Warranties on Laptops - worth it?

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Hi just wanted the opinion of a someone who is the know - are extended warranties on Laptops useful or a big waste of money?

My mum who lives in Australia has a Dell Inspiron (as I do I in the UK). She has been asked if she would like to renew her warranty for $260 (£130) for another year and asked me whether she should do this - she is not very technical (I am fractionally a bit more technical than her!). She not super flush so an extra expense is annoying. If it was me I would say no and just take the risk that nothing would happen and then if sod?s law did - I would have to buy a new laptop. However she is not in a position to buy another laptop if this one died ( well she could but it would cause a bit of dent - of course I could help her out but she probably wouldn?t take my money!!!).

The warranty would only cover the hardware of the computer. The laptop will be 2 years old at the end of Jan. She only uses the laptop for email, surfing and webcam chats - so I was thinking if something was to happen she could just buy a little netbook for about $500 (£250) but are they a bit rubbish?

Would value anyone?s opinion.

Thanks

All I can say is I reluctantly renewed my warranty after a year and lo and behold two months later (at Xmas) the hard drive went. I called the technical people and they said it was a common problems in laptops. Have had to have the hard drive replaced which would have been more than my warranty.

Shop around if you decide to because there are several providers of warranties.

Computer stuff usually breaks down in the first six months, or after a few years.

260 AUD sounds like a lot of wedge to have to part with, and I don't imagine it includes accidental damage insurance. A spiffy new inspiron latop costs $AU 699, so I'd be inclined to tell your mum to save the cash, and make sure that her stuff is backed up properly - the stuff on the box is much more valuable than the thing itself .

Heat is the biggest killer of laptops. Get a can of compressed air from an electronics shop and blow it through the outlet for the fan. It makes a great whizzing noise! If you're feeling brave, unscrew the base of the laptop and give the fan a good blast through from the inside.

BTW - I've got a netbook as well as a laptop. It's ace!

PUTM - replacing a hard drive would have been described in the manual. I'm a complete wuss with hardware and even I can do it!

Many thanks for your advice!

That's interesting to know hgDad. Thanks