Warranty on your M11x

Normally I'm against warranties in general, since I've always thought of them as rip-offs, but I actually just dropped about 300 bucks for 2 years of "Total Replacement" coverage for my M11x R2.

With all the horror stories about hinges, and the fact that according to this rep, their total replacement means that if the laptop is ever unfixable they will replace it entirely or give you the next model higher.

I'm curious what kind of warranty you guys got with your M11x (if any) ... did I just get ripped off or is 2 years of total replacement worth it? Knowing my luck, this thing will crap out a day after my warranty expires... oh well

 

The only thing you need to consider is if $300 is worth having that kind of guarantee...I mean, if your laptop dies in 1 year and 1 day you will have already enjoyed your laptop for a full year and a replacement M11x R2 will likely be around $500 by that time. Consider that even if your R2 is completely nuked, you can probably get like $150+ for it on eBay as a parts-only, as-is broken laptop.

Do the math and you are probably better off keeping your $300. Especially if you consider the percentage chance that you will have a catastrophic failure of your laptop. It's low.

Technology advances pretty quickly. So spending that much on a warranty just isn't worth it.

 

Got the standard 1 year. And i spilt olive oil on it and only had to buy a new keyboard, so unless it needs $220 in parts over the next yearish, I should come out on top.

 

Extended warranties purchased from brick-and-mortar retail stores are rip-offs (e.g. Best Buy). But not all extended warranties are rip offs.

I always buy extended warranties for laptops, for as long as I plan on using that machine. That usually means I get 3-year warranties, and will always get accidental damage coverage if they offer it. There are two very good reasons why I do this:

1) In the event that I never need to use the warranty, it pays for itself immediately. Any repair that I ever need done that I cannot do myself will usually include something very expensive (e.g. LCD panel, motherboard, etc). So if I ever use the warranty at least once, it pays for itself immediately. And I have used my warranty to get repairs on the past 3 laptops that I have owned.

2) In the event that I never use the warranty, the peace-of-mind you get is worth it. It is incredibly re-assuring to me to know that I have a warranty to cover my butt. I can pick up a phone, anywhere in the world, and someone will come to my location the next day with replacement part in-hand, and perform the repairs. I don't need to search for parts, I don't need to wait several days for the part to arrive, I don't need to wait weeks to send my laptop to a repair facility and wait for them to return it, I don't need to do any work for the repairs / replacement itself. Pick up a phone, and the problem goes away the next day.

Worth every single penny.

Now, I never buy warranties from brick-and-mortar stores - only from the original laptop manufacturer. Those extended warranties are a rip-off. You are basically betting that the product will break after the manufacturer's warranty runs out (but before the B&M's extended warranty runs out), that the cost of repairs exceeds cost of warranty, that the B&M store is still in business and has a local store near you, that you still have all of the receipts / paperwork / etc, and that you will not want to just throw away the defective laptop and buy a newer model anyway. And when you DO need to use those warranties, all they do is ship the laptop back to the manufacturer for repair... which means you are out of a laptop for several weeks.


The only 3rd party warranty I would buy (and have bought) is from SquareTrade. They are excellent. They are a little different than manufacturer extended warranties, but are also significantly cheaper. I bought a warranty from them because the added inconvenience of their service was outweighed by the incredible low price of their warranty service.

 

Warranties will always be a "personal" decision. You're always right until you're proven wrong.

 

anything that i buy with my credit card extends any manufacturer's warranty out an extra year if the manufacturer's is 3 years or less, so essentially i have a 2 year warranty.

$300 for an extra year is pretty steep, i think, especially because that Chris dude who works for Dell and sits on their forums fielding hinge questions is confident that anyone with the faulty hinge design will be covered once the revised one is rolled out in the coming months.

 

Yea sucks they don't cover spills on the 1 year warranty, but I never have any liquids near my laptop so I'm good so far, with no other problems at all.

 

I just ordered my M11x R1 with the standard 1 year. I hope the hinges are fixed, but I'm going to be gentle with it

 

Definitely a personal choice. I don't think it's bad, I just think companies well overcharge for the warranties. I mean $300 for two years with accidental? Dell have to sell only two warranties to pay for one full replacement machine at Dell's cost, even though it's probably one in ten that actually do.

Depends on the cost of the laptop and warranty too. For a $1000 laptop like an M11x R2, $300 is steep. Yes you do have peace of mind, but you're also out $300. Like sk3tch mentioned, after a year, your machine depreciates to probably less than half what you bought it for, and can probably pick up a refurb for half price as well.

Of course accidental can happen any time, but $300 you could replace the keyboard and motherboard for that price.

Heck for my new $2200 Sager notebook, I got two year parts / labor and only cost me $79. But they don't offer accidental, and that would cost $500 for three years through squaretrade. Sorry, but I can replace the motherboad and keyboard and RAM for $500. Sure if it happened right now after owning it only a few days I'd be ticked and irritated, but over time it's less of an issue.

Too bad you don't have many options for accidental warranties other than the OEM or Squaretrade.

 

If I was in your shoes, I would of went with the 1 year warranty only since the R3 is coming out in the next few months. I would of then sold the R2 and bought an R3, but that's just me.

Are you a hardcore gamer? Because if you aren't, I think the warranty is justified, however if you're like me and play all the new titles, the R2 will fall behind in a year, therefore I'd want to get a system (R3) that could handle all the titles.

I think the warranty with AW in any case is worth it because of the "premium" type coverage associated with it. I would NOT pay if I had to mail it in a box and wait 4 weeks, however since a tech shows up in 24hrs, then I don't mind paying because to me, that's excellent warranty coverage and it's the way it should be for all laptop companies.