iMac getting old. Replace under AppleCare?

[kunalap]

Hi.
I'd like to get this out first that I know its sneaky and not-right to do what I'm about to ask. So please deal with this with a pinch of salt.

I have the old white 17" iMac (which I love). I bought it just 6 or 10 months (Sept 2006??) before the aluminium ones came out.

Since then, it failed once at which point since it was under AppleCare, they kind of replaced the whole "innards" or the iMac.

Looking at that, I decided to extended my AppleCare to 3 years.

This September, the extended AppleCare runs out too. So I'm hoping my iMac crashes or something very very bad happens to it so that either one of the two things happen:

1. I get a fresh clean on to start out with again
2. They give me a fresh aluminium look iMac, and since it doesn't come in 17" anymore, I'd be getting a 20" one.

Now here is the silly question, how can I get it to crash to extent that it is beyond repair or parts replacement?

I'm already having a few problems like its getting slow, cd writting fails 2 out of 5 times, double layer dvds cannot be written at all, etc.

Any suggestions? (don't tell me to buy a new one because I simply cannot afford it).

Cheers.

[smurfjammer]

If you have a real problem, take it in and get it fixed but if you're trying to scam your way to a new mac, you won't get much help here.

[clyde2801]

Take it in now for the superdrive problem. I think the rule is that if they have to do 3 repairs on it within the applecare period, they replace the machine. Run the tech tool deluxe disc that came with your applecare and see if it picks up anything.

I wouldn't try to wreck the machine to get a new one. Not only is that immoral, but arguably it's fraud.

If they get the machine working within specs, just max the ram out if you haven't done so already, and look up a couple of good websites that tell you how to get the most performance under osx with an older machine. Most involve turning off unnecessary eye candy and processor sucking options that you don't really need.

[sushi]

Any suggestions? (don't tell me to buy a new one because I simply cannot afford it).
If something is wrong with your iMac, use AppleCare to get it fixed.

And if you can't afford a new one, I would suggest that good care of the one that you have instead of trying to scam Apple into giving you a new iMac.