Ok Computer Geeks.....yea or nea?

**SirJW** · March 22nd, 2010, 10:20 AM

Originally Posted by Hipcheck

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Is there another store I should be looking at?

**ydkjs2** · March 22nd, 2010, 12:08 PM

I have an HP lap top, widescreen etc., and I have been very pleased with it. I bought it from Best Buy when they had one of their "unadvertised specials". I did not get the extended warranty. It has Windows 7 and I use Kaspersky Internet security, works well and does not take up too much space. All in all a good little computer.

**P. Diddy** · March 22nd, 2010, 12:45 PM

Originally Posted by Creeping Death

Stay away from Gateway. They have been going through some restructuring once they went bankrupt, and Ive been unable to get tech support on some of their products because of it.

i'm on a gateway right now i got in december and i've had no issues whatsoever. everyone where i work says the same thing as you, but i've had no issues yet, plus i got the 2 years of geek squad protection for everything so i'm set.

**santiclaws** · March 22nd, 2010, 02:25 PM

Extended warranties are virtually always a bad bet on everything. Those things have around a 95% profit margin, which is why they are always being pushed so hard. At a place like Best Buy the sales performance is based on the number of extended warranties they sell, not the amount of product they sell. They actually get penalized if they sell electronics without extended warranties. What does that tell you?

If you never buy an extended warranty for any electronics you buy, you will save significant money over the long term, even if you have to pay for a repair yourself when something does break, which is pretty damn rare. You are paying a 30% price premium on an item when your chances of needing to use the warranty on that item are around 5%. Does that make any sense? Not to mention the fact that in the unlikely event it does break and you spend say $300 fixing it, you will have only spent $100 over what you would've spent anyway on something that overwhelming chances are you will never need.

**nm156** · March 22nd, 2010, 02:54 PM

I just picked up a toshiba laptop for christmas and skipped the extended warranty. this one came with a two year out of the box.

also if you go to best buy ask for a pc/laptop without all the b.s. like optimized for speed, back up disks, and/or other bells and whistles.
that's something you can take care of yourself. on the laptop I wanted they didn't have any more laptops that the geek squad hadn't touched so they gave me one with of the "optimized for performance/backup disks" for no charge.

**Bandit** · March 22nd, 2010, 03:19 PM

Originally Posted by santiclaws

Extended warranties are virtually always a bad bet on everything.

I would agree with you generally, however I spent like $300 on the apple care for my girlfriend's laptop, and it sure came in handy when the $1200 logic board took a ****.

**kingsfan28** · March 22nd, 2010, 05:04 PM

Originally Posted by Bandit

I would agree with you generally, however I spent like $300 on the apple care for my girlfriend's laptop, and it sure came in handy when the $1200 logic board took a ****.

Was this after the 1 year warranty expired?

**Homer Simpson** · March 22nd, 2010, 06:24 PM

Originally Posted by Bandit

I would agree with you generally, however I spent like $300 on the apple care for my girlfriend's laptop, and it sure came in handy when the $1200 logic board took a ****.

Well that was a very logical choice for you.

**santiclaws** · March 23rd, 2010, 09:23 AM

Originally Posted by Bandit

I would agree with you generally, however I spent like $300 on the apple care for my girlfriend's laptop, and it sure came in handy when the $1200 logic board took a ****.

This is like Vegas, but with much worse odds. Your bets pay off occasionally, but the house always wins in the end.

**P. Diddy** · March 23rd, 2010, 12:29 PM

Originally Posted by santiclaws

Extended warranties are virtually always a bad bet on everything. Those things have around a 95% profit margin, which is why they are always being pushed so hard. At a place like Best Buy the sales performance is based on the number of extended warranties they sell, not the amount of product they sell. They actually get penalized if they sell electronics without extended warranties. What does that tell you?

If you never buy an extended warranty for any electronics you buy, you will save significant money over the long term, even if you have to pay for a repair yourself when something does break, which is pretty damn rare. You are paying a 30% price premium on an item when your chances of needing to use the warranty on that item are around 5%. Does that make any sense? Not to mention the fact that in the unlikely event it does break and you spend say $300 fixing it, you will have only spent $100 over what you would've spent anyway on something that overwhelming chances are you will never need.

Just curious, where did you get these figures from? I'm full time in computers at best buy and we don't get penalized for not selling our geek squad protection, and we take back computers all day with cracked screens, spills, dead batteries, broken power cables, ect... Also we push protection and accessories sure, but that's because we make no money on the laptops themselves. We lose in average 8 bucks per regularly priced laptop in margin, and even more on sale ones, you gotta rememer bb is a buisiness. You say that the plans don't work, however have you had a bad experience? Because I can assure you at my store we do what we can to help the customer everytime.

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