<p>Contemplating buying daughter's computer from Best Buy. There is a store less than 10 miles from campus.</p>
<p>Has anyone ever dealt with the "Black Tie" service agreement that pretty much covers everything that could go wrong. I hear that they ship the damaged computers to Kentucky for repair/service. Could anyone tell me how long typically a repair would take?</p>
<p>The other option is to buy from Dell and get their on campus service contract. The thing is, Dells are a lot more expensive. Older daughter bought from Dell and feels like she overpaid for what she got.</p>
<p>What brand do you plan on buying? You don’t want to go too inexpensive, or it may be prone to more problems. What about the cheaper Dell computers?</p>
<p>The turnaround for a simple repair on my Dell XPS M1330 took about 10 days at Best Buy. I could have done it myself if someone just gave me a spare keyboard. I bought it at Best Buy because I needed it for a trip. I’m going with Apple for future notebooks.</p>
<p>The best way to buy from Dell is to wait for the last month of their quarter. These months are January, April, July and October. Try and find coupons online for the model that you want. Buy minimum configurations for memory and disk if it’s cheap to do so and then add aftermarket parts from places like Newegg.</p>
<p>We have backup systems for our kids should their MacBook Pros die while they are at school. I would just give them my MacBook Pro while they were getting theirs fixed. My backup system is the Dell XPS M1330. We have a bunch of older laptops which they could use as well but they’re quite a bit slower.</p>
<p>There are 14 Latitudes that come up when you search for 14" screen. The 14" Latitudes on Dell’s laptop start at $729, although it notes an “instant savings”, which would lower it’s price to $499. (They all have an “instant savings” of sorts)</p>
<p>I need to go back into the Dell site through the college’s portal and re-do the search. I know I’m not crazy–only four came up when I searched!! :)</p>
<p>Maybe they only service and sell certain models???</p>
<p>I work at Best Buy, and I get the Black Tie Protection on basically everything I buy because it’s definitely worth it! Most stuff they’ll fix right in the store, no shipping anywhere, and if they can’t fix it, they replace it with a new (yes, new, not refurbished) product.</p>
<p>Not true. I needed a simple, albeit expensive, fix on a Toshiba I bought from Best Buy.</p>
<p>Best Buy wanted to send the computer to the central repair facility in Kentucky, which was going to take 10-14 days turnaround. Best Buy stores ‘do not’ stock parts, nor can they order them. Having said that, Best Buy is great for laptop selection. Some cities are better than others.</p>
<p>Since I had charged the purchase on my American Express card with the ‘free’ extended warranty feature, I called their claims dept. After faxing the repair estimate from my local repair shop, I was directed to go ahead and facilitate the repair- 24 hrs later I had a repaired laptop. If the repair cost had been closer to the purchase price, Am-Ex would have credited my account the full purchase cost. I was free to buy any new computer I wished.</p>
<p>Many other credit cards offer the same extended warranty feature.</p>
<p>Anent Toshbia reliability; I’ve never had a problem with them, ever. I damaged the screen LED light. Don’t ask :(</p>