TtimeWithTy
macrumors member
i dont know if this has already been asked multiple times or not, but how worth it do you think it is to get the $300 apple care plan for a Macbook Pro?
Apple Care Plan
- Thread starter TtimeWithTy
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
noodle654
macrumors 68020
First...buy it on eBay because it only costs about $200.
Second, its very worth it. If your Logic Board dies, its a $400+ repair. If your LCD Screen dies, its a $1200 repair. Buy it. Dont think twice.
mando1246
macrumors newbie
Here's the deal with the APP
I personally would get it for piece of mind alone. You spend alot of money on your machine. What happens in a year and a week, you have a keyboard issue? It is going to cost more then that to have the keyboard replaced. Or if you have screen bleed or RAM. In my opinion the hardware protection alone is worth it, plus you can call apple anytime and get help with Apple products and questions at no charge If you had to do an Archive and Install because of slow performance in over a year, that alone would be a $49 charge...my opinion however.
I personally would get it for piece of mind alone. You spend alot of money on your machine. What happens in a year and a week, you have a keyboard issue? It is going to cost more then that to have the keyboard replaced. Or if you have screen bleed or RAM. In my opinion the hardware protection alone is worth it, plus you can call apple anytime and get help with Apple products and questions at no charge If you had to do an Archive and Install because of slow performance in over a year, that alone would be a $49 charge...my opinion however.
I would evaluate the situation- how long you plan to keep laptop? Will you sell it earlier that after 3 years? Do you have apple store within reasonable distance?
Apple care is essential for laptop. Desktop usually seems doing fine and apple care is not that necessary. But laptop can get in more trouble just because it is portable and suffers more or less daily abuse. Please apple fanboys don't start with talk about bigger love to your MBp/MB than you wife/girlfriend/lover/etc. You can also notice bigger price tag for laptop apple care compared with imac.
If you sell a laptop sooner after a few months of usage you OK without apple care, but beware that apple care would add more value to older than a year laptop.
Apple offers free care up to one year for a new machine, so if you have apple store nearby you can survive for less than a year without an apple care. But if something happens and you have to call in and you have no apple store within reasonable distance beware of $50 call charge per hour (or even more).
So in short you could manage OK without apple care for imac, but laptop warranty is more necessary. You don't have to buy it right away as long as you have a store nearby.
Apple care is essential for laptop. Desktop usually seems doing fine and apple care is not that necessary. But laptop can get in more trouble just because it is portable and suffers more or less daily abuse. Please apple fanboys don't start with talk about bigger love to your MBp/MB than you wife/girlfriend/lover/etc. You can also notice bigger price tag for laptop apple care compared with imac.
If you sell a laptop sooner after a few months of usage you OK without apple care, but beware that apple care would add more value to older than a year laptop.
Apple offers free care up to one year for a new machine, so if you have apple store nearby you can survive for less than a year without an apple care. But if something happens and you have to call in and you have no apple store within reasonable distance beware of $50 call charge per hour (or even more).
So in short you could manage OK without apple care for imac, but laptop warranty is more necessary. You don't have to buy it right away as long as you have a store nearby.
TtimeWithTy
macrumors member
ah... thank you all that posted I'm convinced! but how does apple care work? don't most warranties only come with the exact model you buy? like i remember i bought a warranty for my Game boy back in the day, and i had to keep the receipt for it or else they wouldn't let me return it i couldn't just sell it off
mando1246
macrumors newbie
I just want to clear this up. Within the first 90 days of your computers life you have free PHONE support. After the 90 days your Free phone supports expires. You can still take it to a genius bar and they will look at it, if they determine it's hardware, with no accidental damage, no charge will apply. However, if it is software, a charge may still apply, even at a genius bar.
The charge is called an Apple Service Line or ASL. This is a $49 charge for ONE issue. You can call about this single issue for up to 30 days with no additional charge. If you have two issues you have to deal with, they would then setup two separate ASL's. Remember, this happens after the 90 day mark, not the one year warranty. However, it is not $49/hour, and unless there is accidental damage it should never be more if you are covered until the one year warranty or the AppleCare.
That's the low down. lol
LOL, think twice, pretty please.
I'm totally stunned at how much people suggest Apple Care on this site. It's kinda reckless.
Extended warranties on electronic goods is big business and for good reason. The logic above is obvious on the surface, but think about it a bit deeper.
