T61 Warranty - Extend it?

I'm running down to the wire here with my T61's warranty, with 20 days left until it expires. I've got 3-yr Depot service on this unit, and I can extend it for another 2 years, with either Depot-only or Depot+Accidental Damage Coverage (which costs an arm and a leg, not to mention a lot more than what I paid for the computer).

Question is, is it worth it to extend the warranty? I'm considering so, due to the Nvidia graphics card (NVS 140M) that is known to be faulty and can die. But, I'd also like to upgrade the T7300 processor to a T9300 Penryn proc sometime soon, which would void the warranty. What are your thoughts? I don't mind paying for another year of Depot-only service, but Accidental coverage is out of my price range.

 

If you're keeping it for a bit and have the nvidia graphics, I would upgrade the warranty.

Alternatively, I might look for a used t400, which won't have the graphics issue and shouldn't be too expensive.

 

Yes, I agree - if you are keeping it, renew the warranty. That's exactly what I did!

Renee

 

As LoneWolf15 stated, especially with a laptop during Santa Rosa and Napa platforms with Nvidia GPU, extending the warranty is a good investment because all Nvidia chips based off the G72M/G84M/G86M will fail, it is only a question of when.

 

No worth it in my opinion. I'd save that money and save a bit more and keep that aside incase your laptop does give out. The reason why I would do this is because your laptop is older and its better to replace it with newer tech units.

My T500 just had the basic factory one year warranty and I've had this unit for almost 3years. Now that my unit is fully upgraded to its limits, I am just going to use it for another 2more years and purchase a new one. I'm really liking AMD's new APU. Hopefully, Lenovo will implement that chip across the thinkpad Line.

 

Thanks for the advice, keep it coming!

I'm planning on keeping the unit for a while. It's my first ThinkPad, and to be honest, it has decent specs (1680x1050 res in a 15" screen!) compared with my other machines. My MBP is slightly faster with much better battery life, but the ThinkPad is a solid Win7 workhorse machine.

 

If you handy and can replace the board yourself, a board may cost less than the warranty extension. If you wish to keep the nVidia card I'd lean more towards extending it.

 

+1. Could replace it with the X3100 iGPU board so would no longer has a timebomb. Would get better battery life that way too.

 

I'd much rather keep the Nvidia board, to be honest. I like having the extra graphics power. I've been using the T61 as a spare/extra LAN party rig, since it runs SC2 and a lot of older games just fine.

A replacement board would cost me more than 2 years of depot service ($180 vs over $200 on eBay for a board), to be honest. I've replaced system boards before, but I'd rather save the extra time/cost.

Though, how much more battery life would it give me? I can't see it improving it that much, and the X3100 would have to push a lot of pixels on the WSXGA+ screen.

 

For most uses the Intel card is fine for WSXGA+. Many WSXGA+ T61, R61, T500 and R500 were sold with that very set up. The nice thing about extending the warranty is you've got someone to complain to should it not work. Otherwise you're looking in the mirror.