Apple Care for Mac Pro?

[Adrien Baker]

Any laptop I've ever owned I always purchased the protection insurance in whatever form it was offered in, because well...it's portable and bad things happen.

However, any desktop machine I've ever had I didn't worry about it too much, and many times they were home built and didn't have any protection to begin with.

So, this is my first Mac Pro and for all of you current, and previous owners--is the Apple Care really worth it? Have you ever had to use it? I just don't know if I can justify the cost--and it's not really buying me peace of mind, because the big guy just sits here. Hehe.

Adrien

 

[jjahshik32]

Yes its worth it because you never know anything can go wrong and if applecare cant replace it in 2-3 years within the warranty time, maybe they'll replace it with the newer mac pro model. I know this happened to people with even powerbooks and are receiving new mbp.

 

[irishgrizzly]

I'm going to wait until near the end of the one year warranty – if it's problem free I'll not get AC. If I've any trouble before I'll probably get it.

Alot of parts are easy to replace and cheaper than AC, unless it's the CPU/motherboard that goes.

 

[Loge]

Depending on your location, AC for desktops includes on-site support. That would be a significant factor for me.

 

[Erwin-Br]

I'm going to wait until near the end of the one year warranty – if it's problem free I'll not get AC. If I've any trouble before I'll probably get it.

Alot of parts are easy to replace and cheaper than AC, unless it's the CPU/motherboard that goes.

That's my strategy as well.

--Erwin

 

[amik]

Apple care also covers a display purchased with the Mac Pro, correct? To me, Apple Care a no-brainer if you are purchasing both.

 

[PowerMike G5]

Well my old dual G5 from years ago was saved by AC!

Literally 3 days after the standard one year warranty, it suddenly just crapped out. Apple checked it out and it turned out that the motherboard and one of the processors died. The repair came out to $1300!!!

But, since I had bought Apple Care literally a week beforehand, the repair was free and Apple sent a tech over to my place to fix it!

I know we should be all about saving money, but AC provides peace of mind for unexpected scenarios like this!

If you spend the $3000+ on the machine, whats another $250 to cover it!!!

 

[rockinrocker]

if you do buy it, get it off ebay. got mine for ~$100....

 

[mchalebk]

Generally speaking, extended warranties are not worth the money. ever notice how anxious everyone is to sell you an extended warranty? Ever wonder why? Because they are the easiest way to make money.

In the world of electronics, the vast majority of failures occur very early on. If a piece of electronics makes it through the factory warranty period, odds are it will last for years without any problems.

Of course, hard drives have higher failure rates than pure electronics due to the moving parts. Once again, however, if they make it through the warranty period, they will probably also make it through the extended warranty period.

People who have purchased extended warranties and gotten to use them are very quick to recommend them (and I don't blame them). However, most of the time they are a waste of money. You are gambling that your unit will fail after the initial warranty expires, but before the extended warranty expires.

I once turned down an extended warranty and the lady asked why. My answer: I don't like to spend money without getting something in return.

Hey, it's your money, but it's a bad bet (like playing the lottery).

 

[jeffmc]

Apple care also covers a display purchased with the Mac Pro, correct? To me, Apple Care a no-brainer if you are purchasing both.

sure does!
it'll also cover any airport if purchased with the computer as well

 

[aaronw1986]

if you do buy it, get it off ebay. got mine for ~$100....

Same here, should get it soon. Good route to go, and totally worth it for peace of mind.

 

[junior77]

One other benefit is free tech phone support. Depending on your knowedge of macs this may or may not be a benefit.

I would recommend it if you're a switcher from Windows as backup to help in the learning curve when software goes awry.

 

[MacFanBoyIIe]

If you spend the $3000+ on the machine, whats another $250 to cover it!!!

HERE HERE!

I actually hope my MP craps out a week before the AppleCare expires so that hopefully, it will be so old by then, Apple will just replace it with a newer model MP. Wouldn't that be awesome?

 

[FF_productions]

Like its already been said, why spend $3k and not be protected.

The reason I got the Mac Pro was because the last computer (a G5) didn't have AppleCare and I had no reason for paying $1000 for repairs.

 

[princealfie]

HERE HERE!

I actually hope my MP craps out a week before the AppleCare expires so that hopefully, it will be so old by then, Apple will just replace it with a newer model MP. Wouldn't that be awesome?

nice fraud working there eh buddy?

 

[krye]

For $3000 plus, Apple Care is a must. You have a year to buy it, so don't be too hung up on fronting the cash at the time of purchase.

I just ordered my Mac Pro today, I did however pick up an unopened Mac Pro Apple Care from eBay like 6 months ago for $46. It was too good a deal to pass up and I knew that when I eventually had the money for the Mac Pro, I'd want to get Apple Care. So I saved over $200 getting it from eBay.

 

[mchalebk]

Like its already been said, why spend $3k and not be protected.

You could rephrase this as "why spend $3000 when you can spend $3100 or $3200 for the same thing?"

