sup gang....i need some advices....im planning to buy a SONY VGN-T150 laptop for my gf b-day. the saleperson was hard on selling me the $299 3 yrs "Performance Service Contract w/ Loaner upon Request". telling me all the bad things that could happened to it and that i should protect my investment. is it worth it? i never had any problems w/ my current desktop or 4 yrs old laptop

thanks
-vincent

 

well think of it as insurance.

see how much the dude can drop the price.

at work, i get machines back a month after warranty and the LCD goes out...

crap like that...

 

Just my opinion:

You will still have the manufacturers warranty if the screen goes dead after a month. I don't think you need the "replacement" option.

Depends on what you think of Fry's warranty, I don't know them, but I would guess it is a third party and not good.

The three things most likely to happen to your laptop:

1. Spill a soda in it - your fault, warranty won't cover it.

2. Damage to the screen - cracked and unusable. This has happened to me 2 times all on airplanes and every time NOT covered by warranty - say it's my fault even though I was forced to check the damn thing at the terminal.

3. The most common problem is a damaged hard drive. Even though it's a laptop, the HDD is not very rugged. I would say take your $300 and buy a 2.5" (laptop) USB or firewire and use that as a backup. When your drive fails then pull out the USB drive and replace your standard drive with it.

Good Luck.

 

Don't buy from Fry's.

Buy from Best Buy.

The service from Best Buy is so much better. We don't cover just defects, we cover wear and tear. That means if your keys fall off, if your screen stops working, etc, we'll repair it. Also, each year, come back for a free battery for 3 years. Batteries usually cost about 100-200 dollars. If you replace it 3 times, it pays for itself.

Lastly, if you buy a bag with it, a mouse, and some other accessory, we knock off 10% off the accessories. Well worth it in my opinion. Come into Best Buy at McCarthy Ranch and I can help you out. Honestly, it's well worth it to take the trip to Best Buy.

-GDO

 

I bought my Toshiba laptop from Fry's last Xmas vacation. I also bought the 3 year extended warranty on it. I think it is cheap insurance just incase of manufacturers defects. No problems so far.

Kurlee Daddee
(THE ORIGINAL)

 

Fry's has a decent return policy in the sense that its the factory warranty but on the spot.
With the laptop though, especially a Sony, they wont always have a stock pile on hand because Sony is way over priced for what you get. You pay for a name, and proprietary peripherals.
The only laptop warranty I would buy would cover accidents. E.G. liquid spillage, oops I dropped it, my laptop strap broke and down the stair case it tumbles, dumb *** friend thinks its funny to sit on your laptop bag and crack goes the screen and frame.
Ya know? Those type of things, of which Fry's does NOT cover.

If you are dead set on getting that laptop for your GF, and not something with such a rediculously high pricetag, then get it somewhere that WILL sell you an insurance like warranty, not a manufacter extended warranty from the store.

I would suggest an IBM thinkpad, or if your on a tighter budget but still want quality, get an Asus whitebox notebook and choose CPU, RAM, HDD, WiFi.
I have the Asus M3Np, 14" LCD-1024x768, 1.5GHz Pentium M(Centrino) Dothan core, 512MB PC3200 DDR, 40GB 5400RPM HDD, Intel 2200 mini-PCI wifi card. All for $1390 after sales and shipping.

 

ASK if they will COVER DEAD PIXELS. If they do, then $299 is worth it, on top of all the other things people are telling you to make sure to ask. (just because pixels are dead, the screen still works, so some places won't replace them. Then again there are different types of dead pixels and policies, so ask )

 

That would be wonderful if retail stores would cover dead pixels!
I have one dead pixel on mine but its so small I don't even notice it cause its in the bottom right corner.

 

for a desktop, i wouldn't buy insurnace for the simple fact that it stays on your desk all year round. But for a laptop, since it's constantly on the go with you, you run a much higher chance of dropping it which that thing will cover.

 

That seriously made my morning

I had to talk to some of the top people in Best Buy before they said, "we support the opinions of our staff, sir." Damn pimple faced POS said I had water damage on a brand new notebook. The computer was barely two months old and hadn't seen any outside program -or- ounce of liquid.

I just assume not buy any service plan with anyone and take a risk. If it breaks then I can use that money towards the plan to fix the damn thing. This is how major companies make their money--off the damn service plan they never intended to satisfy. You think Best Buy's would be popping up everywhere if they didn't push a $300 service plan on a giftcard?!

 

But Best buy will replace the LCD if more then 2 pixels are dead. Frys will replace your LCD after 4 pixels die.

 

buy an IBM.... I am on my 4th IBM laptop right now. My first one has a dead LCD screen after 5 years. I gave my second (~3 years old) and thrid (~2 years old) to my sister and gf. They abuse the crap out of them and are still running good. My 4th one, well, it's only a year old, and still runs like new.

Leo

 

oh, talk about warranty service, IBM was great! I had to ship one in (first one) once. Call, Monday, they shipped box on Tuesday, picked up Wednesday, and I got it back on Friday.

 

That's a sucker policy.

My renter's insurance covers all my computers, for any reason. I think that part of the policy costs me <$50 a year.

I dropped my laptop and the basically repaired it for free. (Upwards of $500 cost to them).

 

Also...I had mad problems with my HP laptop during the warranty period, and HP is great. They fedex you a box, you fedex it back, they fix it in 1 day and fedex it back. I was very happy.