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I always recommend getting a warranty through your insurance company. My wife got a surface pro, and in her hands I give it a 2 year half-life. We got a perso

I always recommend getting a warranty through your insurance company. My wife got a surface pro, and in her hands I give it a 2 year half-life. We got a personal articles policy on it that is about 45$ a year, and it covers any situation except terrorism or government/cdc seizure. Those policies are a good read. Squaretrade was over 100$ a year and did not cover theft etc. Oh and no deductible. She broke the 60$ charger a few weeks ago and got a new one fully covered.

bduerst 12y ago
I cannot endorse this more - I bought an additional 3 yr everything-covered warranty on an Elitebook, and it ended up saving me $1100 in repairs to the laptop. Even Squaretrade warranties are better than nothing.
- jeena 12y ago
  Perhaps I am just lucky but I out of principle never buy any insurance if it is not required by law. If something breaks I either try to fix it myself or buy a new one. I never calculated it but I don't feel that I miss out or pay more in the long run. Quite the opposite, I have almost no running expenses and can invest the money others pay the insurence companies into new stuff. The only exception of that rule are insurances which cover stuff I might accidentally do to other people.
  - xur17 12y ago
    I use a similar approach. The insurance companies are in business to make money, so (on average) they don't sell policies that lose them money. I buy insurance if either: 1. I believe I'm significantly more likely to break the item then their estimates (ex: you use your phone at your construction job, and are significantly more likely to break it). 2. It's enough money that it would cause significant problems for me (home insurance, renters insurance, etc). Otherwise, I figure I am 'self-insuring', and will come out ahead over the long term.
    - somerandomness 12y ago
      > The insurance companies are in business to make money, so (on average) they don't sell policies that lose them money. Not necessarily. Insurance companies on average lose money from policies and make it up by investing the float. Think of the money they lose on policies as the "interest" that you get paid for lending them your premiums.
  - grecy 12y ago
    > Perhaps I am just lucky but I out of principle never buy any insurance if it is not required by law. If something breaks I either try to fix it myself or buy a new one. Insurance companies know the odds better than us, they set the premiums, and they still manage to make a profit every year (billions of dollars in lots of cases) It glaringly obvious that "on average" the average person should not get insurance when not required, because otherwise you're just paying for the profit of said insurance company.
    - angry_octet 12y ago
      No one is the average person. Even average people are not likely to be the average insured person. So it depends how much and in what direction you deviate from the mean. For example, I kill cell phones regularly from dropping them; for me, insurance might be more cost effective; for the people who keep cell phones turned off except for emergencies it probably isn't good value. But, anecdotally I would say that these are the very people who have insurance. They are buying 'peace of mind', a very expensive product created by Madison Avenue.
lucb1e 12y ago
Or you live in Europe and 2 years of warranty on new electronics is the law, not the premium.
- jedmeyers 12y ago
  Warranty and insurance are slightly different things. Warranty in Europe does not cover the cases where you brake something accidentally, for example.
  - annoying_tech 12y ago
    It does in America? You buy something and if you break it "by accident", you get another one for free?
    - jedmeyers 12y ago
      If you get that kind of insurance, then yes, you will. Most likely the 'insurance' company, like Squaretrade, will attempt a repair, though.
      - deleted 12y ago
        [deleted]
      - majormajor 12y ago
        I've found it far cheaper to go with a rider on top of my renter's insurance than with a device-specific policy (and with better service, since they just deferred to the Apple Store re: repairs, vs making me send it to them like back when I had a computer-specific policy in 2007ish). I've got my DSLR and my MBP covered for $60/year—I got it mainly for the camera, in case I dropped it in a lake or something, but it was cheap to throw the laptop on it too and then that saved my ass when I spilled water in it.
  - lugg 12y ago
    Correct, but you will find that type of insurance is covered by general home and contents insurance. No need for device specific insurance.

bduerst 12y ago

I cannot endorse this more - I bought an additional 3 yr everything-covered warranty on an Elitebook, and it ended up saving me $1100 in repairs to the laptop. Even Squaretrade warranties are better than nothing.

jeena 12y ago
Perhaps I am just lucky but I out of principle never buy any insurance if it is not required by law. If something breaks I either try to fix it myself or buy a new one. I never calculated it but I don't feel that I miss out or pay more in the long run. Quite the opposite, I have almost no running expenses and can invest the money others pay the insurence companies into new stuff. The only exception of that rule are insurances which cover stuff I might accidentally do to other people.
- xur17 12y ago
  I use a similar approach. The insurance companies are in business to make money, so (on average) they don't sell policies that lose them money. I buy insurance if either: 1. I believe I'm significantly more likely to break the item then their estimates (ex: you use your phone at your construction job, and are significantly more likely to break it). 2. It's enough money that it would cause significant problems for me (home insurance, renters insurance, etc). Otherwise, I figure I am 'self-insuring', and will come out ahead over the long term.
  - somerandomness 12y ago
    > The insurance companies are in business to make money, so (on average) they don't sell policies that lose them money. Not necessarily. Insurance companies on average lose money from policies and make it up by investing the float. Think of the money they lose on policies as the "interest" that you get paid for lending them your premiums.
- grecy 12y ago
  > Perhaps I am just lucky but I out of principle never buy any insurance if it is not required by law. If something breaks I either try to fix it myself or buy a new one. Insurance companies know the odds better than us, they set the premiums, and they still manage to make a profit every year (billions of dollars in lots of cases) It glaringly obvious that "on average" the average person should not get insurance when not required, because otherwise you're just paying for the profit of said insurance company.
  - angry_octet 12y ago
    No one is the average person. Even average people are not likely to be the average insured person. So it depends how much and in what direction you deviate from the mean. For example, I kill cell phones regularly from dropping them; for me, insurance might be more cost effective; for the people who keep cell phones turned off except for emergencies it probably isn't good value. But, anecdotally I would say that these are the very people who have insurance. They are buying 'peace of mind', a very expensive product created by Madison Avenue.

lucb1e 12y ago

Or you live in Europe and 2 years of warranty on new electronics is the law, not the premium.

jedmeyers 12y ago
Warranty and insurance are slightly different things. Warranty in Europe does not cover the cases where you brake something accidentally, for example.
- annoying_tech 12y ago
  It does in America? You buy something and if you break it "by accident", you get another one for free?
  - jedmeyers 12y ago
    If you get that kind of insurance, then yes, you will. Most likely the 'insurance' company, like Squaretrade, will attempt a repair, though.
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
    - majormajor 12y ago
      I've found it far cheaper to go with a rider on top of my renter's insurance than with a device-specific policy (and with better service, since they just deferred to the Apple Store re: repairs, vs making me send it to them like back when I had a computer-specific policy in 2007ish). I've got my DSLR and my MBP covered for $60/year—I got it mainly for the camera, in case I dropped it in a lake or something, but it was cheap to throw the laptop on it too and then that saved my ass when I spilled water in it.
- lugg 12y ago
  Correct, but you will find that type of insurance is covered by general home and contents insurance. No need for device specific insurance.