Keith Shirley

Fujitsu Siemens are promoting a new offer called Lifebook4Life where (after some conditions) you are entitled to a replacement Lifebook every 3 years for your lifetime.The upfront cost is a little higher as you have to purchase the 3 year warranty with your laptop.

To be honest it sounded too good to be true but I have not yet found any really bad issues:

- You need to be quick. You have to register within 21 days.

- The site currently says UK only but talking to Siemens representatives last week they indicated it would also be available to Ireland.

- You have to return an undamaged laptop after the 3 years. That could be an issue if they are really strict.

- You’ll get a cert that you need to provide whenever you want to claim the new PC. Don’t lose it.

- If you change business names you lose the upgrades. Ouch

Siemens also indicated to me that you will have the option to purchase the old laptop at a “reasonable” price. Considering I personally don’t want to buy a new laptop because I can’t face reinstalling everything, I think this is a nice idea.

Free laptops is my term – Siemens don’t seem to be following the “unlimited” type promises of the ISP’s but if I did do it and lived a long life then it would certainly feel free.

If anyone finds a catch I missed then please let me know. Note: I don’t sell hardware so don’t ask me for prices etc. I’m not sure if your local PC reseller will be so keen on the promotion. They could lose out on laptop sales long term. However, they will at least get license fees for software and, if they charge per PC, extra service fees.

The full details of the offer are current available on the Lifebook 4 Life website. You can be sure I’ll read it in detail before making any purchases.