OT: Is Dell extended warranty worth it for Desktops?

I know warranty is absolutely vital for notebooks, but is a large manufacturers warranty necessary for a desktop?

Usually the individual parts have their own warranty and you can replace defective and broken parts by yourself with the know-how (unless its a huge issue like a surge, etc). Is it worthwhile for medium-tech savvy person?

Also, does Dell make their case/mobo/PSU connector Dell exclusive (meaning you cannot upgrade them in the future without going through Dell)?

 

Not sure on current desktops but I know a couple of years ago the Power Supplies used were exlcusive to Dell (different motherboard connector).

Most other parts you can go aftermarket. With the PSU, you could always search eBay for availability.

So to answer your question, I would first determine the availability of Dell parts vs. cost ratio and then decide if I was going to go with the extended...

 

On a laptop I'd agree it is worth going with a 2 or 3 year warranty because many of the parts are proprietary (motherboard, graphics, etc, etc.) and specific to your particular laptop.

On a desktop, if the graphics card fails you can easily replace it with one from Newegg. If the DVD drive fails you can easily replace it for $20. And in general I'd say desktops are less prone to failure. If anything is faulty it is probably going to show during the time period of the basic warranty (usually one year). I'd say on a desktop it is not worth getting extended warranties if you are comfortable with replacing/upgrading desktop parts. I've had a number of Dell Desktops in the past (Dimension 4500, 4550, 8400, Vostro 220, and an old Optiplex). Never had any hardware failure on any of them. I did upgrade the RAM and graphics in some of them, however, simply because I needed the extra power.

 

I would say it depends on the price of the additional warranty more than anything else. If it is less than the most expensive part of your computer minus say 35% (to allow for the fact that after a year the parts are going to be cheaper anyway) then why not. I don't know if 35% would be the right number to consider, you might want to make that number higher even.

 

The Inspiron 545 I am looking at is offering 3 year warranty with on site for the price of 2 year warranty + $40 off...so $89 for 3 years!

3 years + 1 year mastercard warranty total. thats pretty good deal I say since my family can get it fixed when i am not around.

Thanks everyone.