SquareTrade Warranty Blog

Free Vudu box and $50 in movies with Sharp Aquos HDTV.

Has the panic shopping set in yet?  If so, let us direct your raw nerves over to a little deal we found; buy yourself (or a loved one) a brand new Sharp Aquos HDTV 42" or bigger, and they'll throw in a free Vudu digital movie box for free.  And then they'll give you a $50 credit to buy or rent movies off Vudu's service.  That's a $450 value, total.

We should say that these HDTVs are NOT on sale - it's regular prices all the way - but if you were considering getting a Vudu, it's a staggeringly good deal.  Vudu's service is growing pretty fast, and delivers HD movies pretty much instantly to your HDTV, either as permanently owned files or temporary rentals.  If you're into that sort of thing. 

Both these items qualify for SquareTrade warranties, and we do have a 20% Off coupon code you can use to make a good deal even better.  The widget in the sidebar can quote you an exact price, before discount and/or adding extra years of coverage.

You can find the qualifying Sharp televisions here.  They're saying this is a "limited time offer," but they aren't saying how limited.  You rolls the dice, you takes your chances. 

Cheap HDTV warranty, LCD televisions

HP Laptops Upgrade Graphics, add HD-DVD and Blu-Ray Players.

You have to give it to them, when HP updates their laptops and computers, they don't mess around.  Case in point, no less than eight HP Pavilion notebooks are getting upgrades just in time for Christmas.

First, they're stepping up the graphics with an NVIDIA 8400M GS card with 128MB of RAM on the 14.1-inch models, a better 256MB version on the 15.4-inch laptops, and NVIDIA 8600M GS graphics with 512MB of RAM on the 17-inch models, either as standard or upgrades.  You'll want those, too, because DVD readers/writers can now be upgraded to either Blu-Ray or HD DVD players, all fully backwards-compatible (only standard DVD burning, though).  And accordingly, all displays now come standard in HD.  How much HD is up to you.

Most of the other specs remain the same.  Something else that remains the same: the HP warranty is about double what a SquareTrade laptop warranty runs.  We clocked their 3-year warranty at 27% of item price, versus our 12% (see for yourself using our Quote Widget in the sidebar), and our Accidental Damage coverage doesn't cost an ungodly amount of cash, either.  Particularly if you use our current 20% Off holiday coupon. 

The HP Pavilions getting these goodies (and slightly modified model numbers) are the 14.1-inch dv2700t, dv2700tbw, and dv2700tse models, the 15.4-inch dv6700z, dv6700t, and dv6700tse units, and the 17-inch dv9700t and dv9700z.  You'll notice them right away on this page.  They're the ones with the "new" stickers on the images.

HP laptop computers, HP Pavilion notebooks, HP warranty

L.A. Times profiles SquareTrade.

L.A. Times staff writer Michelle Quinn dropped by the offices a few weeks ago to snap a few pictures and interview our CEO, Steve Abernethy, on the state of the extended warranty industry.  Her article appeared in Monday's business section.  You can check it out online as well for behind-the-scenes info on the warranty business, and where it's going.

extended warranty, electronics warranty, electronics insurance

Pixel Lab releases 17-inch RippleNote gaming laptop.

We know it's not always possible - or desirable - to wait until after work to log into your World of Warcraft account and game for a few hours.  If your manager just won't see reason and let you log in for some mid-afternoon gaming on your office PC, we might have a solution.  Korean firm Pixel Lab has just announced the second in their line of laptops specifically built for you.

This smooth looking beast is the RippleNote PLK570 gaming laptop, and it's been optimized for those of you out there who don't use laptops just for word processing.  The design looks like an improvement on the T7700, and they've definitely put a lot of muscle under the hood.

No word on when it'll be made available to us Yanks, but here are a few particulars to salivate over in the meantime.  The Ripplenote PLK570 features a Core 2 Duo T7700 running at 2.4GHz on a 160GB hard drive, with the full 4GB of DDR2 memory and a Nvidia GeForce 8700M GT.  It's also got a 7-in-1 card reader and a 2 megapixel camera built-in, plus ports for S-Video, HDMI, DVI and 1394, complete with 7.1 Channel Digital Sound output.  Visuals come courtesy of a 17" WXGA+ (1,440 x 900) panel.  Ethernet, Bluetooth and WiFi are all standard. 

Still, the $2500 asking price - about $1000 more laptop than most people reasonably need - pretty much lands this strictly in the specialty category.  A specialty that involves pnwing n00bs morning, noon and night.  And it's worth noting that you can soup up a good Alienware laptop well past those specs for the same amount of money, and have it shipped out to you almost immediately.

Korean gaming laptop, laptop warranty, laptop insurance

UPDATED: How to Get a Wii Raincheck from Gamestop.

The details have arrived on how exactly you can get that Nintendo Wii raincheck we found out about last week.  And if it sounds suspiciously like a Black Friday deathmatch in the making, that's only because it is.  And while they initially said this would take place over two days, they must have realized creating this level of carnage won't take two days.  Two hours is plenty of time.

So here's how it works: on Friday, December 21 ONLY, find your local Gamestop store (you can't get them online), line up, and pray to the deity of your choice.  If you make it to the head of the line in time, you can pay $250 for a fake Wii game case that contains an "entitlement certificate" to put under the tree.  That should placate your children on Christmas Day just fine.  Or maybe this will be a good time to teach them the virtue of patience, because the certificate guarantees you a Wii sometime before the end of January.  Not a bad way to start the New Year.

Wii sale, console Wii, game Wii, buy Wii, Gamestop rain check info

Verizon Gets the Palm Treo 755p.

After two months of promises and seven months of Sprint Palm Treo 755p sales, Verizon's finally released its own Treo 755p. 

