To Extend or Not Extend, That is the Question Many people ask me if it is a good idea to extend the warranty on their PC or not. Well, my opinion is that this is entirely up to the user. Do not be pressurised into buying something you feel will not give you any benefit. Maybe the extra two or three hundred pounds extra you will spend might be better spent elsewhere. Or will it? This article is intended to act as a guideline when deciding whether to get an extended warranty, and what type of warranty you would need. Warranty is Not Insurance When we talk about warranty, this is a document that ties the manufacturer into an agreement that when the system breaks down, it will be repaired at no cost to you. A warranty is not a form of insurance where the manufacturer is responsible for your two year-old child pushing a chocolate bar into the floppy drive slot, or when you water the cactus on the shelf above the monitor and you pour water into the back of an active screen. I will be discussing insurance in another article. Warranties will only cover internal faults such as a power supply burn out or a hard drive failure. It will NOT cover damage to the operating system. So, when you hard drive fails, be prepared to lose all the data on the disk when the disk is replaced. Cover When you purchase your new PC, you will always be asked if you want to take out extended warranty cover. I have found that there are vast differences in cost from retailer to retailer, but most of them work on approximately 20% of the hardware cost. However, manufacturers such as Hewlett Packard and Compaq offer fixed prices for their support packs, regardless of the cost of the PC. There are two basic types of cover: * On site * Return to factory On Site This type of cover is generally the most expensive, especially if you are looking at a three-year agreement, as the manufacturer has to send an engineer to your house or office within a predetermined time frame (usually 24 hours). The biggest advantage with this type of cover is that you can almost guarantee you will be up and running in a couple of days. You also have the added advantage of having a fully trained hardware engineer on site for a little while so that you can show him exactly what the problem is in great detail. This cover also has a number of call-out and fault reporting functions, but these will be discussed in greater detail in another article. Return to Factory With this cover, you could lose your hardware for up to a month. Most manufacturers have a 28 day turnaround for this type of repair. Other disadvantages are that if you do not send the hardware back in the original box, it will void any shipping insurances if the box gets damaged in transit. However, this type of cover is relatively cheap, but you will have to hold onto your boxes, and if you live in a flat, this could be a problem. Motherboard Types For the sake of simplicity, we will deal with the case of desktop type PC's, and look at laptops as a separate issue later. So, you now know the two basic types of warranty, but you are still undecided whether or not to take out the extra cover. My suggestion is to look carefully at the PC you are purchasing. To the uninitiated, all PC's look the same, but there are three basic types of PC on the market at the time of writing this article. 1. Integrated Motherboard This type of PC is becoming the choice for home and business, as they are cheap and easy to install. Integrated motherboards contain everything: processor, memory, sound card, video card, games card, network card, and modem. These are usually the 'small form factor' type PC, and are usually boxed up as internet PC's. 2. Part-integrated Motherboard Like the integrated motherboard types, these PC's usually have the processor, memory, and the sound card all built onto the motherboard. Many of the mainstream manufacturers use this type of motherboard in their systems 3. Naked Motherboard If you visit web sites such as Jungle.com, you can purchase all the parts of a PC separately. Many of the smaller retailers and PC suppliers use this type of motherboard in their PC's so that they can mix and match video, sound, modem, and network cards to suit a particular application. Choose Wisely The choice of warranty is dependant on the type of PC you have purchased. 1. Integrated Motherboard Recently, I had a customer approach me with an internet PC that had developed a strange fault. The PC was running Windows ME and kept showing a blue screen with various .VXD driver errors. He also reported that he had been in touch with the manufacturer who had sent him all over the place to try and resolve the problem. Looking on the support web site, it was pointing to a fault with the modem. As it was a small form factor (SFF) type cabinet, and it used an integrated motherboard, I was unable to install a modem to rule out the internal modem. We soon discovered that the 12 month warranty had not expired so it was returned to the retail outlet for repair. Being an integrated motherboard, the only way the system was going to be repaired was by swapping out the entire motherboard. If this job was outside of the warranty, you would be face with about a £350 - £400 bill. When the PC costs about £500, it would not have made sense to have it repaired. With integrated motherboard type PC's ALWAYS, ALWAYS get an extended warranty, even if it is for an extra two years on top of the original 12 months. Even though PC's are very reliable, you cannot do anything with these types of PC as they are classed as sealed units. If given the choice, take the on-site warranty if you cannot do without the PC, otherwise the return the factory is usually adequate. 2. Part-integrated Motherboard It is always difficult to decide to have cover for this type of PC. These PC's are usually have a more conventional type of cabinet, which means that if the on-board sound card or video card should die suddenly, it can usually be replaced with a third party card. The decision on the type of cover should really be based upon your circumstances. If it is a business critical system, then you should take out on-site, but if you can do without it for a few days, then no extra cover is needed, as there are plenty of small businesses that will look at the system for you. 3. Naked Motherboard Warranty for these systems is not such an issue as all the parts are external to the motherboard. Motherboards are usually £75 to £100, sound cards are £15, etc. so whatever part of the system breaks down, you can get replaced fairly cost effectively. It doesn't make sense to spend an extra £250 for a three-year warranty as you can probably have half the system swapped out for that. Length of Time The amount of time you intend keeping the unit will also have a bearing on the length of warranty. Usually, if anything is going to happen, it will happen in the first 6 weeks. If you intend keeping the unit for a long time (3+ years) then decide what type of motherboard you have, then decide if the cover is going to be worth it. Usage Type If you are a business user, developing web sites, then having a PC that is running 100% of the time is important. If you can afford it, take out an on-site warranty with a short call out time. However, if the PC is so important, you should consider having a 'hot spare' (this is a complete PC that is a replica of your main PC) that you can use while your main PC is away being repaired. Laptops As with any sort of portable hardware, warranties can become blurred. If you have anything happen to the unit, which is electronic in nature, then the warranty will usually cover it. The big manufacturers will usually cover other items such as monitor panel hinges and various catches, but you have to be skilled in negotiation to convince them that it is a design fault rather than the result of wear and tear. I would always advise to have extended warranty on a laptop as a motherboard failure in a laptop is a horrendously expensive part to fail, and it will take a return to the factory to repair. Mostly, there are no on-site warranties available for laptops as they require specialist tools to dismantle the cases, so cover is usually relatively cheap. Paperwork So, you have decided on your cover, signed the agreement, and have taken your PC away. After unpacking the unit and got it all connected, you sit back and start to play. The next thing you do is, throw out all the old packaging. Even if you have an on-site warranty, don't throw any of the packaging away. Not only will it enable you to safely ship any part, it will also give a better impression if you decide to sell it in a few years. With regard to the paperwork, the best advice I can offer is to put the warranty documents and the till receipt in a very, VERY safe place. I have a box in the wardrobe that I place all receipts and documents for all electrical, electronic, and mechanical item I have purchased. It seems to work well and every now and then I tidy it out to throw away out of date paperwork. The warranty and till receipt are the only forms of proof you have as to the validity of the warranty. Manufacturers sell thousands of PC's each year and cannot keep track of the chain they go through before it takes pride of place in your dining room, so make sure you keep them safe. And Finally.... To end, the choice of whether or not to obtain extended warranty is up to you. As I said earlier do not be pressurised into purchasing a warranty you cant afford, or feel you do not want. Look at the system you have, the circumstances it will be used in, and what would happen if you had a failure.

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