Your FUJITSU Notebook LIFE SPAN

A PC Technician told me that electronics parts are wearable and have a lifespan. Just like the vacuum cleaner, television and other electronics you have at home, have wear and tear from heat, electricity fluctuations among others and will eventually be unusable

And with such ordinary wear and tear, the practicality and economics of how long an extended warranty should be purchased comes into play.


KINDLY POST AFTER Voting in the Polls....

Name of Laptop: (brand and model)
Cause of Defect: (FIRST defect your laptop had if any e.g. dead pixel, broken hinge, stucked keyboard, etc)
Cause of Death: (motherboard failure, electric surge...and If
your laptop had to replaced w/in or outside the warranty)
RIP: (When the laptop was replaced, where it went)
​

SAMPLE: #1

Name of Laptop: FUJITSU 96xx
Cause of Defect: dead pixel
Cause of Death: motherboard failure, replaced w/in 1 year warranty
RIP: August 2003, exchanged with a different PC)

OR

If your FUJITSU has not yet have a defect or died, or you have just bought it, you can write the age of your laptop

SAMPLE #2
Name of Laptop: FUJITSU 96xx
Status: 10 years old, still alive and kicking butts in warcraft & battlefield

Copy and paste the pattern above to be easier
Be creative...

P.S. Special Thanks to Abaxter for giving the permission to post this thread

 

The aim of the poll is to identify when a first defect will appear and when a laptop will retire.

The use will be...
1. If more laptops are defective within a year only, then the extended warranty is not necessary to buy.

2. If more laptops are defective within 2 years then an extended 1 year warranty is necessary

3. If more laptops are defective within 3 years then an extended 2 year warranty is necessary

4. If more laptops are defective within 4 years then an extended 3 year warranty is necessary.

Through this poll, one can know whether it would be practical and economical to buy the extended warranty and up to what year.

I thought of putting it in the notebook general forum, but with the number of brands of notebook, it will fill up the page.


I will be asking the same question to all the brands so that the line of questioning is uniform. Just like in doing an experiment, all the parameters will be equal so as to avoid bias :base:.

The reason behind it is in different brand subforums so that one can distinguish also how their brand notebook compares to the other brand.

As I understand, some have magnesium casing, metal, etc. Others are made of different plastic. Some have different thickness of outer casing... So many variables...
No laptop is created with the same specs....

So by doing a separate Poll for each brand, one will get a better comparison.

 

Fujitsu S7020D- first problem noted 3 weeks after purchase with a BSOD; on-site replacements: hard drive, motherboard X 3, wireless card, bluetooth card, speaker/hinge assembly, LCD after the tech nicked it; 4 on-site visits. Extensive tech support contact and troubleshooting (to no avail). Ultimately, unit creaked, base cracked, hinges became loose, keyboard key popped...machine was neither reliable or durable and was returned after three and a half months of aggravation. Full refund from Fujitsu (the only good part of the story). I would not buy this machine without the 3 year on-site service if down-time is important to you.

 

Name of Laptop: FUJITSU N5010
Status: 3 years old, still breathing fire and modeling battery life as short as ever.

Edit: 1 day after 3 year extended warranty expires the dc cord of the power supply melted in a ring about 1 cm out from the end of the brick. I emailed Eric at T3 computer services and he got it replaced for me. Yippee!

 

Fujitsu S6231
Lasted 18 months
- Fan started getting loud and noisy at 12 months, unbearably loud by 18 months
- DVD drive started cutting out at 15 months, went dead at 18 months
- All else worked

 

Name of Laptop: Fujitsu Lifebook S6210
Cause of Defect: Normal Use

Cause of Death: Female DC input recepacle broke, became loose and requries wiggling or holding in order to get power on the laptop.

RIP: I'll try and fix it myself since Fujitsu wanted $555 plus shipping. When/if I fix it I'll keep it pretty stationary and let the kid use it at home for surfing and homework and stuff.

Replacing with: Sony SZ480 (I had much better luck with the Sony's)

Other: I've recommended Fujitsu to my wife and a friend of mine, both of whom have the S7110. So far no problems with either of those but they don't get the constant use that mine got.

 

Name of Laptop: Lifebook S2110
Cause of Defect: Not physically strong enough to be in my bag with textbooks. Screen was damaged. The lid needs to be reinforced with metal/strong plastic like the Thinkpad line up
Cause of Death: Covered under warrenty
RIP: Still going

 

Name of Laptop: Fujitsu N6010, Amilo xi1546

Status: Absolutely no defects for 1.5 year till my small daughter pissed on it Motherboard died, but everyhting else survived (especially HD!)... Now with xi1546 for half a year, of course N-model was much better, so i consider buying N62**

 

S6231:

Right at 2 years, my motherboard was replaced. The system kept turning on by itself and apparently was due to some electrical and heat issues.

