<p>This may have been covered in another thread...if so, please link the thread as I looked and was unable to find out this info.</p>
<p>DS is heading off to college across country. He is very knowledgeable in using computer/tech but has no real experience "fixing" computers. My DH and I are both computer people (PCs) so we are usually able to diagnose/fix issues here. </p>
<p>Question: Is it worth buying the computer at the bookstore for the 3 year 1 day onsite service? DS wants a PC (he has an android phone and no ipod/iphone interest). He's at Wharton's so he won't be doing any major graphics/digital work that we know of (lol).</p>
<p>We realize that each dorm has computer support (normal tech issues) but are still concerned.</p>
<p>Hey! I saw on another post that you were someone who formerly contacted me about Penn. Happy to see your son is going!</p>
<p>I personally wouldn’t buy from the bookstore. The selection seems limited (from what I remember, but it’s been a month or more since I looked at the Penn Computer Connection website) and overpriced. I know that with some computer places you can buy an extra “service plan” like with Dell. It’ll cover accidental damage and the like for 3 years if you choose to go with Dell.</p>
<p>We are not Dell people, so if we purchased from bookstore we would get Levono. Still considering our options.</p>
<p>Yes I believe we did chat about the preview program. He didn’t get to go to scholar 2 day one as he was sick. So DS and I went to the one on the 18th and when he returned he didn’t want to visit any more colleges…loved it.</p>
<p>He’ll be in Hill (double) and is doing the PennQuest program just before school starts. </p>
<p>Capenn15 I have a lt oof info on this since s did a lot of research on the subject. I am onn the cell now so not great for typing long responses. I’ll pass on what he found ou. He ended up ordering a lenovo directly from lenovo</p>
<p>My son went to college in Boston last year . We purchased his new laptop at the Best Buy near home, but we picked Dell because we know that Dell (and Mac) had on-campus repair center. We also purchased the 1 year coverage because Best Buy was accessible from campus. That was handy for recent problems (battery and/or power cord… I think they ended up replacing both).</p>
<p>capenn2015–check the computer site for UPenn. They may service other PC’s besides the ones they sell–I know my son’s school lists several brands they will service. If you buy from lenovo directly, choose the “solutions for students” from the main page and then you will get their student pricing. When you build the computer on the website, you can choose to upgrade your service warranty. </p>
<p>When I chose the same computer I saw for sale from another schools website (son’s school doesn’t sell lenovo) with several upgrades and the 3 year warranty that also covers accidental damage I still came up with a price that was less than the other school was offering to their incoming students. (So I think you get a better deal with the website than the average school offering).</p>
<p>So you can upgrade the warranty for $$ but it still might be a good deal for you–check it out! </p>
<p>Let me know what you decide. DS seems like he’s going to get lenovo also. Haven’t ordered it yet, although we’ve “built” it on the website.</p>
<p>I recently bought a Toshiba laptop from Best Buy after checking out service and reliability ratings. Dell has gone downhill bigtime recently in those categories lately. Best Buy has service plans that you can buy (I didn’t as I am handy with fixing them myself) and there should be one close by.</p>
<p>I once bought a Toshiba from Circuit City which went out of business and nobody honored the warranty, which got frequent use, because the computer was a POS. Hope yours is better,
though my husband was able to repair it eventually.</p>
<p>VAMom2015, We ordered through the lenovo site to “build” a custom system. Keep in mind that when you order it that way, it is not off the shelf and takes a while to be built and delivered from China, so don’t wait too close to move in day. . </p>
<p>We placed our order on July 24th and it is still traveling at the moment. </p>
<p>If you access the lenovo site through fatwallet.com there is an extra deal to get a cash back rebate on top of whatever deal you end up getting on the lenovo site.</p>
<p>We bought a Lenovo Thinkpad off the Lenovo site on a good sale and got the three year on-site warranty with it. Our D’s school only offered HP and Apple. We did lose a hard drive at the end of the first semester and Lenovo express shipped a replacement drive and recovery disks out immediately. She was home at that point so I did the install. Great warranty/customer service from Lenovo. She learned a lesson about backups. We have used three generations of Thinkpads at my office and have generally found them to be the most reliable of the laptops we have tried. Nonetheless, disks will go down on any machine. Her current school (she transferred) offers a backup service that will backup her computer to the web daily. Apparently started by some parents with a child at that school. We will be signing up for that one. she has an outboard drive, but I don’t trust her to remember to do it regularly. This way, when she puts it in the dock, it will backup automatically at night. BTW, if you want a dock or more RAM, you might try Amazon. Much better prices than Lenovo for accessories.</p>