A laptop is for life, not just for Christmas

Fujitsu-Siemens has announced a scheme that allows some customers to claim a replacement laptop every three years for the rest of their life.

Under the Lifebook 4 Life scheme, customers who purchase a Lifebook laptop computer and an optional three-year extended warranty will be able to exchange it for a brand new computer three years later. The opportunity to exchange for a new computer will then recur every three years.

As long as they stick to the terms and conditions of the offer and exchange the computer every three years using the correct method, the customer will be able to stay in the scheme for the rest of their life. Businesses will be able to keep exchanging as long as they keep trading under their original name and the same ownership.

The extended warranty needed to enter the scheme costs less than £50, so it could allow customers to pay less than £900 now in order to get a new computer every three years for the rest of their life. Despite this low price and the potential cost of the new computers, Fujitsu-Siemens’ Jason Howe said the scheme made financial sense for the company.

“Our financial guys say it’ll work”, he told Computeractive. “It’ll work for us, and also for the consumer.”

The Lifebook 4 Life scheme is open until the end of March 2009, subject to terms and conditions available on the website. Businesses and consumers may purchase up to 10 laptops under the scheme.

The company also announced a second scheme targeted at buyers of its Esprimo business notebooks. Under the Esprimo Promise scheme, Fujitsu-Siemens will refund the purchase price of Esprimo laptops should they break down during the warranty period. Some common faults, including broken plastics and cracked displays, are excluded.