Warranty Question

[macuser]

I have a x61s. I took delivery with the standard warranty 10 months ago..
I just received a email from lenovo for an extension as follows:

41C9166 THKPLUS TP 1 YR IOR 9X5 NBD 1 YR ONSITE REPAIR 9X5 NBD $39.00

41C9169 THKPLUS TP 2YR PICKUP DEPOT 2 YRS PARTS AND LABOR DEPOT $69.00

41C9170 THKPLUS TP 3YR PICKUP DEPOT 3 YRS PARTS AND LABOR DEPOT $119.00

41C9167 THKPLUS TP 2YR IOR 9X5 NBD 2 YRS ONSITE REPAIR 9X5 NBD $139.00

41C9168 3 YR IOR 9X5 NBD $219.00

41C9172 THKPLUS TP 4YR PICKUP DEPOT 4 YRS PARTS AND LABOR DEPOT $229.00

41C9171 THKPLUS TP 4YR IOR 9X5 NBD 4 YRS ONSITE REPAIR 9X5 NBD $349.00

41C9173 THKPLUS TP 5YR IOR 9X5 NBD 5 YRS ONSITE REPAIR 9X5 NBD $499.00

I will be in Law school for the next 4 years and it will need to be cost effective. upgrading my system will not be for a few years 3-4 maybe.

I use the machine for homework and the usual email word docs.

I have a T60p for the photo thing and a old dell desktop (cringe) for run of the mill server stuff.

My question is how long should I get the extended warranty for? I'm thinking 4 yr depot and 4 yr parts. Is this enough? What would you do? Advise?

Regards,

-macuser

[treker]

If you really think you will need the extended warranty, I would suggest the most cost effective one: 3 yr depot parts and labor at $119. The extra year costs over $110 more.

But consider this: Technology changes. Maybe an extended warranty is not worth it. Put that $229 you were considering into savings for your next x91 or whatever Lenovo's next greatest laptop may be. I just saw coupon codes for a brand new X61 for $816 or x61s for $921!!

Almost 4 years ago, I bought my first IBM T42 and got carried away with wanting to protect my baby. I bought the 4 year depot warranty and the 4 year all inclusive protection plan (except for loss). I have never used the service and only a few months left on the warranty. $400 down the drain that could have been saved towards my next Lenovo laptop.

IBM and Lenovo build great quality laptops. Most electronics seem to fail in the first few days or months of ownership. Sure, you may have a failure after the first 12 months but ask yourself would I be better off knowing I paid $229 for 4 years of extra warranty or saving that $229 and taking your chances that you won't have a problem with such a great reliable laptop as Lenovo makes?

[jdhurst]

I purchased a T61p with a 4-year warranty AND XP conversion CD's. I backleveled the T61p and the 4-year warranty will protect me from the latest and greatest. ... JDH

[awolfe63]

I always get 3yr depot. If my machine is more than 3 years old - I am probably ready for a new one.

I have 9 thinkpads. (6 purchased used, 1 refurbished, 2 new) I've had 3 machine failures. Two of them in "year 3" and one out of warranty. I've been very happy with depo repair for the two warranty repairs. The out of warranty is a recent GPU flakiness on a T40. I'm not going to repair it, I'll part it out.

I also have had 2 in-warranty battery failures and one disk failure. New ones just show up in the mail and you send the old one back.

I think of Thinkpads as reliable - but now that I look at my list, I'm less impressed. I'm pretty hard on my main machine and my memory of other brands is that they were worse.

[leesiulung]

Statistically speaking, the likelihood of your machine failing is small. THese extended warranties are the biggest money maker for companies.

Laptop's are generally worth less than half their value within the first 12-18 months. You can always get a cheap HP/Dell for $400-500 if needed and save your $100-200 now upfront.

[awolfe63]

Interesting point. Lenovo warranty prices are the same for a $600 R61 and a $2500 loaded T500 - right? The value proposition is quite different.

My first few machines (from IBM) just came with 3 year depot so there was no decision. My last machine (X61s) was about $1400+tax so the warranty extension cost about 7%. My most recent order, the T500 was around $1650 - so about 6% for the extended warranty.

How does this match up to my repair costs over the years? Probably not very well. I have had failures - but most have been within the first year. I have had 1 or 2 "year 3" repairs - but they probably only would have cost a couple of hundred dollars anyway.

I think it depends on your situation. The advantage for me is that I get my exact same machine back within 2-3 days. I takes me a week to get a new machine fully set up and get back to full productivity - so it is worth a lot to me to get the same machine back quickly.

One time, I decided to just buy 2 identical T42's refurbished (about $450 each at the time) so that if anything other than the drive failed - I could just move to a backup machine in 10 minutes.

Now I keep 2 machines in ready-to-use status (T42 and X61s) and sync files between them. That gives me a hot spare so quick repair is not as important - but I still buy the 3yr depot warranty - mostly out of habit.

[dr_st]

I am all for the three-year warranty. There are other cases when it come handy other than the machine downright failing.

During the last two years of warranty on my T42 I replaced:

* A key on the keyboard that I broke
* The DVD burner that was producing an increasingly high percentage of coasters
* The LCD screen which was still in good shape, except a small defective spot

Had it not been for the extended warranty, I would have kept the LCD (at the cost of minor annoyance), and probably wouldn't even have replaced the burner (would have just stopped using it for burning).

Because I had the warranty, I got both of them replaced for free, and now I have an upgraded model of the burner (one that also does DVD+R/RW) and a newer, brighter, defect-free LCD.

For $120 over two years - I think it is worth it.