I just remembered something, When I bought my extended warranty with my laptop I'm not sure if that covered a direct replacement or if they just take it and fix it. I don't want geek squad (aka geekfraud) to force some stupid thing on me that will not fix it. I certainly can't afford to have that happen when i go to college.
Having worked there years and years ago I can tell you and assure you that Geekfraud will be working on your laptop..Either them or their Service Center they use in some instances will repair the laptop..
Few things to remember. BestBuy sells two different warranties on their labtops. The first would be considered normal wear and tear, keys stop working, etc, etc. The second would be "ADH" or Accidental Damage by Handling warranty. It also comes with the same coverage as the previous, However this one covers it if you drop it, spill crap on it, etc, etc. NOTE*** All warranties come with 1 free battery replacement. NONE of these warranties cover ANY type of virus, or software related issues as they will just tell you all of that is user caused.
Now in terms of "Using" you warranty. Bestbuy will attempt to "repair" it for you, Now whether or not they fix it and you have to come back is another story. The ONLY way, and I mean ONLY way to get a NEW laptop is IF that laptop went in for the SAME repair three times at which point they will replace it. If its a different problem each and every time, It's a repair, NOT new laptop..
Heres where your going to get PISSED!
If it got repaired 3 times for the same thing and they grant you a new replacement, Don't get too happy because heres whats going to happen.
Obviously prices drop as years go on with laptops, ALOT...So FOR EXAMPLE:
If you bought a Sony Vaio for $2000 and it had 1GB of memory, integrated graphics, Pentium D processor, ETC....BestBuy WILL ONLY give you a new replacement
"SPEC FOR SPEC" or whatevers closest in terms of performance. NOT, I repeat NOT what you paid for that Vaio years ago, because likely 2 grand would buy you MUCH MUCH more than what you got with it at the time.
I had to deal with VERY irate people because they thought they get a 2grand laptop...WRONG..Spec for Spec Bud.
Hope that answers some of your questions.