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CtotheP

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 15, 2011
143
13
Silicon Valley
With a lot of rumblings out there of higher failure rates of the 1st-gen Fusion Drives, just wondering how many people have bought Apple Care in hopes of extra protection?

I'm still within the window to purchase and I know a few good deals can be found out there.....
 

hasenpfeffer

macrumors newbie
Nov 28, 2012
27
3
With a lot of rumblings out there of higher failure rates of the 1st-gen Fusion Drives, just wondering how many people have bought Apple Care in hopes of extra protection?

I did not.

The "higher failure rates" is a very debatable matter of perspective. Higher failure rates have nothing to do with it being a fusion drive, per se. The higher failure rates is simply the fact that there are 2 drives. Anyone with an SSD and a hard drive in their system would likely have a similar failure rate as someone with an SSD and hard drive 'fused' together.

So, you really should take the 'fusion' term out and ask yourself if you want AppleCare simply because you have a system containing an SSD and a hard drive?

I use time machine to backup and the Mac mini has drives that are reasonably user replaceable. This makes it so that I did not choose to buy AppleCare.
 

scotttnz

macrumors 6502a
Dec 16, 2012
817
3,383
Auckland, New Zealand
I have not bought Apple Care yet, but I have 11 months left to do so.

I am not worried about drive failure, as I have run multiple drives, including SSDs in Windows PCs for years, with few problems. I know hard drives fail, and when fused, loss of one drive results in the loss of the whole volume, but I backup to a Time Capsule and 2 separate USB drives that are kept off-site, so the chances of any significant data loss are very slim.

I may still buy Apple Care before the end of the year, but if I do it will be to protect me from logic board or similar failure, as I can replace the drives myself, cheaply with generic parts, but not the logic board. I depends if I start running out of space causing me to want to upgrade the SSD to a bigger one, which would probably void the Apple Care so I wouldn't waste the money.
 

bigbird

macrumors 6502
Aug 17, 2007
381
0
Canada
I bought it.
I get a deal because of educator pricing ($99 in Canada instead of $129 retail) so I figured for new technology, that works out to $33/year or less than $3/month. I've got peace of mind for 3 years.
 

FreakinEurekan

macrumors 603
Sep 8, 2011
5,423
2,494
I bought it. I figured with both SSD and a 1TB hard drive there are some pricey components, and while I'm technically proficient I just don't want to go opening up the case & mucking with delicate hardware. I fully expect it to be a "Wasted" purchase - I'm not anticipating problems - but it's there if I need it.
 

philipma1957

macrumors 603
Apr 13, 2010
6,362
248
Howell, New Jersey
I have 2 unopened applecare packages.


I always keep a few handy.


I wait for a good sale.

You can hold them for years if you do not activate them. Then if I have a piece of gear that I want to keep. I use the applecare on it in the 11th month.
 

scotttnz

macrumors 6502a
Dec 16, 2012
817
3,383
Auckland, New Zealand
The other part of my reasoning for not buying the Apple Care yet was that this is my first Mac. If I decide to flee back to windows land before the 1 year warranty expires, then I won't buy Apple Care.
 

MFL2012

macrumors member
Jul 27, 2012
92
11
Bought my Mini thru B&H Photo. Apple Care was $52. Too good of a deal to pass up.
 
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