In the first installment of this series I discussed the so called Tier One computer manufacturers and why you should feel safe buying from The Village Geek. There were a couple of points that I feel are worth repeating.

First, there is no real stability among the Tier One manufacturers. I think the comment that there are no IBM compatible computers manufactured by IBM any more says it all.

Secondly, it is important to understand that none of these Tier One computer makers really build their own parts. They buy in huge quantities with special pricing from the manufacturers of components. These are the same manufacturers that make the components that The Village Geek uses.

In order to meet the pricing demands of these Tier One manufacturers, component manufacturers sell these discounted parts without warranties, usually without putting their names on them. The Tier One manufacturers must provide the warranty on the individual parts. Therefore all the parts in a Tier One computer go out of warranty when the original base warranty runs out. Extended warranties that you pay extra for are basically insurance policies, and often do not cover all the parts. I actually had a customer who purchased an extended warranty from Dell on a notebook only to be told the motherboard wasn’t covered when it failed.

The component manufacturers make the bulk of their profits by selling to small OEM dealers like The Village Geek, so they offer much better “direct to the manufacturer” warranties to lure us into buying their parts. A direct to the manufacturer warranty means that the end user can contact the manufacturer through their website, by phone, or by mail and receive a replacement directly, with or without going through the original point of sale. For example hard drives now carry a 5 year direct to the manufacturer warranty, while the hard drives installed in Dell computers carry only a 1 year warranty.

Similarly most component manufacturers limit the warranty if the parts are sold through the “Big Box” stores, like Best Buys. For example, a Viewsonic LCD sold through The Village Geek carries a three year direct to the manufacturer warranty. A Viewsonic LCD purchased at Best Buys carries only a one year warranty. Moreover the Big Box stores will not process a warranty claim for you after so many days, usually 10, unless you bought their expensive extended warranty program.

Since The Village Geek’s policy is “We support our customers, period”, the entire warranty process changes for our customers. Let’s say two neighbors buy computers. Neighbor one buys an HP from Best Buys, where they also purchase an LCD monitor. Neighbor two purchases a system built to order at the Village Geek, with a new LCD monitor.

While the initial purchase may save Neighbor one $50 to $75, the issue comes up when there is a failure. If it’s been more then 10 days, he has to contact HP, or the LCD manufacturer and ship the computer or monitor in for repair, which can take weeks. If it’s been more then a year, he has to have the failed part repaired or replaced at his expense.

Neighbor two on the other hand just takes the computer or monitor back to The Village Geek, where the computer is repaired without charge for up to 5 years, depending on what part failed. If it is a memory failure there is no time limit on the warranty at all! If the monitor fails, he brings the LCD to us, and we loan him a monitor to use while we send it in and get it replaced by the manufacturer for up to 3 years. If he should move away in that time he can still send the parts in directly to the manufacturer for a warranty replacement, or any reputable local repair shop can do it for him.

Now let’s take a quick look at what this means when it comes to laptops. With the new Verified By Intel (VIB) notebook program, Village Geek notebooks are warranted for 2 years right out of the box. And the warranty can be honored by any authorized Intel dealer in the country. A comparable notebook from Dell or Best Buys will cost $200 to $500 more to begin with, and will have only 1 year of warranty.

Many people have asked me why they should be worried about notebook warranties. Generally you can figure a desktop will run 5 or more years, why should you want longer notebook warranties?

Notebooks take a serous beating compared to the desktop counterparts, plus they have more trouble dealing with heat. Gartner Inc., released a study that shows the failure rates are improving across the board, but notebooks still fail more often then desktops. You can read an article by By Antone Gonsalves, of TechWeb.com here. According to the article the average failure rate (AFR) has improved from three years ago when “laptops averaged 20 percent the first year, climbing to 28 percent in the third year. Desktops today had far lower AFRs, ranging from 5 percent in year one to a projected 12 percent four years from now. Four years ago, the range was 7 percent to 15 percent.”

If you think your Tier One notebook is less likely to have issues, check out this article.

-Steve Weigle