Should I spend $108 on a warranty renewal?

My 1500 only cost $650 when I got it, but it has the 8400m chip in it. My warranty expires in three days. I am in an awkward position here. Is it worth the 100+ dollars for another year of warranty? Dell will not say anything and I'm sure no news will be released between now and 3 days from now.

 

If your laptop died in four days, would you be willing to buy a new one?

 

No, its not worth it, just make sure you have the most up to date bios and a cooler just to be be safe. The cost of those will be a lot cheaper than extending your warranty.

Please check your PM Greg.

 

How's the laptop been for you so far? Reliable? Without problems? If so I'd say don't renew. 100+ seems very steep for a laptop that's 600 new...

72oo

 

$108 / $650 = 16.6%

sucks for one year extra warranty.. would rather save the money for high-interest account/CD, then look at SlickDeals and get a new and much better laptop

SlickDeals have a inspiron 1525 now for $451, though no graphics (and cannot change graphics option)

 

Mine expires in about a week, they are offering $300 for 3 year warranty plus a $75 dell coupon.

Love the computer, and it was pretty expensive, but I'm going to decline the extension because for $300 I can replace just about any part that goes bad on my own plus I have a back up computer for emergencies.

The question you should be asking is 'can I fix any problems that arise on my own?'. If you won't even touch the hard drive if it goes dead, then I'd say go ahead and get the extra year

 

I just got my M1330 and all these worries with the defective video cards had me thinking as well. Even though I still have about a years left of warranty, I am still wondering whether I should get a renewal or not at the end of my year. I could definitely replace the motherboard myself if the video card dies but I am afraid the replacement parts would be more than the warranty extension. Not only that, I purchased my laptop for about $800 so these warranty extensions are high in comparison to that price.

 

Just make sure you have the A09 bios, and you might want to get a cooler just to be even safer.

 

I wonder that you are really look like the angel in that small picture?

 

I would carefully look at all of my options...and especially down the road...*how long are you going to be keeping the laptop*...

Cin

 

I wouldn't bother. If the defect is going to effect your system, the fix is not going to remove the risk. The failure is caused by the heat cycling . . . so, its a pretty worst case scenario. This failure can probably be hastened with heavy duty gaming, but it cannot really be avoided by idling either. Unless your temps are constant, you are at risk of the defect. I would remind you that this calling for the defect is for the higher than average failure rate, not the garuntee that 100% of systems are going to fail.

My advice? Screw paying for another year. If you don't make it, well, you can always get something else. Hopefully something besides an Nvidia GPU for now.

 

I agree with everyone's advice not to buy an extended warranty. Especially when they want $100 for 1 year. I know when my Vostro 1500 meets it's final resting place it'll give me an excuse to pickup a new laptop.

 

Evidently I'm not up on all the details concerning the 8400 chip but, here is my 3 cents worth concerning Dell and more importantly the Dell warranty service. If you have committed to keeping your laptop "till death do ye part" then by all means burn the bill to protect yourself for what appears to be a failure in the making. An added benefit to the extra year of warranty is that if you decide to part with your laptop the warranty will make it much more attractable to any potential buyer, which brings me to my main point concerning the Dell warranty. I recently had to have warranty work done on the laptop in my sig, yeah its kinda old I know but its like new today because of the extra money I spent on the warranty. I made one call to Dell yesterday...and today it was fixed, yes in less than 24 hours, how cool is that? I Had the LCD replaced and while on the phone with the Dell tech he asked if there was any other problem at all with my unit such as...any cracks in the plastics? Rubber feet missing? This may be standard protocol for a service call I can’t say for sure because it is the first time I’ve had to use my warranty but, considering some of the stories I’ve read about Dell this one end’s on a very positive note. The warranty is worth the cost if you have to make even one repair or if you just need a little peace of mind knowing you are covered if that 8400 chip does go south on you.

Cap

 

Hey Cap, why don't you pin mod that Inspiron 9300. Very cheap nowadays, I have a very similar laptop as yours and pinmodded it to 2.13Ghz for only $20. Definitely a noticeable difference.

 

My God, did they take you out to lunch while you waited also? I am flabbergasted that they would ask you if there was any more work / parts that they could give you while the LCD was getting fixed. As though they were actually bored, or feeling generous.
What kind of original warranty did you have, what kind of extended did you buy, and is your PC from the business or consumer class? That is just tremendous by the sound of it. Otherwise, post that phone number so I can save an hour or so trying to talk to India.

 

Hi johnny13oi, I got a new 2.13 coming in the mail any day now that I picked up from ebay. Im glad to hear you say that it made a noticeable difference, Im looking forward to it.

My warranty is Complete Care, Next Business Day including Nights/Weekends. I bought this old thing from a guy on ebay and had the warranty transferred. Needless to say though Dell has got my attention for my next laptop and warranty purchase. Soo, my vote is for the OP to spend that extra hundred and be covered!

 

Cap,

You got compete care . . . now it makes sense. When you sign up for that, does dell give you a special place or list of contacts to use when you are experiencing an issue? We have a dell "team" at work that we use when we are making new purchases or fixing defective gear (part of our warranty / service agreements). Call those guys at 4 pm Thursday and a box magically appears Friday morning at 8 am. Its pretty nice.

Now, basic warranty's start you in India and keep you there. Not that I have anything against it really (though I consider it a losing arrangement for the US and for India), but man, you have to jump through hoops to get anything done. I think I had no less than 4 chat sessions and 3 phone calls to get my shoddy new system replaced with a much better new one. The extra contacting occurring due to the fact that there were no proper follow ups, whether to offer a tracking number, or to ask if the solution was a fix or not. Instead, you fill out a lame survey which really lacks sophistication and makes it impossible to give the right feedback.

Good to know however, that paying hundred of dollars for customer service actually does get you something apparently. Of course, I am old enough to know that good customer service used to be free, and young enough to hope that first-class service won't always be something only the well-to-do have access to in the future.

 

I don't have any special numbers...but come to think of it...the first thing the tech asked for on my previously mentioned repair, was the Express Service Code and then switched me to a different tech department where it was handled promptly by a guy whose native tongue was not English.

Yes Sir, I can relate to this and agree whole heartedly.

Cap

 

Ah-ha! The warranty agreement is coded into the service tag. Or it must therefore be. I was wondering how that works. So basically, you upgrade, and it is a golden key that grants you access to the 'other' customer service. That helps to explain why they seem to guard identities and, phone numbers, and extensions so adamantly. Wouldn't want the low buck customer competing for the high-bucks 'exclusive' service.

Cap, thank you for enlightening me a little more today. You are a cool person.