AFAIK the warranty kicks in by default. If it is your fault and they can prove this you have to pay for the costs. For example, if you solder on your hardware and **** it up or you play football with it you "did not use the device as intended". This is manufacturer warranty; not sales warranty. The latter is minimum 1 year. This matters because it defines who has the liability and who you must contact to send the hardware to. One has to be careful though. Some corporations appear to believe they're not dealing with EU customers. If you buy from a vendor such as Dell or Apple they want to shove you some additional warranty (for after that 1 year) while you have the right to have 2 years of warranty. They shove it to call this additional warranty seemingless but its bullocks. BTW, if a device would suddenly stop functioning while this would not be expected (some devices you may expect to function for a longer period than 2 years) you might have a case as well. A computer loses 33% of its new price every year, and after 3 years its regarded as garbage.