Would you get Apple Care if...

My personal philosophy has always been "If it costs over $1,000 and has a built-in display, get Apple Care". Then again, I also got Apple Care+ for my iPhone 5, which has all ready been used.

Question though. Since you don't use it that often, have you considered selling it?

Based on my experience with my unibody alu MacBook, probably... The 'click' on my trackpad has been more of a 'press hard' for some time now and the battery has been toast for about the same time. While I wouldn't have been able to replace the battery on Apple Care, I would have been able to have the trackpad fixed, as far as I'm aware.

However, as that's the only issue I've had with it since getting it in early 2009, would the cost of Apple Care have been less expensive than if I was to take it to Apple to have it fixed I wonder?

It's really hard to quantify. If you buy Apple Care and nothing goes wrong, you'd be frustrated you'd paid

If you don't get Apple Care and the logic board gives up (for example), you'll be wishing you'd taken it

iMikeT said:

My personal philosophy has always been "If it costs over $1,000 and has a built-in display, get Apple Care". Then again, I also got Apple Care+ for my iPhone 5, which has all ready been used.

Question though. Since you don't use it that often, have you considered selling it?

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Yes, to the OP. In my experience, Applecare is a good idea and may end up saving you money rather than costing you. To, iMikeT, I'm in complete agreement with your post.

I have had a MBP and currently have a MBA. And yes, I have had Applecare on both of them, and found myself having to use it. After two and a half years, the MBP had a failed HDD (which was replaced under Applecare) and the MBA required a new Magsafe adaptor and a new keyboard (both of which were taken care of under Applecare).

I don't really see the point of Applecare for iPods, and such, but for a computer I like the idea of something which will give me peace of mind for three years. In fact, given the cost of repairs after the original warranty has expired, in my experience, Applecare has more than paid for itself.

I have never bothered with AppleCare, and I'll tell you why... It costs too much.

If you just happened to need your SuperDrive replaced, it is going to cost less than that $300 insurance, like $100-200 less. Same thing with a keyboard replacement. If you were going in and out with broken parts every other month, sure, it's good coverage, but if you take care of your computer pretty decently, you have nothing to worry about. If the RAM goes bad, buy some new sticks for $100, if the hard drive goes bad, buy a new one for around the same price, but with better specs.

Save that $300 and put it away for when you are looking to upgrade. It'll come in handy. Otherwise it's just more money in Apple's pockets.

Jessica Lares said:

I have never bothered with AppleCare, and I'll tell you why... It costs too much.

If you just happened to need your SuperDrive replaced, it is going to cost less than that $300 insurance, like $100-200 less. Same thing with a keyboard replacement. If you were going in and out with broken parts every other month, sure, it's good coverage, but if you take care of your computer pretty decently, you have nothing to worry about. If the RAM goes bad, buy some new sticks for $100, if the hard drive goes bad, buy a new one for around the same price, but with better specs.

Save that $300 and put it away for when you are looking to upgrade. It'll come in handy. Otherwise it's just more money in Apple's pockets.

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+1

By the time you encounter problems with your computer, you'll want the latest tech anyway. Save your money.

-1

You realise it's a MBA so it isn't all that easy replacing the RAM and HDD?

Dude, I have had my MBP since 2008 with AC and it did not happen a single problem, I did not buy AC on my Ipod touch and I failed the wify just a month after the first year of purchase and just after the second birthday I had the grey screen of doom. It became preatty much useless and I had to buy a new one.

What I have learned from my experience is that the Murphy's Law always works hard so if you have that money buy AC, is better wasting some today that having some griff tomorrow.

Check to see you credit card company's warranty policies. I pay using AMEX, which doubles the manufacturer's base warranty. So if I bought AC, I'd be paying all of that money for just one year. Is that a good deal? The answer depends on how confident you are in the quality of Apple products these days.

If you're a student you might get a discount on AppleCare, worth asking.

On my 2010 MBP I've gone through two MagSafe adapters, a SuperDrive, a upper case, keyboard & trackpad. All covered through AppleCare. So worth it for me.

It's insurance over manufacturing defects not user accidents or abuse.

I am not going to tell you what I do. Doesn't matter what I do, I am not you. Am going to zero in what YOU do based on your post.

Since you only occasional use it now, doesn't sound if it breaks is going to cause you much hassle. Is another thing if you rely on it everyday.

Only other thing to consider is your history. Do things breaks on you? Are you bothered by little things or you just moved on and go meh, no big deal?

That's it.

Education discount on AppleCare for the Macbook Air is $183 (vs. $249) if I'm not mistaken.

CoMoMacUser said:

Check to see you credit card company's warranty policies. I pay using AMEX, which doubles the manufacturer's base warranty. So if I bought AC, I'd be paying all of that money for just one year. Is that a good deal? The answer depends on how confident you are in the quality of Apple products these days.

