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Warranty Service and Warranty Policies

As discussed in the section on guarantees, warranties are provided by manufacturers, while guarantees are provided by vendors. This means that when you are dealing with small items bought from a vendor, there really is no warranty to speak of. However, whenever you buy a larger item, or especially a full PC system, you will want to investigate thoroughly its warranty and the policies of the company that will provide it.

Some types of PCs are made and sold by the same company. With these machines you must especially pay attention to warranty issues, since your choice of vendor and manufacturer is made simultaneously. Other types of PCs are pre-made by a manufacturer and sold by a second company. For these types of PCs the warranty offered by the manufacturer will be the same regardless of where you buy the machine. Therefore, I suppose for these kinds of machines warranty isn't so much a vendor-selection criteria as a way of deciding between brands. Still, for simplicity, I discuss all the issues here in the same area. (For warranty issues related to selecting components, see here.)

My look at warranty issues here includes a look at various warranty policy issues, a discussion of warranty service, and also important information on extended warranties. (While vendors aren't generally involved in the regular warranties on products, they often offer extended warranties themselves.)

Next: Warranty Length and Coverage Policies

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