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How necessary is AppleCare?
- Thread starter smithy16
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On notebooks, I believe that Applecare is $250 for macbooks and $350 for mbps. While you can get repairs done anywhere in the world (where there is an Apple Store), Apple advises against it due to legal conflicts. Personally however, I think it's just a bunch of bull, and it should work fine anywhere.
Ahh yes. The gambler's fallacy is a favorite of gamblers and Applecare supporters alike.
It will be one year tomorrow since I bought my macbook, and I'm still trying to decide whether to get Applecare for it or not! It costs $419 AUD here, but theres a shop selling it for $379. It's freakin pricey.
I think I will skip it and hope for the best. I will replace my macbook in a years time anyway, hopefully nothing goes wrong before then (I had my hard drive die a few months back though :S)
I think I will skip it and hope for the best. I will replace my macbook in a years time anyway, hopefully nothing goes wrong before then (I had my hard drive die a few months back though :S)
AppleCare warranties are FULLY transferrable to a new owner. This is part of the reason that you see certain used Macs selling for more than others on eBay.
I agree with everyone else here too. Just make sure that you don't FORGET to buy it, as a friend of mine did... his PowerBook died about 18 months after he bought it, and no AppleCare meant that the repairs to the tune of $1100were his to bare... OUCH.
Keep in mind that in this situation, you have the choice of repairing your computer, or getting for example a refurbished one. If you bought for example a top-of-the-range MacBook when they were first released (less than 18 months ago), you could replace it today with a refurbished MacBook that is better in every respect for much less money. If you take into account the cost of AppleCare and the fact that you have been using the computer for 18 months, it is still annoying but not too awful.
Opposite of that happened to me. Some electronics item that I bought with three year extended warranty broke on a Tuesday. Didn't bother to take it to a shop until Saturday. When I checked all the papers, the one year warranty would have run out on Thursday!
Uhm, doesn't both have the X1600? Doesn't they have similair CPUs? Only different should be faster HDD in the iMac?
Exactly, I have a home insurrance worth a little over 100.000 SEK + extra "retard insurrance" which probably cost 1000-1500 SEK in self err.. fee if something happens and I need to use it + personal insurrance if anything happen to me and it all cost like 1200-1300 SEK / year.
Sure it won't help if the computer dies for whatever reason, but the basic warranty are supposed to help with that and over here in Sweden I think we have 3 years for all "fabric issues" that is flaws which have always been there. I don't know how Apple handles them but they better do it if anything happen to my machine =P
For accidents AppleCare won't help but my current home insurrance will do. I might not get the whole computers worth back but atleast what they think it's worth when it happen. I'd rather have that warranty in case of drops, water accidents or whatever instead of buying multiple insurrances for all items I own.
But how many of those does Apple Care cover? Not accidents on bikes, people tripping over your power cable, ...
Plus - you can put the money that you would have spent in a high yield CD and make 6% on it - you thus save 6% off whatever you would pay for the warranty.!!!
Oh god, why dredge up this old and mercifully dead thread??
Besides, there has to be 25 other more recent "should I buy Applecare" threads that have sprung up in it's place. How about this one? It's 5 months fresher.
I'm thinking about buying applecare for my month old macbook. However, I do not have £200 to spend, on the online apple store. Where would a good alternative place be to buy applecare in the UK?
I bought a refurbished MB (black) almost one year ago, and it has been absolutely perfect in every way ever since. My warranty runs out next month, and I was wondering if I really need to spring for AppleCare. I would really hate for something costly to go wrong with it in the next 2 years, but I have been very much impressed so far in that I haven't had even one second's problems with the hardware. The cheapest I have found it is $169 on eBay, and I really hate to spend it if I don't need to. What are other's opinions?
Never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever buy a mac laptops without Applecare.
EVER.
It is necessary.
EVER.
It is necessary.
What is the best price you have seen for MB AppleCare (Apple want $249)? I have seen it for $169 on eBay.
I only paid $1049 for my beautiful black MB refurb, so yes, $200 does sound like a lot. I suppose it is a good insurance, and I'll probably bite, but it hurts.
Your initial instinct is correct. This is an absolutely ridiculous percentage of the original product value to invest in extending a warranty.
S'not necessary at all in the first year. If you think you're going to use it for a significant time beyond that, then yeah, I'd go for the assurance AC provides. I rarely hold onto a machine longer than 12 months, myself, so I've never gone for it.
You might find credit card / home contents insurance has you adequately covered such that you don't need it, though.
You might find credit card / home contents insurance has you adequately covered such that you don't need it, though.
+1, any problems I've encountered have been in the first 12 months
This thread (and the dozens of others with the same debate) just refuse to die.
If, like jnc, you know you are going to use a Mac for no more than one year I would obviously agree that Applecare would be a waste of money.
If however, like myself, you plan to use your Mac for a few years then Applecare is most definitely worth consideration. Just applying common logic, stress-induced hardware failures/problems are far more likely to occur the longer (and harder) you use a machine.
As NON user-serviceable as Macs are it sure adds a great sense of security to have that warm feeling that if anything does go wrong with your hardware Apple is going to fix it for free.
I decided to save the cash for Applecare on my 20" Core Duo iMac and it had a logic board failure 6 weeks out of the one year limited warranty. That only cost me $550.
Applecare for the iMac from L.A. Computer is $120. That's $5 per month over the extended 24 months of coverage. And for the 10,000th time, even if you don't have cause to use the coverage you do get something for your money: peace of mind.
This thread (and the dozens of others with the same debate) just refuse to die.
If, like jnc, you know you are going to use a Mac for no more than one year I would obviously agree that Applecare would be a waste of money.
If however, like myself, you plan to use your Mac for a few years then Applecare is most definitely worth consideration. Just applying common logic, stress-induced hardware failures/problems are far more likely to occur the longer (and harder) you use a machine.
As NON user-serviceable as Macs are it sure adds a great sense of security to have that warm feeling that if anything does go wrong with your hardware Apple is going to fix it for free.
I decided to save the cash for Applecare on my 20" Core Duo iMac and it had a logic board failure 6 weeks out of the one year limited warranty. That only cost me $550.
Applecare for the iMac from L.A. Computer is $120. That's $5 per month over the extended 24 months of coverage. And for the 10,000th time, even if you don't have cause to use the coverage you do get something for your money: peace of mind.
But for the love of frank, just don't buy AppleCare at the time of purchase regardless. Anyone on MR is not going to require the extended phone support (broad assumption) - and by getting AC at purchase you're paying for something you won't utilise for a last a year from that point.