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Same, used AMEX. To me if it majorly breaks after the 2nd year then I'm just going to get a new laptop

My MBP is 5 years old, I've had 5 iPhones, 2 iPads and an Apple TV and have never had Applecare and (touch wood) have never had a problem.

I also thought about it when getting to a year, but as I had been incident free within that year I decided against it.

If I had had problems I probably would've brought it for that particular device

Since buying Macs beginning in 2007, I have never bought Apple Care for any of them and have needed it. It is just a source of extra income for Apple.

I have had every Mac from MacBooks, MBPs, Mac Pros to iPods, iPhones. Never needed it on anything.

Many people would say that if it's a mobile device, it needs Apple care. Based on how much it travels outside your home, I'd say skip it.

I have a question. Are logic boards frying a big or predictable problem for MacBook Airs? That's the only concern I have regarding apple care as I hear that the logic board dying means the computer needs to be replaced. If that happens, then the $300 seems worth it. Everything else, I can take care of (exterior and screen) or replace on my own (SSD) or is not covered (battery).

Any tips?

I used to repair these things and PCs. I have digital electronics diploma. Solid States don't fry. A few may do I guess but that's just bad luck. Failure most likely cause by spilled liquid which Apple Care is not going to save you.

Apple Care is way too expensive, and covers way too little.

A SquareTrade warrantee costs the same amount, and also covers accidental damage, the most likely kind of damage.

I personally go with a supplemental property protection insurance. For ~$100/yr, I get $5,000 worth of coverage for anything that I accidentally break, breaks on it's on own, is stolen, or anything. The only restriction is that it can't have been in my car, and I can't have done it on purpose. Also, there is a $50 deductible. It's about the same cost as AppleCare (AC is ~$100/yr), but provides so so much more, and covers literally everything I own.

Bdix said:

I'm getting close to a year with my MBA. I'm still on the fence about Apple Care.

I bought it in April 2012, right before graduating from law school, so I used it somewhat heavily for about 4 months (last month of school and studying for the bar exam). Since then I've been working at a job that provides me with a computer (desktop). I have picked up an iPad in December. Thus, the MBA gets used pretty rarely (some nights and weekends when I'm working from home). It has left my apartment maybe 2 times since I've been working.

If I were still in school (where I was using it 8-10 hours a day almost nonstop), Apple Care would be a no brainer. But now I'm not sure.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks!

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can you still get the student discount?

i am at the other end of your situation - about to start law school!
going to get a mba, tbd and a few other peripherals at the same time so i can get the student discount and (probably) the reduced APP which will cover all of it...

3 year APP, 3 year law school = covered. And at 180 or so for all of that i think it's a pretty good deal.

Essentially, it is insurance. You are buying piece of mind. Only time tells if you recoup your investment over the piece of mind. Never had to use AppleCare until last month when a 2 1/2 year old iMac got a new power supply and logic board for "free" instead of $900. Paid for a few "unused" AppleCares.

OP, this is ultimately a question only you can answer.

CoMoMacUser said:

Check to see you credit card company's warranty policies. I pay using AMEX, which doubles the manufacturer's base warranty. So if I bought AC, I'd be paying all of that money for just one year. Is that a good deal? The answer depends on how confident you are in the quality of Apple products these days.

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They don't count the AppleCare as manufacturer warranty? I thought buying computer+AC with AMEX would get you four total years of coverage.

yinz said:

I have a question. Are logic boards frying a big or predictable problem for MacBook Airs? That's the only concern I have regarding apple care as I hear that the logic board dying means the computer needs to be replaced. If that happens, then the $300 seems worth it. Everything else, I can take care of (exterior and screen) or replace on my own (SSD) or is not covered (battery).

Click to expand...

Never heard of this is a particular problem.

But here's my view: If your MBA breaks after 35 months, with a fried motherboard, you can take the $300 that you didn't pay for AppleCare, plus interest, plus $50 or $100 that someone pays for your old MacBook on eBay, and add some of your own money, and you get a refurbished MBA that is much newer and much better than your old one.

If you have problems in the first 11 1/2 months that make you think you could have more problems, then buy AppleCare. If it works fine for the first 11 1/2 months, I wouldn't bother.

My past experience:

I had a 2011 13" MBP, it began to have heating issues and would occasionally shut off every one in awhile. At the time i has a SPECK hard case, so i assumed that the overheating was due to the case not allowing enough ventilation. The random shutoffs would only occur during heavy use and would be relatively rare. Since it was not common I decided not to make a big deal over it, WRONG IDEA.

After about a year the random shutdowns would occur more often and became a daily occurrence. Eventually it shutoff and never turned back on, upon Apple inspection it turned out that the logic board was fried. They quoted ~$500 repair and advise to just purchase a new computer. Ended up selling the laptop for scrap parts.

I went to purchase a MBA 13" from B&H Photo and added AppleCare for $90.
Will do the same going forward with other Apple notebooks.

TL;DR - MBP logic board fried after warranty, sold for scraps. Buy AppleCare.