aftermarket extended warrenty

I'm thinking of buying a laptop with a warrenty for 3 years. Some places can offer this, whereas sometimes the price is cheaper in places that don't offer extended warrenties (eg. tesco, argos etc).

Can anyone recomment any aftermarket companies that do warrenties for laptops? I found these 2 as examples:
CompuWarranty - Extended Warranty for a Mobile Generation
Protect Your Bubble | Mobile Phone Insurance, iPhone Insurance & Gadget Insurance

Thanks

 

SquareTrade Warranties | Extended Warranties for 70% Less Than Retail | Electronics Insurance Alternative

 

Extended warranties for the most part are a waste of money. Although computer are inherently pron to failure, most that do, will do so during the already covered manufacturers warranty period according to Consumer Reports

The money you would have used for the warranty is better kept in a savings where if something does go wrong you will have some or all of the money necessary to have it repaired. If it doesn't fail, you will still hold all of your money instead of some aftermarket repair company.

Incidentally, some aftermarket repair companies can use misleading tactics so be sure to read the fine print if you do chose to buy the warranty. The parts to repair your product could be used or refurbished and not manufacture originals. The choice is yours

 

The only "extended" warranty I recommend is extending the manufacturer's warranty. You get "unlimited" repairs as long as it falls under the terms of the warranty.

With extended warranties (as my workplace sells 'em), you only get repairs up to the total value of the laptop.

 

They are not worth it. As already stated by Krane, put the money aside. It's a good chunk of change to save for a future laptop or future repair, especially if you're considering "accidental". LCD and motherboard are usually the most expensive components, at least if you have a nice LCD, and at worse a repair will cost you $400 unless it's completely demolished.

I spilled wine on my last laptop (Sager NP8662) and replaced keyboard and touchpad for $120, and motherboard was going to cost me $350, but only thing that was wrong was one USB port wouldn't provide power for hard drives, etc, so just lived with it.

In any case, the accidental warranty for that laptop cost $450 anyhow.

 

AmEx, and a few of the 'premium' MC/Visa cards doubles the mfgrs original warranty with their own program, no charge.

Costco does the same thing for everyone.

Laptops are tech-obsolete in 6-9 months and functionally obsolete in 24 months (YMMV). Grabbing a warranty beyond that isn't a good spend of $$$

Likewise spending a lot of money for a prestige machine isn't a good idea either.

 

Huh? C2D laptops from 3-4 years ago perform perfectly for lots of people, who do web surfing, word docs, and facebook.

 

This coming from someone who has a new notebook every three months? lol

Anyhow, yes after two years or so, it's still sufficient for most people. However, beyond two years the market price for that used laptop is probably a couple hundred dollars at best. Do you really want to spend $300-$400 for a warranty plan to fix something that's worth $200?

Two years warranty is probably a reasonable investment if the cost of the warranty is also reasonable. $100 for every thousand is what I consider reasonable. Heck Sager laptops offer a two year warranty for $79 and three for $149. These laptops are likely to be kept 2-3 years because they are more expensive, but also quite powerful. No reason for the warranties to cost more. To me that shows lack of confidence (i.e. high failure rate) in the laptop by the manufacturer if they charge too much.

 

I would be wary of credit card companies extending manufacturer warranties. Typically you will have to go through the credit card company to get any warranty work done. They might ask you to pay for repairs up front and they will reimburse you.

Warranties are not a bad idea for people who don't want to/don't know how to fix their own computers. Of course I only buy business laptops, most of them come with a 3 year warranty, but most of my older ones are out of warranty and I go online and order parts for them and fix 'em myself.

 

I've used my AmEx service 2-3 times over the year. Never a problem. Never cash out of pocket either.