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Go MBA when it's refreshed. I wish they had those when I was in school - I "lugged" around a 13" MacBook. Thing is, with iCloud, you won't need to have everything on your computer all the time anymore. Dropbox will help a lot as well - I used to use the computer labs in college and send whatever papers or other work to my iDisk. Optical drives are just not necessary anymore.
 
you can buy applecare for a laptop that you purchased nearly a year ago?
seems too good to be true...

Why would it be?
As long as the laptop is still covered by warranty, you can extend that warranty for 2 additional years. That's pretty much it..

Oh and by the way, Apple wouldn't be selling Applecare if they made a loss on it. So it's not "worth it" in the sense that you statistically probably won't save money there.
However, what you're buying is peace of mind which is pretty nice knowing how good Apple's customer service is. There have been many cases of people getting brand new laptops in exchange after almost 3 years no questions asked. :)
 
i will buy applecare before my first year is up.

1) peace of mind. any defects during the three years are covered. hard drives are notoriously problematic, but you also have a glass trackpad, logic board, and other stuff that can and does go bad.
2) resale. i'd never buy a computer out of warranty (because of 1), and you will get more for your computer if you sell it.
 
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