Protecting Your Laptop Computer
The most important thing you can do to safeguard your investment in your laptop computer is to learn how to protect it from damage and theft. However, since bad things can happen to good laptops, there are three forms of financial protection available to you: a warranty, accidental damage protection, and optional insurance.
- Warranty – All laptops (Lenovo ThinkPads and Apple MacBook Pros) purchased through the UNCG Student Laptop Initiative (SLI) include a three-year warranty that covers repairs due to faulty parts or workmanship at no extra cost. You do not need to do anything to get this form of protection. For Lenovo ThinkPads, you may opt to pay for a fourth-year warranty extension at the time of purchase.
- Accidental Damage (Lenovo ThinkPads only) – All Lenovo ThinkPads sold through the SLI include three years of Thinkpad Protection (PDF: requires a reader such as Adobe Reader) to cover repairs of hardware problems caused by accidental damage. You do not need to do anything to get this form of protection. Service changes may apply (see below for details). This plan is not available for Apple Macintosh laptops.
- Insurance – You may wish to purchase insurance outside of the SLI program to cover items such as theft or damage due to natural disasters that are not covered by the Warranty and ThinkPad Protection offerings. This type of insurance is not provided by the SLI. You may investigate options for coverage under insurance such as homeowners or renters, or you can pursue third-party special purpose insurance such as Safeware.
- What is a warranty (#1) and what does it cover?
A warranty is a guarantee of the reliability of a product under conditions of ordinary use (Wikipedia – "Warranty" 5/8/2006). Your Lenovo Thinkpad and Apple MacBook Pro each comes with a three-year warranty that covers faulty parts or workmanship. (Note that Lenovo offers an option to purchasers of ThinkPads to extend the warranty – for a fee – for an additional year.) The details of what is covered may be found in your Thinkpad or MacBook owner’s manual.
See also for Thinkpads:
Lenovo Statement of Limited Warranty
The warranty does NOT cover things like accidental damage due to spills, damage to the screen, theft, or loss due to fire or other natural disasters. Intentional misuse is also not covered under warranty (or any of the other coverage options). Batteries are covered by a one-year warranty for both platforms (Lenovo and Apple).
Warranty Repairs will be handled at no cost in the Walk-in Laptop Support Center in the McIver building.
- What is ThinkPad Protection (#2) and what does it cover?
Your Lenovo Thinkpad comes with three years of Thinkpad Protection (PDF: requires a reader such as Adobe Reader). It is a service agreement that covers accidental damage such as accidental liquid spills and accidental drops. It does not cover intentional damage, damage due to misuse, damage due to fire or theft replacement. ThinkPad Protection is only available for the Lenovo ThinkPad laptops.
ThinkPad Protection repairs will be serviced according to the following schedule:
For repairs covered by ThinkPad Protection:- For the first year (based on model year, for example, all T60s/R60s will be the first model year summer 2006-spring 2007), an SLI ThinkPad may be brought to the on-campus Laptop Service Center for a covered ThinkPad Protection hardware repair at no cost for the first two visits. If additional non-warranty hardware repairs are required, the owner will be charged a $50 service fee for each repair visit after the first two.
- During the second year of ownership (for example, a T60 brought in during the fall of 2007), the ThinkPad may be brought to the service center for one covered ThinkPad Protection repair visit at no cost. During this year, if additional non-warranty hardware repairs are necessary, each repair visit after the first will incur a $100 service fee.
- During the third year of ownership (for example, a T60 brought in during the fall of 2008), each covered non-warranty hardware repair visit will incur a $150 service fee.
ThinkPad Protection expires after three years of ownership.
ThinkPad protection repairs will be handled in the Walk-in Laptop Support Center.NOTE: Apple does not offer a similar service agreement, thus, warranty and third party insurance are the only options available for Apple laptops.
- What is insurance (#3) and what does it cover?
Insurance is another way to protect against financial loss due to accidental damage to your laptop. One such plan is available from Safeware Insurance. It covers loss due to theft, vandalism, power surge, lightning strike, flood, fire, earthquake, and other natural disasters. It can also cover accidental damage to your laptop. It does not cover intentional damage or damage due to misuse.
This insurance is more comprehensive than the standard homeowner’s insurance policy, although you may inquire with your homeowner’s insurance company to see if a rider can be purchased to cover your laptop.