AppleCare can be bought....

[GigaWire]

A friend of mine wants to sell his applecare for a PowerBook. If I bought it now, would it apply to a PowerBook i buy later this year? It is unopened.

[arogge]

Is this an AppleCare Protection Plan in its box? If the box hasn't been opened or otherwise accessed, the registration number hasn't been used. Of course the AppleCare service would start when you actually open the box and call Apple to register.

[GigaWire]

Originally Posted by arogge

Is this an AppleCare Protection Plan in its box? If the box hasn't been opened or otherwise accessed, the registration number hasn't been used. Of course the AppleCare service would start when you actually open the box and call Apple to register.

Great, thanks

[FuzzyBallz]

Originally Posted by arogge

Is this an AppleCare Protection Plan in its box? If the box hasn't been opened or otherwise accessed, the registration number hasn't been used. Of course the AppleCare service would start when you actually open the box and call Apple to register.

Are you serious? So you're telling me people don't register their 3 year apple care plan until the 90 days of complimentary support and one-year warranty runs out? You got it all wrong man. Here's how the 3 year apple care plan works (taken from Apple.com).

Three years of security
Every Mac comes with 90 days of telephone support and one year of service coverage at an Apple-authorized repair center. By purchasing the AppleCare Protection Plan with your Mac, you can extend your coverage to three years from the computer’s purchase date.

[krisjon]

Originally Posted by FuzzyBallz

Are you serious? So you're telling me people don't register their 3 year apple care plan until the 90 days of complimentary support and one-year warranty runs out? You got it all wrong man. Here's how the 3 year apple care plan works (taken from Apple.com).

That's exactly what a lot of people do and you're actually the one who's got it partially wrong.

You can purchase and activate Apple Care anytime within one year of the purchase date of your Mac. It will then extend your 90 day phone support and 1 year warranty both for 3 years (or actually 2 if you wait until the end of the first year). If you chose to wait, the only thing in the first year you'd really be missing out on is the post-90 days phone support. But the choice is yours. I just got a new PB and I haven't bought my Apple Care yet exactly for this reason.

[arogge]

Originally Posted by FuzzyBallz

Are you serious? So you're telling me people don't register their 3 year apple care plan until the 90 days of complimentary support and one-year warranty runs out?

How can you register without opening the box? There are several ways to do this, but they're so expensive that it would be cheaper to simply buy another Apple computer. Since you seem to believe that I "got it all wrong man", you should actually try reading the Apple policies regarding AppleCare. An Apple customer has until the original one-year warranty expires to register an AppleCare Protection Plan.

[blue&whiteman]

Originally Posted by GigaWire

A friend of mine wants to sell his applecare for a PowerBook. If I bought it now, would it apply to a PowerBook i buy later this year? It is unopened.

your friend is being kinda silly by selling his applecare for the powerbook. laptops should always have extended care plans as they take so much abuse and are much more opt to things going wrong with them in general.

[arogge]

Originally Posted by blue&whiteman

laptops should always have extended care plans as they take so much abuse and are much more opt to things going wrong with them in general.

The biggest problem I've had with the PowerBook was a bad ATI chip. I was in an Apple Store and heard a customer scream when she found out that fixing her iBook's ethernet port was going to cost more than $650 because the entire board needed to be replaced, and her warranty had recently expired. Apple should make laptops that have more easily-replaceable parts.

[ftaok]

Originally Posted by arogge

Apple should make laptops that have more easily-replaceable parts.

That would be bad business for Apple. If parts were more easily replaceable, that would mean that they would be more easily upgradeable. If users could upgrade their machines, there would be less incentive to buy new ones. Apple doesn't make money when people upgrade their machines instead of replacing them.

Incidentally, Apple used to have the processor on daughtercards. This would allow users to easily replace the processor with faster ones as they became available. That's why the G3 Powerbooks are still hanging around. You can upgrade the Pismo to your hearts content. Since then, Apple has been soldering the processor right onto the logic board.

[arogge]

Originally Posted by ftaok

That would be bad business for Apple. If parts were more easily replaceable, that would mean that they would be more easily upgradeable. If users could upgrade their machines, there would be less incentive to buy new ones. Apple doesn't make money when people upgrade their machines instead of replacing them.

The problem is that users shouldn't be forced to upgrade their computers when something on them breaks. If an ethernet port stops working or if the graphics hardware fails, users are stuck with a repair bill that could go above $700. And that's just considering the regular consumer. If a part on an Apple laptop fails in a remote location and needed to be replaced, sending the entire computer back to Apple for a logic board replacement wouldn't be an option. I should be able to swap parts as needed.

[jxyama]

Originally Posted by FuzzyBallz

Are you serious? So you're telling me people don't register their 3 year apple care plan until the 90 days of complimentary support and one-year warranty runs out? You got it all wrong man. Here's how the 3 year apple care plan works (taken from Apple.com).

man, no need to get hot headed about it... just a slight misunderstanding on both sides...

summary:

applecare can be activated (by calling apple) any time within one year of purchasing a new Mac.

regardless of when you activate applecare, the coverage runs until three years from the purchase date of the Mac being covered.

implications:

if you've bought an applecare already, you should just activate it because there's no benefit to waiting. (unless you decide it's not really needed and intend to sell it.) (i think this was your point, fuzzyballz)

if you are considering buying an applecare, you have one year from your purchase date to decide. (i think this was the point of others.)

[blue&whiteman]

Originally Posted by arogge

I was in an Apple Store and heard a customer scream when she found out that fixing her iBook's ethernet port was going to cost more than $650 because the entire board needed to be replaced, and her warranty had recently expired. Apple should make laptops that have more easily-replaceable parts.

in that case it would be cheaper to get an airport base station and card for the ibook. you would need another mac for it to work though.