“€1900 to replace the motherboard. Might as well buy a new laptop.” - Consumer on reddit
Yeah, that’s way too much. At that price, you could just buy a new MacBook.
If you’ve been on laptop forums lately, it’s all the same, right! People posting repair quotes that sound ridiculous, swollen batteries right after warranty ends, or delivery theft (it’s way too common than you may think).
I mean, Laptops aren’t short-term buys. Most of us plan to use them for at least five years. They’re expensive, essential, and not something you replace easily.
According to Adobe’s 2025 Holiday Shopping Forecast, laptop discounts are expected to peak around 23%, almost identical to last year’s numbers. Sounds stable, right? Until you realize the base prices went up.
And the repairs? They’re not helping either.
Screens now cost anywhere between $200 and $600 to replace. Keyboards and batteries sit around $150 to $300, and if it’s a motherboard failure, you’re easily staring at a loss between $1500 and $1900.
Even if you saved a little during Black Friday or Cyber Monday discounts. With the way tariffs are being tariffs, shifting prices on batteries, chips, and everything in between, it’s hard to say what 2026 will bring.
We can only hope for things to settle. So, it’s just better to be safe than sorry.
So, before you grab/sell that laptop deal this season, it’s worth knowing what’s actually covered, what’s not, and what kind of protection makes sense long term.
And even if you do have a warranty to cover, it doesn’t always matter; a few things still won’t be covered because they don’t fall under your plan.
Because for every situation, you imagine the worst, if someone stole your laptop during Christmas right from your porch, or you spilled cocoa on it, there’s coverage you can rely on.
When you unbox a new laptop, you get a charger, a few stickers you’ll never use and a basic promise from the brand: if something we built goes wrong, we’ll fix it.
That’s your manufacturer’s warranty.
For most laptops, it lasts one year, covering core hardware like the motherboard, RAM, SSD, display, and internal power components. It’s there to protect you from factory errors, not accidents or daily wear.
The duration, though, depends on what you buy.
That difference comes down to how the device is expected to live.
It’s the brand saying: if we built it wrong, we’ll fix it.
Once you start using it, it won’t cover your “oh my god” moments like:
So, once the manufacturer’s warranty ends, there’s really no guarantee your laptop is safe. It can fail, overheat, or yes, even slip out of your hand on a random Tuesday. Life as you know, just happens when you least expect it.
That’s why many people choose to extend their coverage. It’s less about being cautious and more about staying prepared for whatever’s planned for your laptop next.
Your big breakdown usually starts showing with signs like a random shutdown, a charger that only works at a 45° angle, or that one pixel on your screen that’s just… always there.
And what if that happens right after your manufacturer's warranty expires?
It always does. Somehow, it always does.
That’s when it helps to have your back covered with an extended warranty, something that quietly takes over when the first one ends. Because no matter how careful you are, fans get slower, SSDs age, and batteries don’t stay loyal forever.
A study by SquareTrade found that over 31% of laptops reported a failure (hardware or accidental) within three years
So why take a chance when you can pay a little bit now and save several hundred dollars later?
Here’s what most extended laptop warranties include:
So, while the manufacturer’s warranty gets you started, extended coverage makes sure the story doesn’t end with a repair bill.
But what if your pet just cracks the screen? Yeah, coverage exists for that too.
Accidents are the one thing you can’t plan for, and somehow, they always find the most inconvenient timing. A spilled coffee during a deadline, a laptop dropped on a busy morning.
That’s where accidental damage protection comes in. It covers what regular and extended warranties don’t, the moments that aren’t about defects or wear, but pure bad luck.
Here’s what’s usually covered under accidental protection:
Sometimes, the problem isn’t what happens after you get your laptop, it’s what happens before it even arrives.
Despite how efficient modern logistics have become, 92% of e-commerce merchants say they incur significant costs from lost, stolen, or damaged shipments.
And with package theft/ porch piracy and loss estimated at 1.7 million per day in the U.S., it’s not hard to see why. 1 in 3 Americans have experienced package theft firsthand.
Here’s what most shipping insurance covers:
Because when you spend hundreds of dollars on a laptop, “arriving today” should actually mean arriving safe.
Big retailers can afford to absorb those hits. Smaller brands and merchants? Not so much. Every lost shipment chips away at margins and customer trust.
At the end of the day, warranties aren’t just about fixing what’s broken, they’re about creating stability.
For customers, they’re reassurance. One bad day doesn’t have to turn into an expensive one.
For merchants, it’s a way to turn unpredictable repairs into predictable revenue. In a market where profit margins are razor-thin, warranties add consistency and even a little breathing room.
And the truth is, warranty providers do more than process claims. They handle the messy middle, the logistics, the replacements, the part sourcing while you keep selling.
Customers still have legal recourse under federal and state consumer laws, but a good warranty partner makes sure they never have to reach that point.
So, if you’re looking for a reliable warranty partner this holiday season, look for one that can handle post-sale protection without eating into your time, energy, or profit.
Here’s what to look for:
At SureBright, we like to keep things simple, supporting you in the background, so you focus on everything else that comes with the holiday rush.
Over 500+ brands and 1,000s of customers trust SureBright to make warranties simple, profitable, and easy to manage, especially when everything else gets busier.
So, if you’re heading into the season looking for a partner who makes reliability feel easy, just say hey.
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