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Fujitsu Offers Free Laptop Upgrades For Life
Barence writes "Fujitsu Siemens is offering its customers free laptop upgrades for life with its Lifebook4Life scheme. Customers buying a Fujitsu Siemens Lifebook will be offered a free upgrade three years after their original purchase, and every subsequent three years for the rest of their life — as long as they purchase an extended three-year warranty. Customers will have to hope inflation stays low, though: the value of each new notebook cannot exceed the value of the previous one, adjusted 10% for inflation. Fujitsu says the scheme is profitable, and a raft of small print ensures plenty of people will find they've excluded themselves from the scheme for all sorts of reasons."
"Free laptop upgrades for life"... sounds like "unlimited bandwidth" and "Plays4Sure".
No thanks.
http://outcampaign.org/
It's a scam, that's awefully direct:
"Fujitsu says the scheme is profitable, and a raft of small print ensures plenty of people will find they've excluded themselves from the scheme for all sorts of reasons."
Or this a case of another bad summary...
[J]
Because in my experience, Fujitsu won't honour their warranties anyway.
OK, so am I the only one surprised at this, and given their HUGE market share, who in their right mind would want one?
"TV, a medium as it is neither rare nor well done." Ernie Kovacs
Hit any of these, and you'll get excluded permanently.
From TFA:
If customers fail to register their notebook within 21 days of purchase, they lose out, and if the initial sales receipt is lost then they will not be able to claim a replacement notebook. If at any point a customer fails to take an upgrade, then they will also be ineligible for any future laptops.
Laptops have integrated graphic cards, sound cards and NICs, so no upgrade is possible here, other than changing the whole main board...
The screen, sure can be changed, but not upgraded to a new size easily...
The catch is that a laptop cannot be easily "upgraded" as a desktop computer.
It's time to realise that Abble's products are the biggest abomination these days. Just say NO to the dumb iAbble way!!
This is designed to get money up front on the basis that most purchasers will be ineligible to benefit from it. Thus it takes money from the lazy and stupid which can be used to benefit smarter people. I have no problem with you^W them subsidising me^W us.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Fujitsu's market share is so astronomically large.
"Customers ... will be offered a free upgrade ... as long as they purchase"
The complete ignorance of the majority of people where money is concerned is what has us in this whole financial crisis. It's NOT FREE IF YOU HAVE TO PAY SOMETHING, DAMMIT. At best this is a "membership" or "subscription" deal that has lots of strings attached to make sure it's very easy for you NOT to get your upgrades (like say losing the original receipt or not registering within 21 days (from TFA)), and forces you to pay an undetermined amount for the rest of your life to the manufacturer.
Reading the fine print you will probably find out that they can change the price or cancel the plan whenever they want without notice. And of course what guarantee do you have that your "replacement" will be a competitive model?
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
This offer is far from comprehensive, though, as it excludes case cracks, small numbers of dead pixels, broken keys, smashed screens, software issues, virus infections or failed batteries that are older than one year.
Basically, the normal wear and tear of a laptop is excluded. This seems particularly negligent regarding failed batteries, as I've noticed that most laptops become almost unusable after a few years. Even with a RAM upgrade after 3 years, it is unlikely to last much longer than that, especially if broken keys and worn out batteries aren't included. (Are batteries even designed to last that long?
Unity in Diversity
Comment removed based on user account deletion
What stops me from running my notebook with third-party RAM for 3 years and swapping the original RAM back in only on the day that I return the lappy for upgrade?
Hmm, it wouldn't be all that hard to code something into the BIOS that would log hardware changes in a special place.
Alternately perhaps they could just have it reject non-permitted RAM. My last HP refused to boot when I replaced the cruddy broadcomm 802.11b miniPCI card with an Intel, but it didn't mind when I used a slightly-less cruddy HP broadcomm 802.11g card...
Actually, this might work out fairly well for the consumer, if they allow for laptops of up to 110% of the current price. My last laptop was around the $2000+ mark. In its time it was a real workhorse, and even today it's fairly solid and usable but the technology is unfortunately just plain outdated.
My current laptop cost around $1000. The physical design seems to be a bit less resilient, but the CPU (dual-core), video-card, and other features vastly exceed my previous machine.
Laptops are one of those things that have come down in price over time, so it may be a decent deal if you get to pick by price and not from pre-selected models, etc.
Exactly. What companies should be doing is rewarding customers for not dumping their old computers in landfill.
How about a free RAM upgrade when you recycle your old computer at the same time as purchasing your new one?
in the same advertisement, run away. What ever it is being offered will be neither.
Fujitsu-Siemens is huge.
"Hugeness" notwithstanding, the entity named "Fujitsu-Siemens" (a joint venture founded in 1999) wont last much longer: Siemens is selling their share to Fujitsu.
