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1 Month of Apple warranty remaining on my 17" MBP

D

desmotesta

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 17, 2012
55
0
I am at a cross roads - Do I purchase the $350 Apple care warranty or do I risk it?

The laptop has been trouble free so far, no issues what so ever

I am running 16 GB of RAM and it flies without a hitch, even when I am rendering/editing HD videos

What usual issues can I expect given historical data?

thank you
 
desmotesta said:
I am at a cross roads - Do I purchase the $350 Apple care warranty or do I risk it?
...
Click to expand...
That all depends on you and what you're willing to risk. You might not have any problems in the next 2 years or you might have the logic board or some other part die. You never know.

Some people always get AppleCare. For me, AppleCare has covered way more in repair costs than I've paid for AppleCare over the years. Some people haven't needed to have their Macs serviced in the first 3 years of ownership.
 
Bear said:
That all depends on you and what you're willing to risk. You might not have any problems in the next 2 years or you might have the logic board or some other part die. You never know.

Some people always get AppleCare. For me, AppleCare has covered way more in repair costs than I've paid for AppleCare over the years. Some people haven't needed to have their Macs serviced in the first 3 years of ownership.
Click to expand...

I have always had Applecare on my phones and have gotten Apple to give me a new one for one of many reasons near the end of warranty. $99 warranty on a $700 Iphone is prob the same as $350 warranty on a $2500 17" MBP
 
Bear said:
That all depends on you and what you're willing to risk. You might not have any problems in the next 2 years or you might have the logic board or some other part die. You never know.

Some people always get AppleCare. For me, AppleCare has covered way more in repair costs than I've paid for AppleCare over the years. Some people haven't needed to have their Macs serviced in the first 3 years of ownership.
Click to expand...


THIS. I had four repairs on my 17" 2010 machine in the three years, and the repairs ended up costing more than the machine. Thanks to Applecare, I didn't pay anything. They also gave me a new rMBP after the fourth repair because I made them aware of the hassle i'd been through. Had it not have been under warranty they told me that would never be an option.
 
get it.I don't have a 17in but my 15in L.2011 has just started experiencing logic board failures. 3 in the last week and a half. Applecare has made this frustrating experience affordable.
 
FastEddiebags said:
I'm assuming they get it at wholesale prices and don't have as high of a profit margin.
Click to expand...

Oh okay I see. I thought about buying it at first but I've decided on selling my rMBP and getting one of the new ones so I'll have another year of free AC.
 
Assuming you have a 2011 MBP 17 with AMD discrete graphics, I highly suggest you get AppleCare as those gpus are having similar logic board failures as the infamous 2008 MBPs with Nvidia chips.
 
Don't you have to get AppleCare within a month of purchase? Or is that just for phones?
 
Is it worth it to you?
I love having the phone support
It is nice to know that if my computer desides it wants to die apple will fix it for me.
Then again how likely is it that your computer will randomly die?
How hard are you on your computer?

I will tell you this, I love having the extra Apple Care but I dont think it is worth the $350, I got it because the person that owned this computer before me had purchased it. Its very nice but I think $350 is a bit much for me.
 
I have bought applecare with my past 2 MBP (15" then 17") and I am glad I did. If you shop around you can get it for $240 which seems to be the cost for even minor things (eg 500gb 7200 HDD replacement). So if you get one repair in 2 years it has paid for itself.
 
desmotesta said:
I am at a cross roads - Do I purchase the $350 Apple care warranty or do I risk it?

The laptop has been trouble free so far, no issues what so ever

I am running 16 GB of RAM and it flies without a hitch, even when I am rendering/editing HD videos

What usual issues can I expect given historical data?

thank you
Click to expand...

If you plan on selling the 17" soon, then I'd say buy the AC..It adds to the re-sale value a lot. I sold my 17" about a year ago with 2 years of AC on it..put the value up a lot. Remember that as our Mac's get older, the likelihood of component failure grows higher...If you can spring for it I would.
 
Go for it, better safe than sorry, I also buy Applecare from B&H, they even have an autoenroll version that they activate within 24 hours, then will send you through mail the paperwork
 
Call your credit card company, many credit card companies offer a free extended warranty once the manufacturer's warranty has ended. Visa reimbursed the cost to fix my macbook pro when the DVD drive once Apple's warranty ended, the whole process was hassle free.
 
It depends on your situation. Do you plan on keeping the laptop for 3 more years? Remember that AppleCare doesn't cover accidental damage and only hardware issues that are their fault. I would sell the computer and buy a newer one. It doesn't have to be brand new, but a used computer off eBay with extended AppleCare. This'll save you quite a bit of money. Check out those new retina models, I'm sure you'll be more than satisfied.
 
I would purchase AppleCare. It's more than paid for itself when I needed it!

My experience:
 
It looks like I'll definitely be in the minority here, but I've had laptops since 1997 (and desktops before that) and have never purchased an extended warranty and never have needed what would have been warrantee service. Companies don't generally sell extended warranties in order to save the consumer money. Extended warranties generally make money, and often lots of it, for those companies providing the warranty.

Perhaps my usage doesn't put as much stress on a computer as others do. I run mine 40-plus hours a week, but it's mostly office-type work. That may plan into the decision--I don't know.

Having said that, were I to be convinced to get AppleCare, and I'm not saying I definitely won't, I would not pay $350 for it. A discount price such as at B&H ($244) would make it tempting, but not $350.

The positive thing about AppleCare is that its reputation is one of no-hassle fulfillment of the warranty. Other extended warranties are sometimes more hassle than they're worth.

As in most things, YMMV. All the best whichever way you go.
 
Thank you all for your help and advice

Although I have always stayed away from "extended warranties", all warranties arent created equal and Apple warranty is surely the best in the business

The Auto-enroll deal from B&H was simply too good to pass ($244). Its a small price to pay for peace of mind. Yes it doesnt cover accidental damage but then again I dont expect any warranty to cover that.

B&H claims I should be auto-enrolled in 48 hours

I will update this thread in case I run into any issues, but so far so good
 
Broadus said:
It looks like I'll definitely be in the minority here, but I've had laptops since 1997 (and desktops before that) and have never purchased an extended warranty and never have needed what would have been warrantee service. Companies don't generally sell extended warranties in order to save the consumer money. Extended warranties generally make money, and often lots of it, for those companies providing the warranty.
Click to expand...

It's an insurance policy. Essentially you are wagering $350 that your computer will require a repair after the first year but before the 3rd year of ownership. You're betting a known cost up against a possibly larger unknown cost (spoiler alert: Apple comes out ahead).

Considering that the latest models are more difficult to repair, it might be worth it but you can do much better than $350; B&H is a good source for the exact same warranty but much less money.

I always get Applecare+ on my iOS devices but I haven't gotten Applecare on my laptops yet. I figure I'll upgrade after 2 years and let my Amex extended warranty take care of any issues.
 
Update: Received an automated email from Apple confirming that my Macbook Pro Applecare has been extended till Nov 2015

Thumbs up to B&H $244 Apple care deal
 
I would say to get it...my logicboard failed one month after my applecare expired, and apple still honored it and replaced it at no cost because I never had a previous service call.
 
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