Indispensable advice for laptops

I thought I'd share with you a deep belief by now: you should never, I repeat, never buy a computer - in particular your laptop - without a 3-year guarantee extension.

Why ?

Because consumer electronics devices are delicate and prone to failure. You never know when a failure might hit you, but you can bet anything you like that it will be at the worst possible moment. And by then, I'm sure, you will not care about the few hundred extra euros you paid for the additional guarantee, just to get your computer back in shape, and most importantly get access back to your DATA. Compare that amount to the cost of a new computer, or to the time spent trying to rescue your information.

Unfortunately, even the best brands are prone to failure:

Example1:
I bought my previous laptop back in June 2000. It was at the time a state-of-the-art laptop from Compaq: an Armada M700. Well... I had to have it repaired 4 times, of which 3 times was a complete exchange of mother board. I argued it was a bit too much, and had the guarantee extended 6 months more.
A couple of weeks before the deadline, I called up HP/Compaq support and described all remaining problems: I had bad sectors on the hard disk, so I couldn't install linux properly; the screen wasn't staying upright anymore; the mouse was behaving weirdly. Well, Compaq replaced the screen (brand new), the mother board, and the hard disk. Basically I got a new computer and just kept the case with the old keyboard ;) That computer is now happily running a linux Fedora Core 3 operating system, and services as my home laptop.

Example 2:
My current laptop is a Sony Vaio laptop. 3-4 months after getting it, the screen went berzerk. I had to have the mother board changed. Weird huh ? Law of series maybe ? No problem, I called up Sony support, they sent a DHL guy the next day to pick my laptop (I did a full backup before that), and brought it back 3-4 days later. All costs included in my guarantee contract.
Last week, my computer started acting funny again: the laptop kept going from 'on A/C power' to 'on battery' with the screen dimming all the time. OK, that looked like a power adaptor problem. Called up Sony support, and had a new power adaptor shipped to me by DHL the next day. Problem solved, I was really happy of having my work tool back in shape in 24 hours.

I've written in the past about the pain of reinstalling a PC from scratch, and on the importance of doing regular backups of your data. Make sure you add this additional tip for increased serenity; always buy a 3-year extension. After that, it will be time to get a new computer.