Well i'm going to be ordering my macbook air very soon, and I am wondering if I should spend an extra $200 on the apple care? I could buy ms office for mac or iwork with the money, but If you think apple care is the way to go then I think i might do it. Also does apple give a standard warranty with macbook airs even if you don't buy apple care? like a couple months or something?
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Apple care?
- Thread starter baxingo
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Yes, definitely buy Apple care. It has saved me before. I'm sure many others will say the same as well.
Remember that you don't have to buy it right away, you can purchase it anytime within the first year of ownership. You could purchase the software you need now, and get the Apple Care later on when you have the cash. Just be sure you get it in time to register it before the 1 year from purchase date.
-howard
-howard
Agreed. I forget what the price range is for the MBA ($100-190), but feel the piece of mind is well worth the cost. I have the "13 (loaded) and think it cost me ~$150(?).
Ive always purchased the AppleCare on my macs, but now that I remember that you can purchase it at any time in the first year I may second guess it and buy it closer to the 11th or 12th month, usually I change computers every 8 or so months so spending the extra money doesnt REALLY benefit me...
You make a good point, in the last four years, I've gone through four laptops and three desktops
I've never understood this. Why go for 9 months without the phone support. It makes no sense. As AppleCare only takes it to three years from date of purchase you might as well buy it when you buy the machine. You don't gain anything by leaving it.
Except some may find it financially easier to spread out the cost by waiting to buy AppleCare, especially if 90 days of phone support is sufficient for their needs.
Just how I play it:
You get one year with the OEM warranty. In my experience, it's more likely to be defective early one. If I get through the first year with no issues, then I rather assume I got a "good one" and I use it for another 6-12 months. Then I sell.
At this point, I have gotten ~2 years out of the laptop, saved $250 by skipping Apple Care and get ok resale value, especially when you realize you never spent the $250.
Of course, if you are going to keep the laptop for a long time, then maybe it's more worth this. After 2 years, I usually want a new one.
Some people will say they are easier to sell with Apple Care. I've never had a problem. People care about price and I would have to raise the price if it had 1-2 years of Apple Care left.
I figure I stay in a pretty current laptop for about $50 a month this way, and I'm ok with that.
You get one year with the OEM warranty. In my experience, it's more likely to be defective early one. If I get through the first year with no issues, then I rather assume I got a "good one" and I use it for another 6-12 months. Then I sell.
At this point, I have gotten ~2 years out of the laptop, saved $250 by skipping Apple Care and get ok resale value, especially when you realize you never spent the $250.
Of course, if you are going to keep the laptop for a long time, then maybe it's more worth this. After 2 years, I usually want a new one.
Some people will say they are easier to sell with Apple Care. I've never had a problem. People care about price and I would have to raise the price if it had 1-2 years of Apple Care left.
I figure I stay in a pretty current laptop for about $50 a month this way, and I'm ok with that.
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I have bought it with every other Apple notebook purchase, but I plan on upgrading my MBA to a higher capacity SSD in a couple months (roughly 2 months into owning my MBA). I thought about it, and decided not to go with the extra protection b/c I figured that once I upgraded the SSD I would have nullified the Apple care.
Ebay is the best place to buy Applecare as the price is too good to pass up. I always buy my Applecare and Mobileme renewals there. Just make sure that it's a sealed box and not an activation code. Also don't wait till the 11th or 12th month, it may not work to your advantage. If you wait till then you may not have the funds available, it happens. Also if you wait till then and your Mac is still running fine it's a good possibility you'll pass up on buying the Applecare and then something will break down after the warranty expires.
Actually that won't happen. The only thing that won't be covered under Applecare would be your upgraded SSD. Now, if you have one of the new MBA's that might be possible that your Applecare is voided because Apple uses security torx screws because they don't want you to get inside the machine.
I've always bought it with my Macs but since the MBA is my second Mac I did not purchase it right away. I'm going to see how things go and possibly purchase in the end of the 1 year warranty. The only advantage for now would be phone support but I have no need for that. The MBA was already pricey for a second machine so I couldn't justify nearly another $200.
I would love to know the answer to this since I do have one of the new MBA models with the torx screws. I need to buy a new case, so I'll ask next time I'm an Apple store.
I use a similar approach - if all is well for the initial 6 months then I assume all is OK. If I have a re-occurring problem(s) then my decision is to either sell or obtain the extended warranty.
In the past I have bought the warranty, which has served me well with past Dell laptops - Had nbd onsite service in the US, Hong Kong, and Singapore for various failures, including a HDD replacement in S'pore.
But it is not apparent that Apple has this type of world wide service, so will have to reflect on the other option more, since I regularly travel and my MBP is my "bread and butter" computer for my biz.
Therefore I have to weigh the time required for time to transfer to a new computer and sell the old versus paying $200+ for unknown service.