle the price a little bit if you go for the costlier/longer options.

 

I bought the 4 year extended. I intend to own the laptop for at least 3 years, I am coming up on completing year 1. I would sell this laptop in year 3 if the then current m18x is significantly better, the residual warranty would be a strong selling point. I keep my gear in pristine condition and so far I have no signs of wear even after daily use. So this stills seems feasible.

Overall I am very happy with the Alienware but stuff can happen, all parts age, the gods can zap you with gamma particles or what ever. I is good to know that my investment is safe for a least 4 years a span well beyond normal obsolescence curves for laptops. I also know that so far no game or other use to which I have put this machine has caused me to feel the need for an upgrade yet. So new features would be the only motivation for change as of right now. So it looks like the long term retention prognosis is still a good assumption.

I have owned Fujitsu, HP, Compac, Toshiba, IBM, Lenovo laptops in my years of use and none have come close the m18x in terms of overall satisfaction.

In short, if you will be fully satisfied with your machine for the majority of the warranty period and you face angry gods (I seem to) the warranty is well worth it.

Now if they made an 18.4 inch 3D matt, nvidia Surround machine with a detachable screen for tablet use well .. then .. I might... be compelled to ....

 

I've enjoyed having the warranty thus far for my M18XR2. It's been useful. I have 6 months left after the first 1 year warranty and it looks like its roughly $160 per year for basic warranty afterwards. How long do the components, historically, last on the Alienware line? If I can (cross my fingers) last 4 years then its likely not worth the warranty. Also, are the parts available after-market so that if a motherboard, screen or video card were to go out I could source another? I'm just thinking that extending the warranty for 2 more years for $350 may be the cost of a single component so I'm not sure if that's worth it?

Thanks for any advice you experienced owners have!

 

Its always better to have it then not have it, if it were me I would be extending it, especially if you have had to use the warranty before.

 

I would also say the warranty is worth it, alienware will replace your machine with the newer stuff if yours were to break three years down the road if there is no old stuff. It is a fight, but worth it in the end.

 

Take it from me. I had 3 months left on my warranty and my 7970m's died. The very next morning, to my door step, Dell delivered me 2 x GPU's, CF Cable and a Motherboard just in case I mis-diagnosed the problem.
What legends. No modern company these days seems to extend that level of courtesy and trust to their customers. Saying I'm impressed is an understatement.

I'm not normally the type of cat who goes for extended warranties, but now I'm definitely going to be extending my warranty.

On a side note. If you are spec'ed out with the 7970m's its something you really need to think about.

 

I'm beginning to think that warranty is not all it's cooked up to be.

I'm having an issue right now and it's making me think that the money spent on warranty, that was purchased with the intention of covering ALL components, was simply a waste of my hard earned cash. I won't go into details right here, I will however be posting a separate thread to let everyone know exactly what has gone down between Dell and myself. I won't be including names of people I have dealt with, but suffice to say that so far, I have had dealings with Dell EMEA, Alienware Tech Support UK, Tweeted @DellCares, Tweeted @AlienwareTech, Emailed AWSocialmedia, emailed Alienware_management and also reached out to the AW folk here on NBR.

The result thus far is far from satisfactory, to say the least. I have experienced this kind of "having to fight tooth and nail" before with Dell - not just on this occasion but on up to as many as TEN times over various problems.

What I will say is that there is an absolutely HUGE impact on how you get treated and it depends on your location/Country. You would think that if you buy a Dell, regardless of where you are in the world, you would be afforded the same level of service, right? - WRONG. I've witnessed it (and experienced it) myself on many occasions now, and there are apparent divides between how people get dealt with over warranty claims. Heck, even right down to simply how you get treated or spoken to on the phone comes in to play.

Anyway, I will save the rest of my story for later on - I'm still waiting on some kind of finality to my situation, but I do not hold out much hope - and it will be with great regret that I will be saying goodbye to Dell/Alienware for good over this.

Bottom line advice-wise from me right now? - think twice before you spend a lot on warranty if you are outside the United States of America.

Enough said, so far.

 

Sorry to hear your getting screwed Brother Stevie. Ill be sure to look out for your thread.
I'm sure whatever situation your in, was the reason I mentioned in my post above, that I'm not normally the Warrantly kind of guy.
With regards to service, it's also a person to person thing too. I had a tech get back to me today as I'm requesting new GPU heat sinks with Dell TIM and new thermal pads which were originally meant to be sent out. They are taking their sweet time giving the go ahead on this one. The previous tech send me out a new MB just incase for heavens sake!

 

I'm not normally either, but when spending £5k+ on a machine, I felt the premium for the warranty would be worthwhile. Don't get me wrong, warranty is great if you can actually use it. It becomes a royal PITA when you know something is wrong, have the evidence to back it up, but yet still get told that the problem you are experiencing is normal behaviour.

I'll give you a hint as to my problem. You may have seen me post about it in some threads, not sure.

My Dell bought SSD's are, IMHO, severely under performing right now when compared to new. I'm not talking about a 10-20% reduction in performance - I'm talking about figures between 50-80% reductions on various read/write/access times when compared to new condition. My "Baby PC" in my signature boots quicker, is snappier and benches in line with what it should do. I cannot restore my PM830's performance regardless of what method I try. The wise folk at Dell are telling me that this is normal behaviour for SSD's run in the absence of native TRIM support. They are saying that performance levels are acceptable and within tolerances expected in running a raid without TRIM. Thing is, I can't restore performance even if I un-raid the drives.

Now, it would have been nice for Dell to have warned on the configuration page that if doing so (Raiding) would cause irreversible drive degradation, you will not be covered under warranty, right? - well they didn't. We all know that running a Raid0 is gonna expose you to potential data loss if one drive fails totally, as data is striped across the two drives in that membership, no mention of the drives nosediving and becoming slow, expensive paperweights where performance cannot be regained....IMHO, Dell were too quick to take the money for the SSD's and fob me off later down the line when they become problematic.

A quick snippet from one of the conversations I had:

The guy who wrote that "Hopes for my understanding" - I wonder if he "understands" what it's like to have dropped close to $1000 on two drives (and the warranty costs, too) only to be told to effectively "suck it up".....

 

There is a simple fix, drives are degrading and need replacement, I faced same situation, after about 2 months of arguing, I called and said "windows is saying 'hdd is about to fail, please backup your data', what do I do?" The tech asked me if I have done a back up, I tell him yes I have, he further informs me, that ssd/hdd have smart thing (his words) built in for safety and they should be replaced now. Next day technician came and dropped new ssd's.

Unfortunately, some techs have no idea and are following aw charts to troubleshoot only. As such they think ssd's degradation is not hardware level but windows thing, as such they are not faulty, which is obviously wrong. Do what I did and request p840's or lite on ssd's.

 

after reading this thread a little bit im regretting one of my decisions...dell offered me a 3 year warranty on my m11x who's warranty had expired for £330...since i had just upgraded my drive which was the main problem and was thinking about getting a machine soon , i didnt take it. now im thinking of trying to get it back. what do you guys think? id have to hope my graphics/cpu/motherboard fails and i get a m14x or something as a replacement to make it worth it....since i would prob do all my gaming on a future m17/18x then that would be unlikely. what do you guys think? or only if it makes the ebay resale value £600 + i guess? likely? who knows, maybe id be able to get a sweeter deal if i promised to order a m18x with the rep at same time in june..