Dell Warranty + Extending Warranty after purchase

I have scoured the forums under Dell group and I have found some conflicting statements. I am just wondering if anyone with experience with this can clarify it for me. I'm am most likely going to purchase a Inspiron E1705 and I'm trying to guage if it is better to purchase the extended Warranty after the purchase of the laptop or during the purchase of the laptop? I have read that some forum members have received mail from Dell a few weeks after there computer purchase asking if they wanted to extend there warranty and have found that is was quite cheaper then if purchased during initial purchase. I can't reference the exact thread but there was a member who had bought four E105 and received 4 mail in coupons regarding extending the warranty. If anyone and everyone can post there experiences here it will really help me decide if I should get the warranty now or later on. Thanks for your help.

 

On an e1705 that I had purchased back in May, I recieved a mailer about two weeks after allowing me to upgrade from a one year limited warranty to a four year at home warranty including complete care for a $375 up front cost, and it was offering a $150 mail in rebate, which would bring the cost down to $225 after six to eight weeks. I did not take advantage of the offer, but it did say that a reponse was required within 45 days of recieving the laptop.

 

What's sad is that, if you use the laptop for 2-3 years, you pretty much have to have the warranty. Something major will break.

Dell 4100 garbled screen on startup
Dell 5000e screen went totally bad
Dell 5150 motherboard failed; laptop just randomly shut down

That's my experience with Dell.

It's just like the Auto industy - planned obsolescence.

Rather than just build a solid laptop or car, they build junk with "style" and it won't last so you have to buy more product sooner, rather than later.

The Camry may have no style, but they are rock solid cars, and as a result, you think well of all Toyota cars. GM cars have style, but break often, and as a result, you think ill of the entire GM lineup.

 

I rarely buy extended warranties, mostly cause my credit card doubles the warranty on anything I buy. But laptops I always buy an extended warranty. I can easily fix a Desktop or swap out the part if something breaks but on a laptop there isn't much I can do myself.

 

I am pretty much the same way. I can fix just about anything wrong with a Desktop but Laptop are a different story. I'm most likely going to take it from home to work and on a couple times a year I'll take them on business trips. So I was thinking I would get the extended warranty to prepare for the un-expected.

 

if you take care of your computer, keep it running cool, and clean the dust out regularly, your computer will last a nice long time.

anything that can go wrong on a notebook will do so right away; i.e., when you get it. if something goes bad over time, i would bet dollars to donuts that 99% of the time it was user error (example: they let dust build up causing overheating which killed the motherboard). the exception to this is the HD (the only thing with moving parts) which should last several years, but you shouldn't be surprised if it goes bad after 3-5 years.

it's up to you to decide if you want to spend the money on an extended warranty.

 

those 4 words invalidated your entire post

 

What is mean is, they push them as style, ie, look, all new style! You need to buy a new one now! Rather than just building a decent car in the first place. Their quest for style produces things like the Aztec, or those half plastic Avalanches, or those Escalades that are not not pick up trucks and are not SUVs either. They suck at both tasks.

I'll never drive an American car. Never have, never will.

Besides, my post made mad sense.

And, I do baby my laptops and they still all failed.

The 5150 is the worst computer they ever built, they even lost a class action lawsuit over it.

 

this is the thread you were referring to: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=81964

 

Note that many credit cards offer an extra year of warranty (see my sig), tacked on to manufacturers warranty. I dont know if this will hold it you purchase warranty after the laptop has been bought.

 

I got mines after they sent the mailer out and it was cheaper.

 

I posted the original thread to which you were referring.

I normally don't buy extended warranties, especially since my credit card doubles the duration of the original warranty, but I did accept the offer for the 4-yr extended warranty. It just gives me peace of mind, knowing the higher rate of malfunction in a laptop (vs. a desktop) and that it's for AT HOME service (instead of mail-in). I thought the final price was reasonable ($154, I believe).