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In order to support such a high level of service, one would basically need their own IT support shop, ready to (in one day?) re-image a hard drive, swap out lap

In order to support such a high level of service, one would basically need their own IT support shop, ready to (in one day?) re-image a hard drive, swap out laptops (and have spare supply), deliver them in that time, etc. The typical cost for this to corporations (maintaining their own service desks or going via contractors dedicated to their company) is extremely high. Are you saying that HP and Dell offer this level of support to individual consumers through vendors for a nominal fee? $300 wouldn't even cover a keyboard replacement in terms of the hourly rate, so I'm not sure how you could expect to have that level of service by paying for Apple Care. A full replacement laptop would likely cost LESS than subscribing to that level of service, but might be an opportunity for a third party company if there's enough volume in it I suppose.

jasonlotito 7y ago
> Are you saying that HP and Dell offer this level of support to individual consumers through vendors for a nominal fee? I can answer this for Dell (Alienware). Yes. At a price comparable to Apple Care (Around $300 at the time, it was 5 years ago). This was for my Alienware device. The power supply died because I was dumb and had plugged the computer directly into the wall, and there was a power surge. Replacement wasn't literally the next day as I'd called in the evening after the cutoff time. But still, it was one day after that. When I got home, it was fixed. No fuss, no muss. Online support had me go through a few things before they'd send out a repair guy, but it wasn't anything unreasonable. It was the only time I needed a repair. The price I paid covered 3 years of that level of service, the same as Apple Care. Edit: Because I saw you ask in other locations: this was just me personally buying through Dell's website.
- sailfast 7y ago
  That’s amazing. Certainly my expectations have just been too low for too long!
darkpuma 7y ago
By making computers more reliable, a company like Dell could dramatically reduce the amount of computers that require on-site servicing in the first place. For instance, what percentage of Dell XPS's have their keyboards fail within a year? What percentage of MBPs do? Right now a base warranty for an XPS includes on site repair during business hours after a remote diagnosis for one year. Getting three years of that is $160. One year of the more advanced "ProSupport" is $50 more than the base price, and three years of that is $280 more. The non-linearity between those two figures is perhaps indicative of the failure rates Dell is expecting. I couldn't say if Dell is losing their ass with these service contracts or not, but from what I've seen it works pretty well for the consumers. Edit: And beyond baseline reliability, the particular design of a computer can determine whether a particular failure is cheap or expensive to fix. If the Foo widget requires replacing the Bar board, that's going to be a more expensive design to fix than a computer in which the Foo widget and the Bar board aren't soldered together. This matter crops up in things like "flexgate" for Apple, where faulty cables necessitate replacing the entire screen. What could have been a very cheap repair suddenly becomes a very expensive repair. I can't claim to be familiar with the insides of a modern XPS, but I wager they tend to be cheaper to repair than modern MBPs.
profsnuggles 7y ago
I used the next day onside service for my Lenovo X1 Yoga 3rd gen. My laptop broke, I called the next day someone came to my house and replaced the motherboard. Was super easy and convenient. I looked up my purchase, $2639 for the laptop, $311.75 for 5 years of next day onsite repair service and $169.25 for 5 years of accidental damage protection.
- sailfast 7y ago
  Solid deal! Do you know if they went via third party for the repair or employed their own techs?
  - profsnuggles 7y ago
    Their repair is through IBM. I'm not sure at what point I was talking to Lenovo employees and when I was talking to IBM. Previous to converting to Lenovo I had two Macbooks. The first Intel white Macbook lasted about a year and a half before dying. I didn't have apple care but when I replaced that with a Macbook Pro I got apple care. That laptop was repaired 8 times, the 9th time it needed to be repaired Apple told me it would cost $800 to replace the motherboard because I had upgraded the hard drive. Needless to say I swore off Apple's crappy HW and purchased my first Lenovo. That x230 never needed any service. My current X1 only broke because I plugged in a 10 year old $15 off brand external cdrom that fried and pumped 12v from the power adapter into the USB port.
sailfast 7y ago
Clear from the anecdotes and downvotes I was totally wrong about this and Apple’s way behind for consumers. Something to be said for available parts and easily repairable machines for sure.

jasonlotito 7y ago

> Are you saying that HP and Dell offer this level of support to individual consumers through vendors for a nominal fee? I can answer this for Dell (Alienware). Yes. At a price comparable to Apple Care (Around $300 at the time, it was 5 years ago). This was for my Alienware device. The power supply died because I was dumb and had plugged the computer directly into the wall, and there was a power surge. Replacement wasn't literally the next day as I'd called in the evening after the cutoff time. But still, it was one day after that. When I got home, it was fixed. No fuss, no muss. Online support had me go through a few things before they'd send out a repair guy, but it wasn't anything unreasonable. It was the only time I needed a repair. The price I paid covered 3 years of that level of service, the same as Apple Care. Edit: Because I saw you ask in other locations: this was just me personally buying through Dell's website.

sailfast 7y ago
That’s amazing. Certainly my expectations have just been too low for too long!

darkpuma 7y ago

By making computers more reliable, a company like Dell could dramatically reduce the amount of computers that require on-site servicing in the first place. For instance, what percentage of Dell XPS's have their keyboards fail within a year? What percentage of MBPs do? Right now a base warranty for an XPS includes on site repair during business hours after a remote diagnosis for one year. Getting three years of that is $160. One year of the more advanced "ProSupport" is $50 more than the base price, and three years of that is $280 more. The non-linearity between those two figures is perhaps indicative of the failure rates Dell is expecting. I couldn't say if Dell is losing their ass with these service contracts or not, but from what I've seen it works pretty well for the consumers. Edit: And beyond baseline reliability, the particular design of a computer can determine whether a particular failure is cheap or expensive to fix. If the Foo widget requires replacing the Bar board, that's going to be a more expensive design to fix than a computer in which the Foo widget and the Bar board aren't soldered together. This matter crops up in things like "flexgate" for Apple, where faulty cables necessitate replacing the entire screen. What could have been a very cheap repair suddenly becomes a very expensive repair. I can't claim to be familiar with the insides of a modern XPS, but I wager they tend to be cheaper to repair than modern MBPs.

profsnuggles 7y ago

I used the next day onside service for my Lenovo X1 Yoga 3rd gen. My laptop broke, I called the next day someone came to my house and replaced the motherboard. Was super easy and convenient. I looked up my purchase, $2639 for the laptop, $311.75 for 5 years of next day onsite repair service and $169.25 for 5 years of accidental damage protection.

sailfast 7y ago
Solid deal! Do you know if they went via third party for the repair or employed their own techs?
- profsnuggles 7y ago
  Their repair is through IBM. I'm not sure at what point I was talking to Lenovo employees and when I was talking to IBM. Previous to converting to Lenovo I had two Macbooks. The first Intel white Macbook lasted about a year and a half before dying. I didn't have apple care but when I replaced that with a Macbook Pro I got apple care. That laptop was repaired 8 times, the 9th time it needed to be repaired Apple told me it would cost $800 to replace the motherboard because I had upgraded the hard drive. Needless to say I swore off Apple's crappy HW and purchased my first Lenovo. That x230 never needed any service. My current X1 only broke because I plugged in a 10 year old $15 off brand external cdrom that fried and pumped 12v from the power adapter into the USB port.

sailfast 7y ago

Clear from the anecdotes and downvotes I was totally wrong about this and Apple’s way behind for consumers. Something to be said for available parts and easily repairable machines for sure.