Consumer Reports did a page this month (well, Jan '05, I received it a couple of days ago) on extended warranties for various items. For the most part they're against them, because the chance of needing a repair within the time frame is often low, and thus extended warranties end up being extra money for the companies. But this is what they say about laptops in general:

"You might consider an extended warranty on a laptop computer. Laptops are expensive, fragile, and hard to repair. And the parts are made to fit within the manufacturer's unique case design. For that reason, you should buy the warranty from the manufacturer, not from the retailer. Also, with a manufacturer's warranty, you continue to enjoy access to free tech support."

And then the sidebar on the page was a list of products and their repair rate in the first three years of owning the product. Desktop PCs were highest, at 37%, then Laptop PCs were at 33%.