Re: (0) it can be a good bet for the company and for you, for rational loss-aversion reasons. Fixing the laptop may be more value to you than the cost for the company, and having a warranty and a place to call that will fix it may lower transaction costs for you compared to trying to fix it with a third party.

But yeah, I don't buy extended warranties. I try to make sure there's no invaluable data on the machine, so that it is trivial to chuck out and replace if need be.