APPLECARE : Wait the year, or dive right in?

He's right. Applecare is three years from the date of purchase. I don't know why people say to wait. Why pay $100 (easy round number) for only two years. If you can afford it, buy it now and get the full three years support.

OnceUGoMac said:

He's right. Applecare is three years from the date of purchase. I don't know why people say to wait. Why pay $100 (easy round number) for only two years. If you can afford it, buy it now and get the full three years support.

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You can buy AppleCare for One Year from the date of purchase. AppleCare, WHENEVER you buy it, lasts 3 years from the purchase date. So, for the first year, you aren't really using the Apple Care, and it isn't necessary to buy it.

People say to "wait on it" because you don't need to spend the money ASAP

OnceUGoMac said:

I don't know why people say to wait.

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I guess it depends on if you know for sure that you're going to keep it for more than 12 months when you purchase the Mac.

I bought my TiBook in Jan '03 with the intention of replacing it within 12 months, but such has been the pi$$ poor progress of the PowerBook range since then, that I decided to pony up the £$€ for AppleCare a couple of days before my opportunity to purchase AppleCare expired.

If you have any intention of keeping an Apple portable for more than 12 months then AppleCare is a must, and from my personal experience, Apple portables are pi$$ poor for reliability.

At the end of the day though, it's shocking that they only have a 12 month standard warranty, talk about faith in the quality of your products.

MacAztec said:

AppleCare, WHENEVER you buy it, lasts 3 years from the purchase date.

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Just to clarify for ibidiem, that's the purchase date of the Mac, not the purchase date of the AppleCare. If you purchase AppleCare at the end of your 12 month standard warranty, AppleCare only offers an extra 2 years.

Otherworldcomputing (http://www.macsales.com) is probably your best bet to get you ram.They have a good price(much better than crucial), the chips are made for and guaranteed to work with you ibook/powerbook. In addition you can and should get the chips that come with a lifetime warranty.

About the only good reason I can think of to buy the Applecare earlier than 1 year after purchase of the computer is if you want phone support... without Applecare, you only get free phone support for 30 (I think) days, then they start charging you per incident. With Applecare, the phone support is free as long as the Applecare is in effect.

Otherwise, yes, you might as well just wait and hold on to your money for now, unless you don't really care about that and/or don't want to forget to purchase it before the one year time period expries.

ibidiem said:

Just to be clear:

Applecare is good for three years from purchase of the Applecare, or three years from the date I purchase my ibook?

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From the date you purchased your iBook.

AppleCare will only give you 3 years if you purchase it when you buy the iBook. If you buy it the day your standard 12 month warranty expires, then it only adds 2 more years.

If you don't need to use telephone support, and you might be replacing it in 12 months then I wouldn't bother buying it, however if you're definitely keeping it for more than 12 months then you might as well buy it now.

G

The problem with waiting is that most people forget to but it and let the 1 year mark slide by. Then, despite having every *intention* of buying the AppleCare, they are no longer covered. Sure makes is that much more frustrating if your computer needs service when it's our of warranty, especially if it was your intention to buy it all along.

Also, RAM can play a crucial role with playing havoc on your computer. Sometimes that's even one of the first troubleshooting tests.

I just bought it mainly for the phone support.

My 90 days just ran out, and I don't want to be up poops creek one day and not have it.

Plus it covers my displays, too.

Dive right in.

LimeLite said:

The problem with waiting is that most people forget to but it and let the 1 year mark slide by. Then, despite having every *intention* of buying the AppleCare, they are no longer covered...

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Apple has never made it easy for me to forget. I'll usually get a phone call to my home one month prior to the 1 year warranty expiring.

RAM is a user-installable option and does NOT void your warranty.
I have seen that posted on this forums numerous times and have had several Apple store employees tell me the same thing.

You did the right thing, declining the way-overpriced Apple RAM.
Search these forums under "RAM" and you'll see several recs.

Good luck!

ibidiem said:

Just to be clear:

Applecare is good for three years from purchase of the Applecare, or three years from the date I purchase my ibook?

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it's from the date you buy your iBook......and NOT when you buy Applecare

applecare has two components....the hardware warranty and telephone support

in regard to the hardware warranty, Applecare is a 2 year EXTENSION to the 1 year basic warranty......they like to say "3 years of coverage" because you end with a TOTAL of 3 years but you're only getting 2 additional years beyond the basic hardware warranty......as a result a lot of people get confused and think you're buying an additional 3 years of coverage beyond the basic coverage but that's not the case

the telephone support component can be calls about all sorts of things....set-up issues, "how-to" questions, simple newbie questions, power user issues, whatever...it's not just about getting hardware fixed. The basic telephone support coverage is 90 days so when you buy the applecare extension you get an additional 2 years and 275 days......again that's an extension from the day you bought your ibook, not from when you bought Applecare.....that takes you to that "3 year" date you hear so much.

I got my Applecare one year to the day after I bought my Powerbook from another vendor. Apple gave me a bit of a hard time about registering it, and I had to go get a copy of the original Powerbook purchase order from the vendor. So my advice is to do it a little earlier than one year. if I had to do it all again, I'd probably just get it at the purchase time to reduce the hassle.