That doesn't necessarily mean that the company or its brands will vanish, but a change of management could likely result in a decision to get rid of "this kind of contracts".
...is that they die days outside the statutory 12 month warranty period. Thus, the three year warranty is a no-brainer, and its price should be taken into account when pricing the product.
But as all their warranties are "return-to-base", "exchange unit only" they're worthless unless you keep very thorough backups.
I find it outrageous that still to this day we are trying to find new reasons for people to throw away their computers instead of actually encouraging them to KEEP THEM.
But what else could you possibly get from a system that judges a company solely on its sales? Our economic system provides strong incentives to build products that break in as short a time as possible, and can't be repaired, so you must buy a new one. Complain all you like (and we all do), but unless you're doing something to reward a company for durability, you're not solving the problem.
And yes you can always donate your computer to charity.
Doesn't this machine come with MS windows? We've already discussed the fact that, if you donate a Windows machine, the license for the software probably doesn't transfer along with it. Yes, I know the MS PR people claim that they have a way to transfer licenses. But I have a number of friends working for charitable organizations who will tell you about the grief and wasted time from trying to get permission to legally run the software. Mostly, they failed at this, and either paid the retail price for a license, or more often they just trashed the hardware. If you go to the web site for MS's Microsoft Open License for Charities, you'll see that they don't actually talk about transferring the original license. The site tells you how to purchase licenses at a special price.
So if you donate your computer to charity, you may be sticking that charity with the expense of a software license.
Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
I'm assuming you mean lithium iron sulfide (LiFeS) or lithium iron disulfide (LiFeS2)? I had a hell of a time finding any information on them, since Googling "LiFE" & "battery" gets you hundreds of hits about "battery life", even with quotes around "LiFE". Does anyone know a way to force Google to respect mixed upper/lower case search terms?
Support Right To Repair Legislation.
Yep, this offer is great for folks that subscribe to record clubs, 10-year gym contracts, "free" tire rotations, vacation time-shares, tenth-cone-free punch cards, and all that.
The rest of us value lack of lock-in.
I bought my Dell laptop (Inspiron 5100) in June 2004. I bought an extra battery, and the laptop could last 7-8 hours total, which was perfect for my notetaking and homework doing and internet browsing in school.
Fast forward to now, 4+ years later. Both batteries still last close to the original longevity, 3 hours. They didn't die, they didn't discharge, they don't only last for 30 minutes - they still last 3 hours last time I tested about a couple of months ago.
Agreed. I currently have one of the first intel macbooks. It's got two 2ghz processors and 2GB of RAM (unfortunately I can't put in more, or I would.) I can browse the internet, watch movies, and type up papers just fine. Parallels takes up a huge chunk of processor power and ram, but if I close most of my other programs it runs fine. The battery will eventually go, but I just got my first battery replaced under applecare, so I've probably got another two years until it needs replaced again. I'm happy with it, and I think it'll last me at least another two or three years, barring some sort of catastrophic parts failure, for a grand total of between four and five years use.
Edit: Sorry for the snarkyness. Apparently "a302b" was full of crap, and after I RTFA it looks like those exclusions he listed are for a different program.
My mistake, wish there was an edit button.
Web Developers: Celebrate to our roots! Animated Gifs and Tiled Backgrounds, dont let our history die!
Deals like this are designed to make money. Fujitsu is banking on warranty sales to make their additional profit; essentially tuning this into a laptop lease deal. If you decide to go off lease you keep the laptop you bought; if you stay on you get 100% of your payment down on the next model. It's like a lease with a 0 buyout; plus they get cash upfront instead of over 3 years. If you turn it in they get the resale / scrap value plus a new warranty - want to bet it won't be cheap and probably a significant percentage of the laptop's cost?
Look at dell - an $820 laptop 3 year warranty is $190 - about 25%. After 3 years you get $820 towards a laptop; but that $820 laptop retailed for about $1100 - Dell had an $320 special deal going. So, if they don't offer a similar deal you could wind up getting $820 off of a full priced machine (assuming the 10% fine print will let you), plus paying for a new warranty. As a result, that new machine would cost you $560. (190 plus 190 plus 1000 minus 820)
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
It's not a scam when the business presents it's intentions up front.
You purchase a laptop for X amount of dollars. Your receipt for that laptop sets the value. It does not depreciate. 3 years later, about the time most regular laptop users are ready for a new laptop, Fujitsu will give you a brand new laptop for free. Yes, free. You do not have to pay for it. It's FREE.
HOWEVER, if you would like ANOTHER free laptop in 3 years time, you will need to purchase ANOTHER 3 year warranty for the new laptop.
