"Al Dykes" <adykes@panix.com> wrote in message
news:ekhfu6$bje$1@panix5.panix.com...
> In article <456be8f1$1_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net>,
> M.I.5¾ <no.one@no.where.NO_SPAM.co.uk> wrote:
>
> ...>
>>Personally, I never buy any extended warranty, but prefer to pay £30-40
>>into
>>a savings account. I pay for *all* my repairs from that account, and it
>>still has a balance of nearly £2000 at present. This alone demonstrates
>>that extended warranties are the great rip off that they are.
>>
>>
>
>
> For most consumer items I agree with the above calculation but a
> laptop used for an important activity is an exception. If, 13 months
> after buying a laptop, it dies you have to select a new laptop, buy
> it, and reinstall all your apps etc. This would happen, of course,
> when you needed to get work done, not futz with a new system. Most
> people have no record of all the software they've bought online (A/V,
> firewall, utilities, applications, etc) and have to repurchase it when
> they reinstall.
>
> Under a decent warranty, the manufacturer promises to keep your
> laptop, or one just like it, running for the duration.
>

This, of course, would be a business decision based on the potential loses.
Many businesses fail to recover following a computer failure. Others
soldier on, but not without some inconvenience. Most of that first group
would survive if they just had a decent backup regime, but the inconvenience
can cost a business plenty.

We pay for cover for all our company PCs such that, if this PC went up in
flames, it gets replaced with a PC with the same software *and* (this is the
important bit) with all my user files properly restored and useable. We pay
a high price for this - the annual cost well exceeds the cost of the PC.
But if we didn't we would be vulnerable to going out of business if disaster
struck.