Should I take a chance?...

I am considering purchasing an NP 8660 from Xotic Pc.

Here's my dilemma. I will be leaving for Asia/Europe in about three months time and will be out of the country for several years. In the past, I have always bought Dell notebooks here in the USA mainly due to their international business warranty. Since I mostly game, the NP 8660 clearly has the best 15" gpu (while Dell only offers the M4400 15" notebook with the FX 770M / 9600gt gpu).

Should I take a chance on buying the better NP 8660 notebook even if it means I will note have any warranty with it outside the country in several months time (since it's too expensive or not really feasible to send it back for warranty work)?

I'm not sure of what the chances are of something major going wrong with it the first year or two? I'm also not really sure if I would be able to have it serviced in England or the Philippines, even without a warranty?

What would you do if you were me? (play it safe and go with a less specked gpu notebook with international warranty, or go with the better specked gpu NP 8660 even though it means having no warranty in several months time)?

Any input or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Best regards.

 

Rock or Kobalt might service it for you but it wouldn't be cheap without warranty. And it depends what you want, what your using it for etc...

 

Clevo does have international service centers.

But its usually preferable to purchase from a domestic vendor.

... but as long as you take care of it (cleaning out vents, not blocking the bottom vents/fans, monitor temps, etc...) , it should last.

 

Kobalt do have eurpean collect and return warranty if you going to spend most of the time in europe you might consider buying from them.
Just an idea.

 

I think Sager gives you international warranty...as long as you pay for shipping both ways.

 

i can also recommend Kobalt Computers. link in sig.

 

I believe if you choose the Sager warranty when you are selecting options for your notebook, that it will cover international areas. You really should ask Justin@XoticPC though.

 

Unfortunately, it's the shipping that's the kicker, particularly since you have to insure it as well. Unless you're in Canada, the shipping and insurance costs would probably make the warranty not particularly valuable.

 

Thanks everyone for your input!

I guess I'll have to make a final decision in the next month or so. As it stands right now with the weak USA Dollar, I think it would be too expensive to try to buy this notebook when I get overseas. I also think that if something went wrong, it would be very expensive to try to ship it (as well as insure it) to try to send it back to the USA for warranty work.

I guess I'm leaning more toward purchasing a less capable and lower specked notebook from Dell primarily for the international warranty support. It's really too bad. For the same price, I could have the 8660 "beast" with its 8800 gts gpu. I guess that's the way it goes sometimes.

 

The British Pound is at its lowest at the moment but don't forget the "rip off Britain" where things cost almost twise as much over here
This said the Nexus ftrom Kobalt is still worth its money. The upgrade from 9600gt to 9800gts will set you back 330 US dolars.