Huked on Fonick said:

Otherworldcomputing (http://www.macsales.com) is probably your best bet to get you ram.They have a good price(much better than crucial), the chips are made for and guaranteed to work with you ibook/powerbook. In addition you can and should get the chips that come with a lifetime warranty.

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How do you figure?
I just looked at both sites for the current ibook
1gb $160 at Crucial
1gb $138 at MacSales for noname brand
1gb $167 at MacSales for Samsung

It doesn't seem to be much different.

AppleCare is a good thing. My brother and I have opted for AppleCare on all of our Macs and while I've never really utilized it, the hardware warranty does provide a sense of security. My bro' on the other hand has seemed to need AppleCare on each of his computers. It replaced the hard drive on his green iMac, they sent him a brand new keyboard for his lampshade iMac when he spilled coffee (it survived the beer incident) on it and they didn't even ask for the defective keyboard to be returned. Not to mention it arrived in one or two days. As someone else mentioned, if you can afford AppleCare it's best to go on and get it.

iGary said:

I just bought it mainly for the phone support.

My 90 days just ran out, and I don't want to be up poops creek one day and not have it.

Plus it covers my displays, too.

Dive right in.

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To be honest I bought Applecare for all of the Mac's I bought not for the phone support, for all the support I needed I got from MR. I did have a hardware issue with my PB,, an SD failure that I had covered under Applecare. and it appears that I might have a similar issue with my eMac.

Glad I paid the price. Otherwise I would have to have an FUGLY external DVD-R drive.

Still don't know why anyone who is at least a bit technically savvy would waste their money on a very expensive extended warranty coverage? By the time the standard warranty runs out, I can sell it off (if it gives me trouble in the first year, which is when trouble usually arises) or fix most things for less than the cost over the warranty myself. Not only that, most of the parts will be cheaper and better a year down the road.

drake said:

Still don't know why anyone who is at least a bit technically savvy would waste their money on a very expensive extended warranty coverage? By the time the standard warranty runs out, I can sell it off (if it gives me trouble in the first year, which is when trouble usually arises) or fix most things for less than the cost over the warranty myself. Not only that, most of the parts will be cheaper and better a year down the road.

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yeah, run into a failed logic board in an iMac or portable, and then let me know what kind of song you are singing...

but, of note, apple will do a one time repair on a machine (not covered with Apple care) for about $300 (one time fee). So if you only ran into one problem, you've pretty much paid for applecare (with a portable and the possibility of a failed logic board or lcd screen, its worth the cost).

Advice...

I have never bought Apple Care during the initial purchase, but have always ending up purchasing it before the year was up. Why?

I never know if I will be keeping my computer more than one year. Since my last three have been laptops, I tend to try to buy a new one every year since laptops (all of them) are already behind when it comes to computing power from the start (compared to most desktops).

Desktops I always buy during the initial purchase, and that is because I always plan to keep those for multiple years. It's just peace of mind...

That being said, 3 of the 4 Apple laptops I have owned (12" G3 iBook, 15" & 17" powerbooks) have had SOME kind of problem with them (whether it be factory defect or use accelerated defect) and Apple Care has been an absolute LIFESAVER.

I think computers just like a car...no matter how well made, they are going to have problems. I mean, I cart my laptop EVERYWHERE, and paying a few hundred bucks to ensure that everything not blatantly my fault is worth it.

lopresmb said:

yeah, run into a failed logic board in an iMac or portable, and then let me know what kind of song you are singing...

but, of note, apple will do a one time repair on a machine (not covered with Apple care) for about $300 (one time fee). So if you only ran into one problem, you've pretty much paid for applecare (with a portable and the possibility of a failed logic board or lcd screen, its worth the cost).

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Pretty crappy product if the motherboard fails after a year. Best stay clear.

drake said:

Pretty crappy product if the motherboard fails after a year. Best stay clear.

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Hey, things happen.

With Apple, it is a hedge against the unknown. Based on my experiences of Sony and Hp computers, no way I would ever buy one of them without an extended warranty.

In my personal situation, I jumped in and bought a Power Mac and skipped Applecare, with the idea that I would buy it before the one year time period. Now, I want to buy a ton of other things, but in the back of my mind I still have to get the exended warranty. At thing point I would havew rather bought it with the computer even if it took longer, because it's just so hard to justify buying an extended warranty over a iPod or scratch disk.

macbaseball said:

In my personal situation, I jumped in and bought a Power Mac and skipped Applecare, with the idea that I would buy it before the one year time period. Now, I want to buy a ton of other things, but in the back of my mind I still have to get the exended warranty. At thing point I would havew rather bought it with the computer even if it took longer, because it's just so hard to justify buying an extended warranty over a iPod or scratch disk.

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A cautionary tale.

I bought a PB. Thought that I was within the one year warranty. I lost my receipt. Apple used the "ship date" to the Apple store at Tysons as the basis. In the end they did allow me to buy the AppleCare for my SDD repair. It did save me about $100-150 over the repair costs.