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Manufacturer extended warranty and other extra coverage
Any notebook you buy will have the option for an extended warranty from the manufacturer and likely some other type of enhanced coverage. You can buy this extended warranty at the time of purchase or usually within 30-days after purchase. Usually a 3-year warranty is going to cost somewhere in the range of $200 - $300 to upgrade to from a 1-year warranty. For instance, in configuring a Dell Inspiron e1705 notebook I find that it will cost me $240 to upgrade to a 3-year warranty from 1-year. Dell also has a warranty option called "Complete Care" that will cover a laptop repairs for accidental spills, drops and power surges -- this costs about $100 extra.
When is a 3-year manufacturer warranty worth it? As a general rule of thumb you shouldn't pay for a warranty that costs 25% or more than the value of the notebook because after that point you're overpaying and wasting your money. For example, if you pay $300 for a 3-year warranty on a $1,000 notebook then the warranty is 30% the value of the notebook and boosts your total out of pocket purchase to $1,300. That's too much, you're better off just saving your money and if you're unlucky and something goes wrong with the laptop there's still a chance you could fix it for under $300 anyway. However, if you buy a high-end $3,000 notebook and a 3-year warranty is $300 then it's more reasonable to consider the warranty upgrade.
In regards to the accidental spill and accident coverage packages, such as Dell Complete Care, the value is questionable and only you can decide if such coverage is worth it based on how clumsy you are and how much value you place on peace of mind knowing your laptop is covered for silly accidents. We all know somebody that's spilt coffee or lemonade into their laptop keyboard, my own brother dropped lemonade onto a Dell notebook last year. He had to remove each key and clean underneath to get rid of the sticky residue, but now certain keys don't work properly, he had no accidental damage coverage so he's out of luck. You can also buy coverage for accidents through laptop insurance, more on that later.
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