The following is from Wikipedia and echoes what I've read many times:

Consumer advocate groups, such as the non-profit Consumers Union, advise against purchasing extended warranties. David Butler of the Consumers Union says, "The extended warranty is definitely in the best interest of the company, but isn't often in the best interest of the consumer." He adds, "The company is much more likely to profit from the extended warranty than the consumer is." In many cases, if the item does need repairing, the cost of repairs are less than the cost of the extended warranty. Other advocates also advise against purchasing extended warranties, maintaining that they are a cash cow for retailers, many of whom will refuse to repair items covered under such plans, if at all possible.
Consumers Union says only two products deserve extended warranty consideration: projection TV's and digital cameras. Both are expensive to repair and need repairs frequently.


In actuality, if you can get it for $100, it probably is worth it. On the Apple Store website, I see that it's going for $249 for the $2799 MacPro. For that price, it's probably not worth it.

 

[Roy]

You could rephrase this as "why spend $3000 when you can spend $3100 or $3200 for the same thing?"

The following is from Wikipedia and echoes what I've read many times:

Consumer advocate groups, such as the non-profit Consumers Union, advise against purchasing extended warranties. David Butler of the Consumers Union says, "The extended warranty is definitely in the best interest of the company, but isn't often in the best interest of the consumer." He adds, "The company is much more likely to profit from the extended warranty than the consumer is." In many cases, if the item does need repairing, the cost of repairs are less than the cost of the extended warranty. Other advocates also advise against purchasing extended warranties, maintaining that they are a cash cow for retailers, many of whom will refuse to repair items covered under such plans, if at all possible.
Consumers Union says only two products deserve extended warranty consideration: projection TV's and digital cameras. Both are expensive to repair and need repairs frequently.


In actuality, if you can get it for $100, it probably is worth it. On the Apple Store website, I see that it's going for $249 for the $2799 MacPro. For that price, it's probably not worth it.

But what about Consumer Reports:

http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2006/11/17/6009

 

[Roy]

nice fraud working there eh buddy?

Perhaps you should do some reading about what "fraud" is?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraud

 

[Sesshi]

Depending on your location, AC for desktops includes on-site support. That would be a significant factor for me.

Do you know where these locations are? It's never been made clear to me. On the isolated incidents that I have asked business sales about it calls weren't returned and I forgot about it. I've never received on-site service on Pros and under, and it would be good to know where and how on-site can be expected.

And yes - definitely get Applecare. It's an Apple: It's not if it goes wrong but when.

 

[mchalebk]

The link to the Ars Technica article brings up a good point. Do you really need more than 90 days of technical support?

Personally, my experiences with Apple's telephone support are not good. They date back to when I first got my Quicksilver PowerMac in 2001. It would lock up upon waking with a gray screen (if I remember correctly). It was obvious that the lady I was talking to had no clue. She also stated that she had never heard of the problem, even though there was a technical article on Apple's own website about it. I gave her the number and title of the article and she couldn't find it! She wanted me to try a bunch of things that I knew wouldn't help, then accused me of not being willing to try to solve the problem. I knew darn well it was an OS problem and, sure enough, the next OS update fixed it.

Granted, they can't all be that bad and it was 6.5 years ago, but since then I have found that the internet is a better place to go for help. Forums like this beat the heck out of waiting for an hour to talk to someone who may or may not be able to help. If you're having a problem, others probably are too and the 'net is the best place to go for help (in my opinion, of course).

 

[krye]

...In many cases, if the item does need repairing, the cost of repairs are less than the cost of the extended warranty....

Whoever said that has obviously never owned a Mac. How many people have been told that it will cost them $800 to replace a logicboard on a $1100 MacBook? Or $1300 to replace the logicboard in a $2500 Mac Pro? Apple Care is worth it's weight in gold if your logicboard dies.

If my logic board dies, I don't think I could afford to buy a new machine or fix it. It took me a year to save up $3000 to buy the Mac Pro.

People spend thousands of dollars a year in auto insurance and never use it; and never give how much money they flush away a second thought. I think we are more likely to use the insurance on our computers before we use the ones on our cars. Computers have a higher failure rate.

 

[mchalebk]

That quote is not mine, it's from Wikipedia.

And I disagree with that part of the article. If you end up needing to have a repair done while the unit is covered by the extended warranty (after the first year, but before the extended warranty expires) then you will have gotten value out of the warranty. Most electronics that last through the factory warranty will not fail during the extended warranty period. If that's the case, you will have wasted money.

What should you do? That's your call. But the law of averages shows that you're probably throwing your money away.

 

[MacFanBoyIIe]

nice fraud working there eh buddy?

No foul if it LEGITIMATELY and HONESTLY breaks a week before the AppleCare expires. That's like accusing a guy of murdering his wife right before her term life insurance expires....

 

[BobF4321]

AppleCare also includes a copy of TechTool Deluxe:
http://www.micromat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37&Itemid=51