Can back this. Many years ago I purchased a Dell Latitude from eBay. After messing around with a 3D printer, there was a short of mains voltage onto the USB line, frying the laptop and tripping the house electrics. I contacted Dell asking for a schematic of the PCBs thinking that I had blown some components, but they informed me that the laptop was still under warranty thanks to the original business purchaser (by just a few weeks).

They shipped a box and allowed me to swap out a hard drive for a spare (I had study data on there), I then used the box to ship the laptop to them. A few weeks later the laptop gets shipped back with a parts replacement list, which was essentially every single PCB in the laptop and I asked them to replace the keyboard too because one key was sticking. Brand new parts in a slightly cracked chassis.

If Dell still has customer service like that, it's double thumbs up from me.

I'm currently using a Lenovo laptop which has been solid so far. I do want my next laptop to be open to repairability (even if I have to create it myself).

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ssl-3 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Dell customer service is whatever someone wants to pay for.

I bought a new Dell laptop 20-ish years ago along with whatever the super-duper coverage was called at that time (Complete Care, maybe?). IIRC, it only excluded deliberate damage (and "hammer marks" was used as an example).

But they had no trouble sending me parts. Power brick soaked in a flood? No big deal; a new one is on the way. Dropped a screwdriver on the screen at work? They sent a whole person over to replace it.

It was very expensive coverage -- it cost more by itself than the used/refurb laptops we're discussing. It was sold separately. It did not, by my estimation around that time, ultimately pay for itself.

But if you score it for "free" with a used machine, then sure! Bargain!

(A person can check the warranty/service status of an unmolested Dell machine here: https://www.dell.com/support/contractservices/en-us )

	▲	sam345 a few seconds ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Dell and HP still offer reasonable accidental next business day on site 3-4year warranties much more reasonable in my opinion than AppleCare
	▲	buildbot 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		It's probably worth it for university though. Back in the day working as a Student Employee for the CSE helpdesk, we ordered overnight replacements for so many laptops and servers an it was super slick and automated, replacement parts showed up and we swapped them in. Very little downtime.

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nullbyte808 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I really don't care for repairability as I average maybe 2 years before getting a new laptop.

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thisisabore 4 hours ago | parent [-]

In terms of strain on natural resources, that's insane.

	▲	zetalyrae an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Resources exist to be consumed.
	▲	vondur 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		This is how people get their used laptops
	▲	bbarnett 4 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Only if they throw it away. If someone else uses it, what's the issue? Or do you not want people of less means, having used laptops?