It's pretty much the same phone (in a different color), and not a bad one at that.  Full QWERTY keyboard, a port for MiniSD cards and support for Google Maps. Unfortunately, at $400, your loyalty to Verizon will cost you $150 more than Sprint's Treo 755p, though wily consumers can find Verizon plans that will cut their phone's price down to $300.  That makes quite a difference on our loyalties, it's true. 

Cell phone warranty, cell phone insurance, Verizon Palm Treo 755p

Free Gift Cards with iPod or Zune Purchase.

IPOD PRICE WAR!  It's ON!

Last Friday, we were wondering how long it would take Best Buy to counter Circuit City's two-buck undercutting of their Apple iPod sale.  Answer: not long, but they've gone a different direction on it. 

Instead of further iPod price drops or discounts, Best Buy is selling them at regular price and giving you a graduating scale of Best Buy gift cards along with purchase.  It's $10 for the 1GB Shuffle, $15 for the 4GB Nano, $20 for the 8GB Nano, $25 for the 80GB Classic, and $30 for the 160GB Classic.  They're offering $10 off the 4GB Microsoft Zune, and $20 off the 8GB or 30GB Zunes.

Circuit City's counter-counter offer is "a free $10 eGift Card" flat rate on iPods only (no Zune sale, no Zune gift card), with their sale prices all still intact from what we reported last Friday.

Well played, big box stores.  Their free gift card strategy essentially keep your money coming into their stores instead of being spent elsewhere, but the current result is that, iPod price-wise, they're both now in a statistical dead heat, plus or minus a few quarters.  How long can this detente last?  Not long, we hope.  We're waiting for someone to drop the Big One. 

War is truly hell.

Cheap Apple iPod Coupon, Microsoft Zune, cheap mp3 player, iPod vs. Zune, iPod warranty, iPod insurance

Special MP3 Player Warranty Sale for your iPod and Zune!

If there's an MP3 Player on your list to give (or to receive) his holiday season, whether it's an Apple iPod, a Microsoft Zune, or any other MP3 Player on the market, now you can protect it with the best warranty around (according to our reviews, anyway).  And you can do it for a lot less if you use our special 3-Day discount.

You can get an instant warranty quote using our widget in the sidebar, but then use coupon code: MP3MADNESS on our checkout page and you'll get 33% off your MP3 Player's warranty.  This offer is only good from today through Sunday, 12/16/07.

Keep in mind, this is on a warranty that's already 40% less than retail warranties, and it comes with a 5-Day Service Guarantee most retailers wouldn't offer to save their lives.  We fix it or pay you’re the item's purchase price in five business days, or your warranty and the service are free.

If you bought an MP3 Player for yourself or a friend in the last month, you can still put a SquareTrade warranty on it at 2/3rds the normal price, even if you add Accidental Damage coverage.  And if you still need to buy an iPod, by purest chance, Best Buy and Circuit City both have sales going on.

It's never too late to Christmas shop.  There's almost ten days left!  Plenty of time!

Cheap Apple iPod Coupon, Microsoft Zune, cheap mp3 player, iPod vs. Zune

Best Buy iPod Sale vs. Circuit City iPod Sale.

Want to knock a couple of bucks off the price of your next Apple iPod? Head right on over to either (or both) Best Buy and Circuit City to see what they're going to give up.  Or we can save you the trouble; a quick survey pretty much confirms that Circuit City went all up and down Best Buy's site and added two bucks to every iPod discount Best Buy offered.  The numbers shake out thusly;

iPod Shuffle 1GB
BB:  $4 Off
CC:  $5 Off

iPod Nano 8GB
BB:  $10 Off
CC:  $12 Off

iPod Touch 8GB:
BB:  $15 Off
CC:  $17 Off

iPod Touch 16GB;
BB:  $20 Off
CC:  $22 Off

iPod Classic 80GB
BB:  $12.50 Off
CC:  $14.50 Off

iPod Classic 160GB
BB:  $17.50 Off
CC:  $19.50 Off

Let's see how long it takes Best Buy to retaliate.  In the meantime, it's worth noting that Circuit City threw something extra up as well: refurbished iPods sold at discount.  All your old favorites, from the 60GB Classic to the iPod Color to the iPod Mini are available, along with older-generation Nano and Shuffle models. 

And not only can you get a SquareTrade iPod warranty on any of these (or all of them, if you want), new or refurbished, but if you take advantage of our 3-Day MP3 Player Warranty Sale by using the special coupon code, you'll get 33% off your warranty's price.  That includes any extras like Accidental Damage coverage, too.

Cheap Apple iPod Coupon, Microsoft Zune, cheap mp3 player

Gamestop to sell Wii rainchecks next week.

It seems like everybody wants a Nintendo Wii.  But unless you're willing to pay way too much on eBay, or suddenly get Vegas Lucky and find one left on a store shelf, odds are you won't be able to find one.  Hell, you can't even pre-order them at Amazon or on Bestbuy.com. That's how uncertain the supply is.  Nintendo just can't keep up with demand.

So it's Gamestop to the rescue.  For two days only, December 20 and 21st, they're going to sell "tens of thousands" of Wii rainchecks at the Wii's regular list price of $249.99, which will apparently guarantee the availability of a brand-new Wii sometime before January 29, 2008.  This gives you something to put under the tree, even if Santa's going to be a little late on the delivery.

And if you get that raincheck (or a Wii by other means), don't forget that you can put a SquareTrade console warranty on it even if you haven't actually received your Wii yet.  Coverage doesn't begin until thirty days post-purchase, anyway, so by the time it arrives you'll probably be all good to go.  You can even transfer that warranty to someone else for free if you're giving the gift of Wii.

Wii sale, console Wii, game Wii, buy Wii, Wii rain checks