How much more straightforward do you need? It's a great plan. The company locks in loyal customers who will then need to spend more money on the products the company profits off of, accessories. Selling the laptop at a fraction of the retail value, the cost of the new 3 year warranty, in order to sell more accessories is not only NOT unheard of but business as usual. You get a free laptop, they sell more accessories to potentially lifetime customers.
Sure. Just send us your firstborn and write us in as the sole beneficiary to your estate.
Thanks but no thanks. I'll just take the free Parker pen for enquiring.
Operation Guillotine is in effect.
Who uses a laptop for more than 18 months? What are you people - masochists?
I've had a wonderful time, but this wasn't it -- Groucho Marx
Remember those? When the price of stamps kept going up every 6 months and they offered stamps that you could buy that would be good forever. No more inconvenience of buying penny stamps, or getting returned mail because they did a stealth price change. I posited that they would stop selling those in only a few months or perhaps even declare them invalid. Looks like I was half right as I can't find them at any of my nearby postal facilities.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
I've been using this Fujitsu laptop I got from Japan for about 6 years now with no problems (excluding the hard disk upgrade and very quite dead battery), so I'm pretty intrigued with the offer - provided they make available all the fine print for hours of mind boggling reading/amusement.
What's the difference between Fujitsu and Fujitsu Siemens anyways? I don't believe I've seen a Fujitsu-Siements product around before in the East Asian region.
I'm a dumpster diver... I love it when people throw away their computers. :-)
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
So if you donate your computer to charity, you may be sticking that charity with the expense of a software license.
God forbid a charity case should be forced to run Linux!
If you mod me Overrated, you are admitting that you have no penis.
Well, that excludes anyone buying these in a bricks & mortar retail shop.
The shitty thermal paper used on most receipt printers is usually completely unreadable inside 18 months, and after 3 years I doubt anyone could say with any degree of certainty that it had ever even been a receipt.
How many of us really need to buy a new laptop every 3 years?
Well personally, my HP laptop has major problems with usb over current detect (3 year old) My mates dual core acer lasted maybe 2 years before blowing all its ports.
3 years of working life seems realistic to me. Battery life would be practically non-existent after 3 years.
Are Apples really that much better?
Blarney Quality Restaurant, Plants
I'm typing this on a 6 year old fujitsu laptop, never replaced the main battery, and while it only gets 4 hours instead of 6 it is still quite functional. Their power cords are crap however.
If you know you'll be out of business tomorrow, sell updates "for life" today. Why do you think Siemens wants out?
Who needs vendor lockin for life anyway? Oh, right. Apple should offer this, fits their customer base.
Whoever used that tag obviously needs to brush up his Latin subjunctives...
Ezekiel 23:20
But what else could you possibly get from a system that judges a company solely on its sales? Our economic system provides strong incentives to build products that break in as short a time as possible, and can't be repaired, so you must buy a new one. Complain all you like (and we all do), but unless you're doing something to reward a company for durability, you're not solving the problem.
My parents had their old washing machine for ~25 years with minor repairs. When it was time to get a new one of course the old company didn't exist, the were probably long gone and dead because they had no resales. It doesn't really fit well into either personal compensation plans nor executive bonuses, since it's the guys 25 years ago that did the work which leads to the new sale. Most "extended warranty" plans today are scams at worst and an insurance against lemons at best, and doesn't really say anything about a product's real durability like whether it'll wear out in 5 or 25 years. Trying to charge me a bundle up front on an alledged durability is a snake oil salesman trick, by the time it breaks down the salesman and the CEO both will have cashed out their options and fled the scene. At best the company is still around to honor the warranty but it's still risky.
If a company wants to claim durability, then show me a warranty plan that makes me think you really believe it. Provide long and cheap warranty, and instead of trying to charge some absurd upfront cost at once commit to extension options payable at end of regular support. Throw it a good sales pitch so people are thinking sale + warranty extension vs sale + next sale. Try to really show that by dollars/year this machine will cost them less that buying junk they'll have to throw out every few years. It's not really the consumer's ball on this one as long as the offerings are such as they are. Sell it in a way that makes me think you believe it yourself and I'll buy, not before.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Latin spelling nazi here.
My UID is prime. Hah!
This could also be a sign that they are going out of business, which wouldn't be unheard of in today's economic climate. I recently saw a promotion for a magazine that offered a free subscription for life if you made a one hundred dollar donation. The magazine went out of business the next month. Clever way to pay the last months rent on the office space.
