Quote:
Originally Posted by khalleron
OK, if you really, truly, trash 20% of your electronic devices, then you are a good candidate for EW. 99.99% of owners don't. I doubt anyone here does.
It's free money for Best Buy - it's your choice, but it's still not sound fiscal policy.
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That's true. There are some things I'd pay extended warranty/accidental damage insurance for. Laptops, for instance if you plan on keeping them for some time. Given their usage (portable, gets knocked around, high heat), it's pretty common to see them fail right after the 1 year warranty ends.
Desktops, not so much. More likely than not, you'll be praying it breaks before it actually does. My cousin wants a new PC since his old one (6 years old) is too slow but his parents won't buy him one since his PC's still working. Damage-prone parts such as the hard drive and optical drives are relatively easy and inexpensive to replace, not to mention you get longer warranty on the replacement. Now if they started including data recovery services with the extended warranty, then I'd probably get one.
If you build your own desktop, you get longer warranty on most of the parts:
- MB: 2~3yrs typical
- CPU: Box-3yrs, OEM Intel-Retailer RMA period, OEM AMD-1yr? (likelihood of failure during service life: very low)
- RAM: lifetime typical
- GPU: 2~3yrs typical, some manufacturers offer lifetime or double-lifetime on high-end models
- PSU: 3~6yrs on decent models
- HDD: 3~5yrs
- DVD: 1yr (replacing it only costs $20 or so)
An e-reader? Probably not. Then again, my readers only cost me $125 each on average. I already have a back-up in case one files and I'm more likely to replace it with a newer model than go through warranty for replacement.
Back on topic, couldn't really say much about it. The author already knows better and now he's just whining. If the article could raise awareness regarding the perils associated with DRM, then great. However, I'm not sure if what he's preaching will even reach the audience who needs it the most.