IBM Warranty Questions

A couple questions.

First, there were two types of warranties that I could choose to extend when buying my T61. There was the base warranty, and the damage protection. I only chose to extend the latter, is there a reason why the first should be extended if you are getting damage protection anyway?

Secondly, does installing a different OS void the warranty? Seeing as these are business laptops that doesn't sound like something Lenovo would do, but other companies definitely say that if you install an OS that isn't theirs it voids the warranty. I looked through the warranty manual but it had nothing to say about Operating Systems.

Also, has anyone figured out the 1GB of ram at the bottom of their order yet, it seems like everyone has been getting this...

 

Just purchased a T60p with 3 year extended warranty and 3-year accidental damage protection. My understanding is that the extended warranty is for manufacturing hardware defects such as the crashing of a hard drive etc... In contrast, accidental damage protection is just that -- spills, drops etc.. So if your hard drive crashed independent of any accident it would not be covered unless it was under warranty. Although I suppose one could claim that the hard drive malfunctioned just after you dropped it. But this might be harder to claim in the case of a bluetooth card, dedicated gpu etc... gone bad outside of warranty.

BTW, I believe it is possible to purchase an extended warranty (or for the matter the accidental damage protection) after you receive your Thinkpad.

 

Yes you can purchase extended manuffacturer warranty for thinkpad even long after you first got the laptop. But it costs more than buying the warranty when new.

At IBM we uninstalled and reinstalled the OS sometimes, and I never heard about it voiding the warranty. Read the fine print, it's all there.

 

So wait...

You can extend the warranty later after you already have the notebook? If this is true, how long before you have to do so. I am in the process of configuring a T61 and would really rather hold off on extending the warranty so that I can afford some of the higher end options for the laptop. Would I have up until the 1 year warranty expires to extend it/add accidental protection?

 

If things are still the same you have right up to the time your warranty expires. I had the same situation with my Thinkpad 380ED and I called IBM and they were going to sell me an extended warranty. Good thing I declined as the laptop was flawless for more than 5 years.

 

This is all good to know. Would you guys recommend an extended warranty? From what I've read Thinkpads seem pretty solid (I don't know if Lenovo will maintain that legacy). I'm just afraid of spending more money than I need to, especially when damage protection SHOULD cover any anticipated problems I have (spills etc)

 

Sorry to hijack...

What about if you upgrade the machine yourself (Hard Drive and RAM), will that void the warranty?

 

Well..for my T40p, I've NEVER used my 3 year warranty at all.
I've got my battery exchanged 10 months after I bought the laptop but only because the battery warranty was only for one year and I thought it will be the best for me to get it exchanged once before my warranty expires.
Other than that, I never had a problem with my T40p.
Plus, you can basically fix a lot of little parts if you know how to use screw driver. You can easily buy the parts you want and replace it unless it's the motherboard or something major that's causing the problem.

 

It will not.

 

Nobody but you can decide on whether you want/need the accidental protection.

Generally I never buy extended warranties. But i usually advise ppl to consider them because laptops breakdown frequently and are extremely expensive to fix. I get a new thinkpad every year from work, and I've had a number of problems lately.... screen, hard drive, battery, mother board. This isn't your dad's ibm thinkpad anymore that ran forever.

 

Like any type of warranty (or insurance), it all depends on your comfort with risk. For me, buying (for a reasonable price in my case) a 3-year depot/3-year accident protection for my new T60p provided peace of mind, particularly re: things outside of my control (overhead airline storage bins, cats and kids, a lightning strike on the one outlet not protected by a surge protector etc....) It was worth a few extra hundred dollars to know that for the anticipated lifetime of this machine I won't be incurring expensive repairs.

 

Don't forget that if you're buying the laptop with most gold or platinum credit cards in the US, you automatically extend your warranty for one more year for a total of two years. Many people forget about this for some reason....

 

I am planning to upgrade memory on T60p as soon it will arrive, but I dont know if this will void my warranty?

Any ideas?

 

My understanding is that upgrading memory will not affect the warranty in any way (except of course that Lenovo won't guarantee the new memory)

 

@ sav
are you sure? If so, thats really good news.

 

Yes but you must call you credit card company to inform them of your purchase... maybe they ask for serial number or something like that.

After the 1st year with IBM, if you have a problem, you call your credit card company.. not ibm but there, i don't know how it work.

 

They don't forget, they just don't know. No one reads much of the information packets sent with their credit cards. And while it's a nice bonus to have, it helps keep cost control for the credit card companies if people don't know about it.

Yeah, all the card companies have different rules. I have a Visa, and some Visas get the warranty, some don't. You have to tell them about the purchase, and save EVERYTHING. Receipts, copies of original warranty from Lenovo, and most importantly, purchase the entire cost of the laptop on one card.

Google for details, even in this forum.