Actually, the first two words: "Fujitsu Siemens" -- anything having ANYTHING to do with Siemens is a dirty, rotten, double-crossing, two-timing, cluster that should be avoided like a rabid badger driving a brakeless nitroglycerine truck downhill towards an oil refinery. Oh, I sound a little bitter, do I? Yeah, I suppose I do, but I'm right (and there's a growing number of former Siemens customers and employees who will tell you the same (and an even faster-growing number of current customers and employees who are learning the truth)) -- don't waste your life with those bums; any and everything connected with them is (poorly and stupidly and clumsily) crafted to SCREW you (and not in the good way, before you get all excited.)
as long as they purchase an extended three-year warranty. Yep every 3 years you have to buy a new warranty. What are they going to do give you the laptop for nothing and over charge you on the warranty.
"-- as long as they purchase an extended three-year warranty."
So they charge you the price of the laptop, but call it warranty. Now they have your money but if you decide to take it back for any reason they owe you nothing since the warranty isn't refundable.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
OEM licenses are tied to the machine they're installed upon, so they should remain valid through donations. As far Windows goes, it's difficult to buy a machine without a Windows OEM license, so any machine still worth using will probably be licensed for Windows 2000 or up. I suppose XP Home isn't quite as much fun if you're trying to use Active Directory with it, but it's certainly not useless, and eligible for the upgrade pricing if it's really so much trouble.
Retail licenses are transferable by simply giving all of the stuff that came with the retail pack. Volume licenses are tied to the company they were purchased for, and I dare say that make a fair bit of sense. Wipe it and load up the version that the COA sticker says the machine is licensed for.
And on Slashdot of all places to be calling a donated computer a cost! Windows isn't the only operating system available, and some of them are up for a pretty good price.
With Siemens leaving the joint venture, this seems more like "lets get as much money as possible before we declare bankruptcy in a few month".
Got to say it really depends on the model - some have been really lousy and defective (the last plastic MacBook range have a crack in the casing issue which was never resolved and the first generation G4 PowerBook range have serious issues - mine literally fell apart, as did two others I know of). Of course the battery issues over time are universal (and the actual battery capacity on the new MacBook's is less than on the old ones, which is madness).
The current unibody MacBook/MacBook Pro range do seem build to last though (minor issue with the battery cover being very slim and easy to bend so its slack, but very easy to bend the clips back so it's tight again once you know what's going on).
I've had about a half dozen Apple laptops in 8-9 years (2 stolen, the rest upgrades) and I've never had any hardware problems with an Apple laptop beyond the physical design though, specifically the case or keyboard - never had any issues with ports blowing, fans going, device compatibility, etc.
Where Apple really shine is the support IMO. I have my MacBook back once, my first PowerBook G4 in twice and my last PowerBook G4 in 3 times. Each time Apple repaired it for free with zero issues (drop off and collect later and pickup/redeliver) within 10 days, including twice where I was responsible for the problem but was not changed (and they replaced the keyboard, motherboard, trackpad AND case). And that's without the extended Apple Care warranty (I think I've only taken that once, I should really get it for my new MacBook Pro...).
The outstanding level of little or no-quibbles support has kept me buying Apple products again and again, especially when the competition (Sony, I'm looking at you here) are often so awful when it comes to support even when products have obvious design flaws that are responsible for the problem, they almost always want to charge you the full laptop price at 'cost' to fix the problem (i.e. they just want to give you a new laptop as a 'fix').
Personally, I'd rather pay a small premium for a product and know I'll get great service rather than get a bargain that might end up being a major hassle. I feel that way about lots of products/services.
For example I'd rather pay 180 GBP and fly British Airways than pay 40 GBP and fly Easyjet or Ryanair, because I've fucked up before and BA have gotten me out of hole more than once - including giving me a free ticket when I turned up at the wrong London airport, and one day I had a little too much fun in Amsterdam and missed my flight by an entire day (as I had no idea what day it was) they just let me hop on the next plane where a seat was available.
Compare that to flying Easyjet, which I've only flown return twice (and never gain) as they managed to goof up, one error (of closing a checkout desk 10-15 minutes early) resulted in me being stuck in a largely closed airport for 11 hours.
There is obviously room for both approaches in the market though, some people would rather pay less up front and take the punches as they come (although usually, what I've observed is they really demand is unreasonably cheap *and* high quality).
[citation needed]
It's called: A lease.
+++OK ATH
I'm more ryanair than BA to be honest, i guess its what you can afford, and I can't afford much these days it seems. I've flown over to ireland twice this year and it wouldn't have happened if the fares hadn't been so cheap.
Your description of apple is very positive and I could see me getting an apple at some point. Right now thou I already pretty much have what i need with an aspire one it travels everywhere with me it's only let down is the small battery and very slow ssd. It could be better in places as an ebook reader it would be better if the screen was reversible and had a touch screen, the trackpad is a bit awkward having buttons left and right instead of below but for the money its excellent.
Blarney Quality Restaurant, Plants