Extended warranty

GWillow · 28 Nov 2008 at 13:48

Hi,

I'm looking at buying a Dell for the wife for Xmas, I'm looking at the Inspiron 1525. It doesn't need to be too powerful as it won't be used for games mainly be used for web/email/word processing and probably connecting to a MIDI keyboard.

My question is , is it worth taking out an extended warranty on these machines as a 3 year In-home warranty would add £70 to the price.

We've also looked at the NC10 but she feels the screen is just too small, the resolution, not the physical size (she can't see the whole scrabble board on facebook on it :rolleyes:

)

daz · 28 Nov 2008 at 13:59

I would personally say that some kind of warranty that covers accidental damage is a good idea for a lot of people. It doesn't take much to trip over the cord sending the laptop flying... or for someone to stupidly sit on the laptop and break the screen etc... obviously if you're a very careful person, you may be fine. But a lot of people tend to damage their laptops themselves it seems.

Gilbretto · 28 Nov 2008 at 17:41

daz said:
I would personally say that some kind of warranty that covers accidental damage is a good idea for a lot of people. It doesn't take much to trip over the cord sending the laptop flying... or for someone to stupidly sit on the laptop and break the screen etc... obviously if you're a very careful person, you may be fine. But a lot of people tend to damage their laptops themselves it seems.

Accidental damage should be covered by your house insurance. Provided you have a decent policy. It would be worth checking as it would be pointless paying out for something that you already have.

As for extra harware cover from dell? I've owned 2 dell laptops but neither for longer than a year so i cant comment if they are gonna break down or not. Although a good sign is that there aren't any 'my dell has broken again' threads on here so i guess they are solid enough.

If you buy your dell with the basic 1 year warranty you can always extend it at a later date. I'm not sure if it works out more expensive or not, never looked into it properly.

I know that ASUS offer a 2 year warranty as standard on their laptops so might be worth looking at other companies who offer longer warranties.

Gil.

GWillow · 28 Nov 2008 at 19:24

Thanks for the advice, although I haven't checked I'm sure I do have accidental damage on my insurance. I was more thinking about hardware failure rather than 'mishap' damage.

emetic · 28 Nov 2008 at 20:25

i would certainly take out the extra cover. If any part of your mainboard was to go that would mean replacing it and 1. the inspirons are quite fiddly 2. for 70 quid i doubt you would get replacement parts.

Gilbretto · 28 Nov 2008 at 22:37

As i mentioned before, surely you just go for a brand with a 2 year warranty?

Why pay more when you dont have to?

Unless you are desperate for an Inspiron that is? But i cant see why that would ever be the case?

Up to you tho of course.

Gil.

GWillow · 29 Nov 2008 at 07:39

That's bery good advice.

I'm not desperate for an Inspiron but as I know little to nothing about laptops I had to start somewhere. I would prefer a manufacturer that is well regarded in the field as opposed to some unknown make.

Any recommendations (I'm looking around th £350-£400 (ush) mark.