3yr Extended Warranty - Yes or No?

I'm on the verge of ordering an L502x.

The only question on my mind is whether or not to take out the 3yr extended warranty.

Does anyone have any experience of it? I've seen historical posts of people getting brand new upgraded models after terminal failures in year 3, just because Dell could no longer source the replacement parts for the existing unit.

Current price with existing discounts for the 3yr plan is £114 which seems reasonable to me. Certainly a good price if I can expect a whole new unit at the end of the third year (assuming it breaks!)

Really interested to hear other peoples experiences of end of life claims.

 

What are you going to do with it? If you are going to have it sit on your desk, is likely to "break?" If you are traveling or take it out regularly, you need to make sure that any extended warranty covers damage that might occur due to it getting bumped around.

I like to think of it as an insurance policy. If I can afford to get it repaired, in quite frankly the unlikely event that it will break, then no don't get it. One postivite is that you are buying a bit of "peace of mind."

If the L502X or for that matter Dell where to have the reputaiton of their stuff breaking, they wouldn't be in business. Extended warranties have got to be a big money maker for them.

 

It will likely never leave the house and like most of my other kit, will likely lead a very pampered life. I don't expect to encounter any wear and tear related failures.

I'm thinking more along the lines of system board faults or LCD failures, that out of warranty, would cost a lot to fix and can occur at any time irrespective of how the unit has been treated.

 

If you sunk a lot of money into the laptop already and plan to keep it for a while, I would get the three year warranty. Some people shell out five grand for an M18x, refuse to shell out another five percent for a three year warranty, and I just facepalm.jpg,

Especially with a less-than-mainstream model like the L502x, it may be expensive to buy parts for an OOW service. No matter how well you take care of it, stuff happens.

 

I bought the extended warranty for piece of mind. I take my L702x 5 days a week and want to keep it for a while. It just makes me feel better having the coverage.

 

Given how poor the XPS track record has been for reliability, a 3 year warranty extension doesn't sound like a bad idea.

 

I would def get the extended warranty. What if it breaks and it has to have a motherboard, GPU, cpu replaced. That can become expensive. I had my M170 XPS's GPU go out and a used Geforce 7800gtx cost about 300 dollars. I'm going and try and keep at least a 4 year Warranty covered on my XPS 17 because I usually replace a laptop every 4-5 years. Even if it doesn't break while it's under warranty you get the piece of mind and that is something that's worth 3 hundred or more dollars in my opinion.

I've had my XPS 17 for little over 6-7 months and the left click button has already messed up and the Hard Drive went out a couple weeks ago. A Dell tech came to my house both times and replaced them in less then 5 minutes plus I got some good small talk with him. Just the idea of having to deal with all that stuff without a warranty is too much stress.

 

Spoken for truth!

 

Is the track record really that bad. Considering number of units shipped vs units with problems. Please remember, most people only get vocal if they have issues. I wish I could find the real stats. I honestly think we are a small minority of computer users that are really into it, when most wouldn't even know how to update a driver, much less try overclocking and beta drivers. I think, as does the computer tech that worked on my system that this is a pretty well made system. Most just want the dang thing to turn on and let them do whatever it is they are into. We, on the other hand are a small group of people that want to suck every tiny bit of capability out of our systems. If anyone knows where there are some stats to back up the claims made in these forums, i sure would like to see them.

Rob

 

What I'm about to say may well contradict my debating whether or not I should buy an extended warranty, but, I can only speak from experience and having previously bought four Dell laptops:

Inspiron 1520 - my wifes laptop, been in use daily since I bought it in 07 and still works perfectly.
XPS M1530 - worked fine, but didn't like the screen so returned it.
Vostro 1500 - used for several years, never missed a beat but got the upgrade bug.
Studio 1749 - owned for 18 months, faultless in that time but sold on to upgrade to a 1080p screen.

I should add I work in IT services and don't find Dell suffer any higher failure rate than any other brand, though I should qualify that by saying we only see the Latitudes and Precisions which a noted to be better made.

 

IMO its worth it

adds to the re-sale value as well

 

I would definitely get it. I wish I had gotten the 3 year warranty.

 

I like my warranty. I've gotten 2 system replacements out of it.
went from sxps 1640 ==> sxps 1647 ==> xps L502x

 

I had a bad hinge on my L702 three weeks after owing it. I had the one year warranty and extended it for two more years. The thing I regret is not getting the warranty after first ordering the laptop as it cost more but Dell still gave me a $75 gift card for extending the warranty.

 

I got the three year with accidental damage on mine. I am on a plane at least once a week and with all the travel and such it can get banged around pretty bad. Plus, it does add to resale value.

 

Thanks for all the advice folks. Finally took the plunge after finding some good voucher combinations and got the spec I wanted with the 3yr cover for under £800 which will do me nicely.

(Unless it breaks in year 4).

 

100% agree! Sounds like you'll like to upgrade in a year or two..

Also, I remember reading somewhere that computer parts are most likely to break in either the first year or third year (U-shaped failure rate curve).. That was my experience with my Inspiron. Handful of issues the first year, great second and a few issues the third year. On year 4 now and everything seems to be great except maybe the screen is getting a bit dim now. But I don't have another one to compare it to so I could be imagining it lol

The 1080p on the xps15 is beautiful btw.. For me it's a tie between that and the 15" 95% gamute matte screen I had in my Sager 8150. That screen was pure awesomeness as well

 

Well, I'm hoping to keep this one for a while, thus why I've gone for a high spec and the long warranty.
I've been through a few laptops, but that was mainly because they didn't suit me, primarily because I'd cut corners on spec*. The only one I regret selling was my Vostro 1500, that was so well built and comfortable to use.

*lesson to all, don't think you'll save money buy going for a lower spec than you want, you'll only end up selling it on and buying something else later on!

Yeah the screen is what sold it to me. I had eyed up the Clevo W150 with the 95% screen, but I wasn't keen on the OEM plasticky looks or the brick sized power supply. Plus I could never get one for the same price as the Dell spec for spec.