T42 - warranty options

[spaceguru]

Hello all,
I have been browsing through a lot through this forum and learning quite a bit on the T42 including its problems (and decline in quality (?) ).

I am a grad student and am shopping for a laptop that will be mostly used for school work, programming stuff like Xilinx, Matlab etc. IBM's educational discount gives a price of $1574 for the 2378FVU which seems like a good deal.

However, what I dont know and needed help on deciding is - what warranty to get on the laptop. I am a little tight on budget and hence wanted to get the most out of the deal. IBM has an extended warranty + 2yr depot repair for $85, or they have the thinkpad protection 2 yrs + 2yr depot for $199. Was not much keen on the onsite repair, given the fact that i live College Station and the closest metropolis is 100 miles away.

For all the sorts of problems that people seem to be having and the customer service for repair/replacement etc, what seems to be a good choice?

thanks for your help.
spaceguru

[Leon]

IMHO, the best bang for your buck is depot + protection.

[spaceguru]

Thanks Leon,

a newbie question: as compared to the extended warrany, what does the protection buy me more?

[Leon]

if you accidentally damage or break your computer, they will fix it (even if you run it over with your car)!