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How many people get AppleCare with their iMacs ?

W

wheelie15man

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Just wondering if it's worth getting AppleCare when I get my 1st iMac,whenever it comes out that is..

I know it's worth every penny if it breaks but how many iMacs do break ?
 
I would highly recommend it. The telephone support is nice to have as a first time Mac user too. I just got a new iMac a little over a month ago and bought into Applecare for the peace of mind.
 
In the uk, if you buy from House of Fraser you get 2 years warranty anyway, which makes AppleCare useless. You can probably get 2 years' warranty from every UK shop except the Apple Store actually, lol.
 
You should.
I wouldn't have said this back some 3 or 4 years ago, but basing on ezperience the quality has dropped a bit. Newer macs tend to fail sooner, while G3s still rock.
Go figure.
 
d0nK said:
In the uk, if you buy from House of Fraser you get 2 years warranty anyway, which makes AppleCare useless. You can probably get 2 years' warranty from every UK shop except the Apple Store actually, lol.
Click to expand...

Methinks you need to check your facts! AppleCare covers three years. Unlike the standard insurance based "Warranties" offered by retail stores, AppleCare also covers free telephone support for hardware and software. Just check out the fine print and you'll see what I mean. 🙂
 
I will be, but not until next year when I save up a bit more $$ for it. IMO it just give you peace of mind. Get the extended coverage in my current TV which had a power issue about 2 years in. So it can pay off if something goes wrong.

Just check with local laws and what you might be covered with the store you buy it from.
 
Cheers for advise as this being my 1st iMac,just playing the waiting game now as so many others are for the next updated model...

Just using my dell laptop and iPad to fill the gap for the moment...

Credit card at the ready...lol😱
 
It's definitely a gamble to not buy it, but saying that not THAT many Macs go wrong. It might look like they do on forums like this, but that's just because people only post when there's a problem (when was the last time you saw a thread titled "Hey guys, my 3 year old Mac still works!") The failure rate is a fraction.

It also depends what Mac you buy. If it has plenty of user serviceable parts like HD, RAM etc, then it's less important. However on something like a new rMBP, it's absolutely essential.

FYI I've had 5 Macs since the late 90s, and 2 of them have required Apple Care treatment within 3 years (HD in my G4 iMac, and screen on my current iMac.) No logic board failures though.
 
I have it on all three Macs, my iPhone 4S and my ipad3...I haven't had to use it once, but still think the peace of mind it gives, and as machines get older they become more prone to failure...Don't regret it one bit.
 
d0nK said:
In the uk, if you buy from House of Fraser you get 2 years warranty anyway, which makes AppleCare useless. You can probably get 2 years' warranty from every UK shop except the Apple Store actually, lol.
Click to expand...

John Lewis is probably what you meant

John T said:
Methinks you need to check your facts! AppleCare covers three years. Unlike the standard insurance based "Warranties" offered by retail stores, AppleCare also covers free telephone support for hardware and software. Just check out the fine print and you'll see what I mean. 🙂
Click to expand...

He was referring to the EU law about 2 year warranties, but the UK sales of goods act goes further than this. Goods supplied have to be fit for purpose - it can be, and often is argued that a £1,000 device should last longer than the years guarantee.

AppleCare does provide telephone support, but to be honest who uses that once they are used to the Mac.

Maybe, just as a suggestion Apple could offer a decent warranty in the first place - you know standing by the build and reliability of their products. In the meantime I'll still purchase my Macs from a supplier who offers a better warranty up front (John Lewis). During the first year you can always take it to an Apple store for warranty work.
 
I did get Applecare with my 2011 iMac (though hadn't for my previous macbook pro's). Thinking at the time was the <10% cost was a good hedge against problems with the LCD/mainboard/etc, which would likely cost a crapload for me to fix.

I did get the dark-spots problem on my display about 9 months in, so that would have been covered under the warranty. But I've been too lazy to actually drag it in, so the applecare will pay off as I'm now past warranty. 🙂

Whenever a retina 27" comes along, I'll probably replace the current iMac -- unless the cost is prohibitive, I'll probably get applecare again since that LCD will likely be very expensive to replace on my own.
 
Having applecare is like most said, essential to every Mac. If anything breaks in your mac, minimum it is will cost around 200-300$ to repair. Apple repair prices are ridiculous high.

Applecare extends your mac's "apple-warranty of 1 year" to 3 years. This means that you do not have to buy applecare as soon as you buy your mac. You can buy it later, I know apple gives you a discount if you buy your mac with applecare, but you can find applecare for the same prices on ebay.