Keyboard failed soon after that. Performance was very sluggish after these repairs and my system was never the same again.

 

Name of Laptop: Fujitsu S2110 (more details in my signature)
Cause of Defect: There was a dead pixel discovered a few weeks after purchase, but it was negligible. The fan broke about three weeks ago.
Cause of Death: The laptop works fine, just the fan is extremely loud and noisy.
RIP: I still have it; I found a parts seller on eBay (Fujitsu DOES NOT sell parts, they will make you send it in for exorbitant repairs); hoping to get the fan replaced.

 

Yep - another one. I was lucky I had the 3 year warranty to save me on that fan thing.

 

fujitsu siemens 4438... lasted a year.
graphic card and motherboard burned up last week.
they wont accept my waranty so I'm still in the agony mode.

the repair would cost about 1200$.

I already bought a new HP, and shelved the forsaken FSC untill my waranty issue is resolved.

 

Fujitsu N5010
Mobo fried 2 months out of 1 year warranty after 1 month of persistent blue screen of death.
Fujitsu replaced mobo - $500.00
Next 2 months Fujitsu replaced mobo 3 more times and the DVD player at their expense. I finally found a RAM stick that was causing the crashes. It still seemed sluggish though.
8 months later hard drive failed. Replaced with 120 Gig Seagate.
It is a NEW faster than ever machine now. Even the old RAM stick works again. It has scratches on the LCD where the keys rub when the case is closed. It is now almost 3 years old and still going.

 

I guess this doesn't really count, since my brother got his Fujitsu for free second hand from a friend, but I'll throw in it anyways.

Name of Laptop: S6210
Cause of Defect: Car accident -- crushed LCD, cosmetic damage to chassis, fan makes scratching noise on load.
Cause of Death: Still running. Official Fujitsu LCD costs $300. Found a replacement that fits from an IBM notebook for $60 and works just fine.
RIP: Still running today with an IBM LCD.

 

Name of Laptop: Fujitsu s6220
Status: 3 years Working fine. LCD has some bright spot cause by hitting the lit in bag. About 1 1/2 year the motherboard burnt because of no reason. I don't have the extended warranty but my uncle works for Fujitsu so got it fix for free. No other problems

 

I actually have 3 Fujitsu notebooks at the moment, starting with the oldest:

Name of Laptop: Fujitsu Lifebook C7651
Cause of Defect: After extended periods of use, the hard drive started to make clicking sounds and then after an hour a so, the screen blacks out and would get an error message.
Cause of Death: 05-25-07 - Notebook still worked, but went ahead and replaced the stock IBM Travelstar 30GB 2MB cache 4200rpm hard drive with a Hitachi Travelstar 7K100 80GB 8MB cache 7200rpm (self-installed).

With the HD upgrade/replacement, this 6 year old bugger flies. The right hand palm rest area (HD directly below) does get a tad bit warmer than it used to, but not to the point of becoming uncomfortable. Battery life is a joke, 1 to 1.5 hours, not doing any intensive tasks. Haven't tested battery life, as I'm still installing proggies. I'm sure it'll be even less with the new HD.

I will be selling the 7651 to a friend as I have recently purchased a Lifebook T4215. I used to have Lifebook P2120 (my travel notebook), but my wife is using it on a permanent-borrow basis. Hence my purchase of the T4215.

The P2120 will be getting a 7K100 HD upgrade as well. It's still going strong, no defects or problems, just trying to squeeze some more performance out of it. I recently upgraded the ram (for multitasking), but have heard that 7200 rpm drives make the P2120 snappier.

 

Name of Laptop: Fujitsu S7010D
Cause of Defect: Screen Issues (replaced under warranty)
Cause of Death: 2.5 Years Old, Heavy Usage, Still going strong...
RIP: I like to get 3-years out of machine before sourcing a replacement.

* Note: signs of wear include paint chip off right touch-pad button, 1 hinge cover snapped off but stays in place. 1 Rubber foot pad just disappeared. Much better made than my previous Omnibook 6000 (screen shorts, dc connector broke, usb broke, housing showing crack marks after 3-years.

 

Fujitsu s6231.

2 years+ and still working great. Battery life has decreased since purchase and the fan is getting noisier (usually only during bootup). Considered purchasing a new fan, but decided against all the trouble. Love the laptop!

 

S4546 lasts 6 years and still working! Not issue at all. Change battery to extend the life. I just order S7110 and hope I got same quality as my old one. But I worry little bit since I heard Fujitsu laptop quality drops in recent years.

 

I'm glad to hear that you ordered the S7110. When will you get it?