Yesterday I replaced my old, big and noisy Sony PCG-FRV26 laptop with a new, fast and slim Toshiba Satellite A105-S361 and I didn’t pay a penny. Thanks to the BestBuy extended warranty!
Here is the story. It started about 4 years ago when I bough my first laptop from BestBuy. It was Toshiba Satellite 1800 and I paid for it $1099. It was a good computer for that particular time. The sales man offered me to buy an extended 3 years warranty to “protect my investment” for $249. It was a tough call for me because I was kind of short on money but I bought it anyway. I am so glad that I did it. Toshiba Satellite 1800 was not a very reliable laptop and during first 2 years it was repaired 3 times. After it broke the fourth time I took it to BestBuy and politely mentioned about “No Lemon” policy and they granted me a laptop exchange. They applied $1099 toward my new laptop. I bought Sony PCG-FRV26 and paid only the difference $1349-$1099=$250. They offered again to buy an extended warranty and this time I didn’t think a lot and paid $249 right away. Sony laptop worked fine for a year but then it started to break. First the CD-ROM drive stopped spinning, then the AC adapter stopped working and finally the laptop didn’t boot at all. I took it to BestBuy for repair and left it there. After that I was calling on status every 2 weeks trying to get my laptop back. Every time they were telling a different story why it is not repaired. Finally, after 2 months they called me and explained that my laptop would be replaced. The same evening I went to BestBuy and picked up my new baby Toshiba Satellite A105-S361 for $1199. It was cheaper then Sony laptop, so they just exchanged it and I didn’t have to pay anything. I love it! They tried to give me a cheaper laptop, but after I explained them how much I suffered during these months without my laptop they gave up.
Do you know where I go tonight? You are right; I’m going to buy an extended warranty again!
UPDATE: This article was written almost 4 years ago. Times are changing. Laptops are getting cheaper and cheaper every day. Now it doesn’t make sense to get the extended warranty unless you are buying a very expensive laptop.
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May 1st, 2006 at 10:46 am
I disagree Best Buy’s warranty is a big rip off — My screen somehow got cracked no signs of abuse but to cover themselve so they wouldn’t have to replace the screen they said it was abuse — I said prove it — I can prove just by looking at there was no abuse but they refused and said it was their opoinin — DO NOT SHOP AT BEST BUY
April 20th, 2006 at 11:24 pm
Hi Arif,
Unfortunately I do not have a lot of experience with this model. When I had Satellite 1800, I didn’t work in computer repair business. I even didn’t know the difference between the hard drive and the memory.
I think it is possible that the laptop overheats and because of the heat it slows down. Try to clean up the heatsink. Also I would try to reload the operating system. It is possible that overtime some system files got corrupted and the operating system should be reloaded. If you would call to Toshiba for support, the first thing they recommend would be reloading the OS.
April 20th, 2006 at 11:11 pm
Hi Oscar,
Here is a guide for Toshiba Satellite 5105 video card replacement . I think you can use it for Satellite 5100.
April 20th, 2006 at 12:56 pm
can you help me with a repairmanual for the toshiba 5100-603 or toshiba s5100-603 its the same ,
or where ican find it ,i have this pc but it is not working well, if you have it can you send me a e-mail.
also thanks
April 20th, 2006 at 6:13 am
You sound like you had a lot of experince with toshiba 1800. I have one which is also 4 years old and I agree with all your comments about how unreliable it is. Have you ever experinced such a problem when you watch movies from harddrive or DVDrom? When I play movies (even from harddrive), they stop/freeze or slow down many times? I tried updating drivers/bios etc., nothing changed???????????