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Do you buy extended warranties for your laptop?

At one point, when laptops were a good chunk of change, sure. The warranties didn't cost too much either.

Now, absolutely not. Depending on the brand, you get 1-2 years, plus you pay with a CC that doubles the warranty, up to a year, and you get 2-3 year warranties. Most things that will break will probably break within the warranty. Anything else, it will either be cheap enough to replace on your own, or you'll effectively be self-insured and with laptops so cheap, you'll just buy a new/used one.
 
Brainonska511 said:
At one point, when laptops were a good chunk of change, sure. The warranties didn't cost too much either.

Now, absolutely not. Depending on the brand, you get 1-2 years, plus you pay with a CC that doubles the warranty, up to a year, and you get 2-3 year warranties. Most things that will break will probably break within the warranty. Anything else, it will either be cheap enough to replace on your own, or you'll effectively be self-insured and with laptops so cheap, you'll just buy a new/used one.
Click to expand...

I agree totally with the first paragraph; that was my experience too.

IMO, these days, whether or not a buy an extended warranty depends on how much I'm spending on the laptop. I have no need for a desktop replacement (i.e. $1,500+) but if I did I'd buy the extended warranty.

About 6 months ago I bought a nice HP Pavillion for my wife to surf and Skype on. Paid $600. Extended warranty not worth it.

6 years ago I paid $1,400 for an Acer laptop (top of the line back then). I bought a 2-year ex warranty for just $200. Never used it but worth every penny AFA peace of mind goes.
 
Never. I usually replace the laptop after about 3 years. Have had 8 of them since 1995, and never needed any warranty. I apply this to all things - not just laptops . . . they would not exist if they were not profitable for the OEM. If they are profitable for the OEM, then they are not profitable for me. Basically I believe in being self insured.
 
On a laptop I would. They're so prone to breaking, especially months after warranty is out.

My wifes laptop shit the bed several times.. replace the mobo twice, replace the laptop w\ an upgraded version and then it's on it's final trip to the lovely best buy geek squad they claimed they were waiting on parts for 3-4 weeks before giving the option of replacing the laptop. We wound up getting a full refund minus the money paid for the warranty...

pretty good deal for having had a semi functional laptop for 2-3 years despite it dying several times and being replaced completely before dying again.

Theres far too many parts, and then they're all pressed together in a compact case prone to overheating and all sorts of other malfunction.

Buy the warranty.
 
Generally speaking, extended warranties are a HUGE moneymaker. What does that tell you?

More specifically, I usually don't. However, sometimes there are nice values to be had. For instance I was looking at a $900 Dell Vostro notebook. For that particular notebook, Dell offers to extend the basic 1 year on-site warranty to three years for only $80. That's really cheap for an extended on-site warranty! Most companies want to charge $140-200 for that kind of extended warranty. If I bought that notebook and the extended warranty pricing was still available (if it wasn't a special offer) I might take it.
 
All depends on the specific product you're buying. For example, Best Buy's warranty has a feature called "no comparable product" (I'm not sure if its actually on the terms and conditions, but I used to work there and have done it a few times).

Basically, if they need to replace a product, they'll find something of like specs (in a computer, hdd, memory, proc, screen size typically). However if theres something that there isn't a comparable, then they give you the last sale price of that model.

I've done this on two occasions. Most recently, I bought a Sony SZ650 when it was end of life, back in 2008. Original price was 1700, EoL price was 1330. 13.3" screen, switchable graphics (before optimus was around), bluetooth, TPM module, fingerprint reader.

Fast forward to 2011, my laptop takes a dive and gets the screen cracked (no i did NOT do it on purpose, if anyone was thinking that). Brought it into BBY, sent it to service. They ended up issuing an exchange for it. Normally, with its specs (1.86ghz Core 2 Duo, 2gb ram, 120GB hdd), I'd probably get a 500 dollar whatever computer. However since I argued that I used many of the features that made it so unique, which is why I bought it in the first place, and they didn't have anything there that had even close specs, I got my original 1350 back in the form of a store credit.

I also did this for a monitor that went kablooey, as it had a bunch of different inputs (composite, component, hdmi, dvi, vga, svideo). I had originally bought it for 550 or so back in like 05. In 07-08 or so it died, no other monitors had that input type, so I got my 550 back and bought 2 22" monitors in its place.

I hear you on some things though, many times the warranty is too much of a % of the cost of the machine, or its something hta tdoesn't break often (or at least break with a high enough cost to repair it, eg. desktops).
 
dennilfloss said:
Or do you see this insurance as a money grab?
Click to expand...

They are worth it if the warranty doesn't have a deductible and is for several years.

Paid $20 for 2-year warranty on my cell phone. Replacement would be $150.

Paid $80 for a 4-year extended warranty on a lcd tv. Replacement cost would be $700.00

Good rule of thumb, if the extended warranty of the item cost more than 13% of the purchase price, it's too much.
 
It depends on how much it is, on my 3008wfp it was only $100 for another 2 years on the warranty. Ill spend that when I am spending big bucks on a monitor. But if they want more than $75 a year I would pass. Also if the item is cheap I wouldn't do it.
 
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