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<p>Not with Duke. </p>
<p>The best thing is to buy an iron clad warranty from the manufacturer for the laptop for the duration of the 4 years he will be at college including any accidental damages. My DD stepped on hers and the whole LCD screen had to be replaced.</p>
<p>Lenovo covered everything.</p>
<p>I didn’t think the IT departments at the schools helped with computers not purchased through them unless they sell a separate package. With the Mac, everything is covered through them except accidental damage and my homeowner’s policy covers accidental damage - dropping, spills, etc.</p>
<p>Do have to say I’m a fan of the Mac. I’ve been using one since '85 and have never paid a penny in repairs or support (and never bought extended care). The only two hardware issues I encountered were after I was “out of warranty” and they still fixed it for free. I don’t really come across any platform issues these days, and we use our computers with pretty much every application a college student would need.</p>
<p>But… I would maybe buy extended care for a laptop. Ours is now under the care of my overly cautious daughter, but if it was in my son’s hands I could see the soda-spilling, multi-story drop scenario playing out.</p>
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<p>Manufacturer’s warranty was for 3 years and company (Lenovo) called during the summer before D’s senior year to see if we wanted to buy one more year. D hadn’t had much trouble with her laptop, so we decided not to get the extra year insurance. </p>
<p>You guessed it–computer had some catastrophic failure as soon as she went back to school. After using school or friends’ computers for a while, she got a Mac.</p>
<p>Get 4 years of insurance!</p>
<p>Just to be clear - Apple doesn’t cover spills and dropping. You have to find some other source for that.</p>
<p>There are upgraded service plans for Dell’s called Complete Care that cover everything, and I thought the others did so too. It is worth checking so you are not arguing with manufacturer. Laptops at school can go through a lot and it was worth it. Repairs were done so questions asked. I don’t get it for the home systems.</p>
<p>Dell does offer the complete care that covers spills, drops, etc. That was the reason we had decided to get a Dell until I found out that we could get similar coverage from the personal articles policy on the homeowner’s policy for the Mac. I wouldn’t have considered the Mac without that coverage. Even though very little goes wrong with them, something will get spilled no doubt.</p>
<p>cartera45, had not thought about the HO insurance. However, we carry a pretty hefty deductible on that insurance and they have had to have the repairs done at school more often that I would probably want to submit claims to the insurance company. Of course they were the S’s too. DD does not seem to have the same issues. All worth considering. BTW - my bad typing - it was NO questions asked for the repairs :)</p>
<p>Do you have a personal articles policy - for jewelry and such? That is what the computer will be covered under so there’s not deductible. It will be an extra $33 a year for the Mac to be added - but worth it. Not sure what it would be if I didn’t have an existing policy.</p>