HP Notebooks? Best Buy Ext Warranty?

[JETninja]

Think'n of finally getting the wife a Notebook (then she'll be off my machine!) and since we have a Best Buy card and 24month interest free financing with them right now...I'm shopping there. Don't need much, and don't want to spend much. Kinda like the HP ZE4560us.....

Mobile AMD Athlon? XP-M processor 2500+ with QuantiSpeed? architecture* and AMD PowerNow!? technology
*Operates at 1.87GHz

512MB DDR SDRAM

DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive

Integrated 802.11g

15" XGA TFT

and more: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1061769819639&skuId=5990378&type=product

$1299 plus $200 of rebates (and a $100 Gift Card)....

Questions.....Are the HP's made well? Reliability?

Should I pop for the Ext Warranty? ($250 online..maybe I can get it down in store?)

Can I work/fix/upgrade it myself if needed? (I build all my own Desktops)


I know Centrino's are cool, but this is more to allow her to surf and other stuff in the living room while keeping an eye on the little ones, and I like the much faster wireless this has.

Any and all comments are welcome.....I need to do this soon if I go through with it.

Thanks!

 

[flashbacck]

hp laptops are suppose to be ok. I remember seeing a notebook manufacturer rating and hp did pretty decent in terms of quality & customer service etcetc. I can't find the review now though. I think it was from pcmagazine or some site like that.

the bestbuy warrenties are ok. Only because if something does go wrong, when you bring it in to exchange after a yr or two, they won't be able to because the model will have been discontinued, so you'll be able to pick out a new one and just pay the difference. The warrenty for laptops is 3 yrs, I think, and IMHO chances are pretty good something will go wrong in 3 yrs.

btw, I've heard horror stories about the bestbuy credit card. Bestbuy conveniently sending the bill late so you forget about payments. And when you miss a payment, there goes the 0% interest. That's just what I've heard though...

 

[thedarkwolf]

I've been playing with a 4430us which is pretty much the same except it has a 2400xp in it and it seems pretty good to me. I've never really used a laptop much though so I don't have a lot to compare it too. The hard drive is a little slow and its a little heavy.

 

[tefleming]

I worked in a Best Buy for over a year. From my experience, the pros and cons of the warranty are:

Con:
Screen is NOT covered, don't listen to what they tell you, its in the fine print. If they insist that it is covered, make 'em write it down.
The warranty is *not* transferred to a replacement unit.
There are usually more economical options with the manufacturer

Pro:
If they think you're truly struggling with it, you can probably get 'em to throw in stuff (bag, accessories, etc) or drop some off the price. (They CAN'T change the price of the Warranty)
You can get quite... errr ... creative, in what a true problem with the system is.
You can transfer the warranty to a new owner.

Best of luck,

 

[JETninja]

Thanks for that info Moxon! (and everyone else!)

They told me the Ex War covers the Display....mentioned bad pixels being covered. I will have them put that in writing.

Since the return policy is only 14days, I'm thinking of taking the Wife there in the morning...if she likes we'll get it. Wish I could go for the wide screen one, if only for the KB....oh well.

In store it's actually $999 after rebates...nice.

 

[JETninja]

Originally posted by: Moxon
I worked in a Best Buy for over a year. From my experience, the pros and cons of the warranty are:

Con:
Screen is NOT covered, don't listen to what they tell you, its in the fine print. If they insist that it is covered, make 'em write it down.
The warranty is *not* transferred to a replacement unit.
There are usually more economical options with the manufacturer

I have the writted warranty brochure in front of me....

It says NOtebook screen are covered, unless failure is due to accidental or intentional damage.

Also Pixel repair is per the Manufacturers guidelines.

Guess it's changed since you worked there...for the better!

 

[tefleming]

No, no change, but the pixellation guidelines are usually a 10-25 % distortion of the screen.

The screen of a laptop is quite reliable, I can only recall one or two screens that died of natural causes over three years of computer retail (I worked in a CompUSA before going to Bby), most of the damage is physical damage which is not covered.

 

[JETninja]

Well, I wouldn't expect coverage of physical damage....thats like a Dealer covering a fender bender on your car!

 

[anandfan]

JETninja, did you buy this laptop (I won't tell your wife!)? My daughter was looking at this laptop for use at college. I'm curious about battery life with this machine.

 

[Uclagamer_99]

Get the warranty. I got a Sony laptop for my dad from BB and the battery failed once and the memory slot stopped working once also. The $300 will more than pay for itself in 3 yrs since laptops have alot more problems than desktops.