To prepare you for future experiences with other makers: no laptop maker will do a free motherboard replacement after the warranty period. That's why it makes some sense to pay for 3 years warranty.
Depending on type (gaming laptops live shorter), use (cooling pad) and maintenance (monthly cleaning of fans), 2.5 years can be short, but not very short.
Kees
I have been a loyal customer of Dell for many years, purchasing 5 laptops and one desktop but my latest experience with there Technical Support (Kasturi_Gunaratnam) I will never ever purchase anything from Dell again.
My two and a half year old Inspiron 15 developed a problem with the mother board and after spending over an hour or more on the phone the best they could offer was to replace the board for $440, when you could purchase a new laptop for that price.
Dell thinks that we live in a throw away society and think that it is OK if there product only lasts 2 1/2 years when anyone would expect a much longer life.
They do not stand up and back up the product when something major goes wrong, therefore never again will I have anything to do with this shonky organization

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