A 3rd of All Notebooks Fail Within 3 Years!?!

An important tidbit from the ‘Did you know’ category….

According to Squaretrade, an online vendor of extended warranties, more than 20% of all notebooks will encounter a major failure within 3 years. And its not limited to the lesser PC manufacturers! Check out the chart attached – what is most surprising is that Apple, which prides itself on quality and reliability was in the middle of the pack with a 17.4% failure rate; one that was bested by Sony, Toshiba and Taiwan’s Asus (often thought of as unreliable).

We at Observer Publishing have told you that extended service plans are a high margin profit pool for the computer manufacturers. For instance, if we go to Dell.com a 3 Year extended warranty (additional 2 years ‘at home’) costs an additional $260 (Inspiron 15 – price 11/24/09). The cost to Dell on that service plan can’t be more than $100.

Here’s what you have to factor into your next Notebook purchase:
1) The system won’t last more than 4 years without a repair (perhaps a drastic statement, but better to be safe)
2) Based on this data, figure out what is better to spend: $250-$300 now to ensure you’re covered through year 3? or save that money and figure out later if the computer is worth fixing or throwing out
3) In either case, especially in this era of $399 – $599 computers, BACK UP YOUR INFORMATION, preferably on an online service like MOZY. The most painful part of having a computer die on you isn’t replacing the computer – its replacing the information (files, pictures, music, etc…) that you’ve lost.