Besides, for any reason you move to another country, apple will service it worldwide.

So in my opinion is a no brainer. You can buy it withing a year of your purchase and its covered 3years worldwide. If you don't and something breaks and happens (not rarely) it will cost you 200-+ and apple care is cheaper than that.
 
vladfein said:
What is your point?
The failure rate of anything, by definition, is a fraction!
Click to expand...

My point is that an Apple product is unlikely to fail within 3 years considering the amount that do not fail. Therefore spending a large percentage of the purchase price, often hundreds of dollars, on Apple Care is not something I consider essential, but something worth considering, especially if it's a model that is expensive to repair with few user-serviceable parts.

Example: The only thing (relatively) likely to fail AND be more expensive than the cost of Apple Care in a Mac Pro or iMac is the logic board. If anything else failed such as the RAM, GPU or HD, it would be way cheaper to fix it yourself. So is Apple Care essential for these? No in my opinion.
 
For a fully loaded 27" iMac $169USD is completely worth it, especially putting it through its paces each day.
Even a base model 21" 169USD is worth it.

Coverage for a display & CPU system at that price is unbeatable (unless of course it was lower). Get it and enjoy the Mac.
 
I purchased AppleCare about eleven months after I bought my white MacBook in order to get the extended coverage. It was a real debate for me as to whether I should. I never had AppleCare or its equivalent (if there was such a thing) when I bought a Performa 450 in the 1990s. Nor did I have any such coverage when I bought a G3 iMac. Yet both those new machines had faults as it turned out.

Apple were brilliant with the Performa (a motherboard problem that meant my printer wouldn't print). The Performa was just outside the twelve-month guarantee at the time but Apple sent an engineer halfway across the UK to repair it. No charge. Years later, my new iMac had a dodgy video card (which didn't manifest itself for a good while). Yet luckily it never amounted to a real problem despite years of use. Just an occasional judder of the screen image once in a blue moon.

Having had those experiences, I decided to play safe and get AppleCare with my next new Mac – the MacBook. I didn't experience any problems at all with the machine! But I did have peace of mind.

I think with my next Mac I probably won't bother with AppleCare. In my opinion a quality machine branded with the Apple logo ought to give at least three years' reliable service if looked after properly. Apple should offer that three-year guarantee as a default. I imagine sales of Apple computers would soar even further if they did. Can they afford the self-confidence of such a policy? Is the build quality (and third-party suppliers' standards) up to that? Who knows?

And how much of a cash-cow is AppleCare? Would it be offset by the increased sales of three-year guaranteed machines?

Good luck with your decision.
 
Last edited:
buy apple care or not?

I bought a new iMac (and AppleCare) last summer and have had the
normal number of glitches that have all been taken care of without
any add'l cost. Hard drive was one that was recalled - replaced w/o
cost. Screen wasn't re-seated quite correctly - taken care of w/o cost.
Power outage/surge fried the power source (even with a good surge protector
in place) and that was replaced without cost.

AppleCare for iMacs in the states costs about $150; my local Mac store does repairs for $75-100 and hour. (And they are very, very good)

Even though I don't usually purchase extended warranties (it just seems easier to replace/upgrade on most electronics), AppleCare is the one policy
I always purchase just because -- IF something does go wrong, it will
be fixed w/o hassle or added expense.
 
I never buy a Mac without it.

My current 2006 iMac has had:
- Complete replacement due to faulty screen shortly after purchase
- New logic board after two years
- Two new superdrives in year two and three
- Three new Magic Mice in years one, two and three

It has also had a new (and upgraded) HDD installed at cost with no labour charge outside of the Applecare period (year four), which was unexpected and appreciated.

The bottom line is that if you have Applecare, Apple will look after you — both during and beyond the period covered. I never buy extended warranties on anything else, but Applecare I always buy. Money well spent.
 
Since AppleCare is a source of profit for Apple, it's reasonable to say that it isn't worth it for the customer, in the long run. I've bought 13 Macs for myself and family members in the past 8 years. All are still running except for one that I sold and don't know its status, but it was well outside of 3 years old when I sold it. Only two have required a repair in the second or third year of life that AppleCare would have covered and cost more than AppleCare, in one case just barely so.

As far as I'm concerned, years 2 and 3 are the prime of life for a computer. There are far more likely to be problems in year 1 and years 4 and beyond.
 
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