3YR Onsite NBD + 3YR Priority Support + 3YR TPP vs. 3 Year ONSITE + 3 year Thinkpad Protection

What are the difference between these two warranty options, and why is 3YR Onsite NBD + 3YR Priority Support + 3YR TPP the cheaper option.

Also, in your guys opinion, is it worth getting any one of these warranty options for a laptop such as the X230, which costs <$1000 before tax. Would you guys consider paying 20%(approximate) of the laptop cost for warranty?

 

I believe NBD means next business day, as in they will send someone to you by the next business day. I don't know if this is true, just my assumption.

 

Definitely worth it. Consider it as paying $66/year insurance to make sure that you have less then a day of down time.

 

TPP (accidental damage) and Onsite NBD (tech/contractor fixes computer in your home/office/business) is worth it. Priorty Support...not so much.

 

If you can perform repairs yourself, get the 3 year depot warranty and request the part be mailed out and you'll fix it yourself. If you can't/don't want to repair it, get the 3 year onsite.

If your clumsy, get insurance.

Premium support is worthless; especially of you troubleshoot and articulate well.

 

In this case priority support is not worthless since it saves the OP money.

 

I get them to avoid dealing with the Depot, no waiting two weeks to have a system sent back still broken --- It's also nice to know that I'm there as my system gets fixed so I can keep an eye on the repair process and make sure no shortcuts are taken... Won't find me complaining about missing screws or whatever else I've seen people claim online when using this route.

 

Does anyone have any experience with how good support is when working abroad in more remote locations? I'm guessing on-site might be too much to ask for.

 

Also, if you pay in full using an American Express, they will extend your warranty by another year. The claims process is a bit of a pain, but I've gotten a free laptop out of it.

 

the price difference between 3 year/on-site/NBD/TPP and 3 year/on-site/NBD/normal support was ~$5 (for me). I am honestly not worried about the $5 cost if nothing is different, but I thought it was worth my time anyway

 

They will seriously mail out a part for a customer to self install?

If so, that's ideal for me. I really don't like the idea of someone else working on my machine.

 

I'm just getting the 3 year basic. I can't afford the others, they aren't in my budget. We apparently have Lenovo technicians at the computer store at my chosen college, which is cool. But am I stupid to not do more than the basic on a W530?

 

I broke my keyboard once when I was taking apart my laptop. I called Lenovo support and was mailed a new one the 2nd day after. Installed it myself then put my broken part in the same box and sent it back to them. No fuss, no questions, very easy.

 

Their support is 24hrs a day, 7 days a week and is based in Georgia. Parts are overnighted (or as close to it as possible; I called in on Memorial Day Monday and got a replacement drive Wednesday.) I will warn you that they might need to remote access your PC in some cases to make sure it's as busted as you say it is. They did it when my HDD was throwing SMART errors.

 

That would be great!

But okay, a keyboard is one thing. Will they mail out a processor, screen, or motherboard for a customer to replace?

Also, I've been looking everywhere...so, just to be sure, is there some sort of documentation that describes the Depot warranty in detail, so I can make sure that I would be getting what I actually want?

 

Oh geez, here I am double-posting. I do apologize, but this is not the easiest information to come by, if you want to actually do something else with your day.

That's the depot warranty?

And that would include mobo, screen, cpu, et al, if need be?

Also, what if I'm in Eastern Europe or elsewhere (not so close to Georgia)? Meaning with a US bought machine. Do they have a depot in other places that does roughly (or exactly) the same thing?

 

You can check the Hardware Maintenance Manual for your machine to see which units are listed as a CRU (customer replaceable unit).

X230: Hardware Maintenance Manual - ThinkPad X230, X230i

Page 46 has the list in the above document. The only CRUs are:
- Hard disk drive rubber rails or solid-state drive spacers
- Hard disk drive or solid-state drive
- Hard disk drive cover
- Memory module slot cover
- Memory module
- Keyboard
- TrackPoint cap
- Backup battery (CMOS?)
- Speaker assembly
- Palm rest

So no, they won't be sending you a screen, motherboard, or CPU if it breaks down. You will have to send in your machine if you have a depot warranty and a part other than those listed above ends up defective.

 

Yeah, I've been through the literature, but didn't know what the warranties dictated.

That's a bit of a sparse list, really.

Thanks for the clarification concerning the warranty.

 

Sorry for asking stupid question: I have only American Express traveler's check now, can I use that?? Or what kind of cards should I apply for before purchasing the laptop~

 

I have the warranty in the thread title
There is no onsite for large repairs, such as a physically broken lcd
The tech asked me what it was, and fedexed a box to me, which arrived the next day
I put the computer in the box, filled out a form describing what is what, and dropped it off at a fedex location (or was it UPS, I can't remember)

Onsite: not possible for big repairs
Priority: the tech STARTS the repair right away. parts or the repair itself may take up to 10 days. mine took 2 or 3
TPP: I dropped mine and the lcd and the top cover broke. worth it

now, this, as opposed to having parts mailed:

they performed a minor diagnostics on the computer, and that was all
if you do not include a hard disk, with the OS, and the password if there is one, they will not put in one of their own and perform further diagnostics
I expected better, like a standard harddisk per each thinkpad they'd pop in and diagnose with

so it was worth it, especially factoring in the marginal (extra) cost from regular 3yr warranty to the maxed out one was more than the parts cost, parts I busted myself