How useful are laptop's guarantees?

de1amo

İ live abroad and i am considering buying a laptop. They are about 50pc more expensive here and i was thinking of waiting til the summer when i return to the uk-i only stay 1 month which would mean the laptop would be out of the country whilst in guarantee and therefore impossible to return --how useful are these guarantees on such technology --when most of the problems that occur are user 'damage' ie dropping them!

WhiteChristmas

de1amo wrote: »

i only stay 1 month

That's long enough. In general, computer-y things will fail very quickly if there's a manufacturing fault. If it works for a month, there's a very high chance that it'll work for its expected lifetime.

davb

The problem with laptops is that if something does fail, it's generally harder to replace, and quite often proprietary parts. So if it's a motherboard or graphics problem and out of warranty, it can be an expensive fix, and often be scrap.
You can be lucky or unlucky as with all warranties.

inanavalanche

Like you say, most damage ends up being from an accident, rather that a breakage of the laptop. What laptop are you thinking of getting, some are more reliable than others!

de1amo

İn my family--ie siblings they have had troubles with laptops and always it seems they have been left to fix them--i am no expert on tech things so it smacks me that most glitches come from things like viruses and use so the guarantees seem to have little value--apart from manufacturing faults!

CoolHotCold

If you buy a Dell, you can get a Worldwide Dell warranty.
Acers also have a 1 year International Warranty.

But like most people say, they usually fail within the first month (usually first day)

paddyrg

Just ask the retailer about international warranties

esuhl

I don't think I know anyone who has returned a laptop or desktop PC under the manufacturer's warranty or Sale of Goods Act rights. I once bought a hard drive with a chip that had been covered in a protective substance which became conductive as it deteriorated, so got a replacement for that, but never a whole computer.

Most computer problems (in my experience) seem to be software-related or due to accidental damage, neither of which would be covered by a warranty. guarantee or statutory rights.

liam8282

A few years back I had a HP laptop that needed to be returned under the manufacturers warranty.

IIRC it was the motherboard that failed and needed to be sent back to be replaced.

Couldn't fault HP though, they sent a courier to pick the laptop up, and had it back to me repaired, within 10 days (I think?).

All FOC under the warranty.

Anyway, I would say laptop guarantee's are very useful!