Let's say your screen does give out and it's a $1200 repair (that seems ridiculously high, link?). What exactly are the chances for that to happen to justify paying for AppleCare? The cost of AppleCare, let's say $250 at a discount on eBay (couldn't find any less than that), that's 250/1200 = 21%. What do you think the statistical chance of your screen dying in years 2 and 3 (which btw, are probably the least likely timeframe for issues to surface) really is? I'd gander probably in the 2-3% area. Logic board @ $400? 240/400 = 60% chance, when in reality it's probably something like 5%. In fact even adding up all the things that could possibly go wrong, you're probably still within an order of magnitude worse off spending the $250 for Apple Care.
So let's say you are an unlucky statistic, or have been in the past, and you have to cough up a sum of money above and beyond what you paid for your warranty. Lesson learned, right? Well hold on a sec... just like when playing your game of choice in Vegas, there are odds that pretty much hold true over time. Your current MBP is just one computer in your lifetime. I've owned/used 14 computers since a Vic 20 all the way back in '82. Two of them bit the dust over that time, and both of them were 4+ year old work machines (one was covered by a five year extended warranty, through work obviously). I worked as a system admin about a decade ago in a Mac lab that had over 100 machines that I had to maintain, including a fleet of 20 powerbooks for a year. I had one desktop mac blow its motherboard, and one laptop lose its screen during the 13 months I worked there. That's it. Big failures, despite what you see on forums like this, are just _not that common_, but it's skewed perceptually because by nature people are here to share and seek help with issues.
This is not the same as car or life insurance, where if something totally catastrophic happens you could end up in a lifetime of debt. This is a depreciating consumable asset that will be replaced every 3-4 years. You will own many of them over a lifetime. And over your lifetime if you continue to buy warranties like this, you will come out behind. Just like in Vegas, it's in the cards.
TheCookie
macrumors regular
I think this is a very important point to make, and that it really depends upon your circumstances. In my case, for example, I bought the laptop for graduate school. If I should have a problem 2 years from now, I'm going to need it fixed quickly and as cheaply as possible. So even if it's only a 2% chance, I need the extra security.
If, however, a year from now you'll be in a position to buy an upgrade if your system goes down, or even to shell out whatever the repair costs are, then it may be worth it to roll the dice and not buy AppleCare...
It just really depends upon your personal circumstances.
What if something happens to the machine that is an accident and is not covered/stolen, etc? That's more likely than the machine itself failing in some catastrophic way. How will you manage?
Why do you _need_ the extra security? Is it that much of a financial impossibility for you to incur such a cost? Friends/family/credit cards? Actually, let's say you got a credit card with a 10% rate and put just the $1200 screen on it. A year to pay off, fairly reasonable, roughly $100 charged above the cost. Not that I advocate using credit cards as a way of life, but in such a situation it is advantageous compared to the alternative, if we're talking hardcore dollars and cents over the long run.
alphaod
macrumors Core
It's like an extended warranty for your car; it starts the day the old one ends. And like the one for the car, you don't need the receipt, just the product and the S/N.
GGJstudios
macrumors Westmere
If you ask around, you'll find a lot of people who are glad they bought the APP, and a lot who WISHED they had! It would be harder to find one who wished they didn't! Absolutely wise investment, IMHO.
Consultant
macrumors G5
Keep in mind AppleCare covers defects, not accidential damages.
Once registered, you can use your serial number (located on machine on multiple places) to look up your Apple Care status. No need to save receipts (although some people scan them and catalog them, hint.)
"Phone support" is help for installing apps, etc. You can still call for warranty repairs after 90days even without Apple Care during the warranty duration.
The fee you mentioned does not apply for warranty repairs the last time I checked.
Once registered, you can use your serial number (located on machine on multiple places) to look up your Apple Care status. No need to save receipts (although some people scan them and catalog them, hint.)
"Phone support" is help for installing apps, etc. You can still call for warranty repairs after 90days even without Apple Care during the warranty duration.
The fee you mentioned does not apply for warranty repairs the last time I checked.
trek1500
macrumors member
So do most of you wait before buying Apple Care?
I didn't want to get it initally with the purchase of the computer as it's a
pretty hefty expense along with the laptop so the way I understand it..you have a year to get it but it's good for 3 years from the date of purchase.
Ideally you will never have any issues with your computer and I have been pretty lucky with all the PCs I have ever had except with one Dell Dimension 8300 desktop where the video card died..a simple and rather cheap fix but
with this Macbook Pro most likely I will end up getting it before the year is up.
I don't anticipate lugging it around a great deal but will most likely bring it out with me here and there and when I travel. Of course I pride myself on being very careful with all my laptops. I had a Sony Vaio which I used in Grad school and ran it through the mill without any issues and it's still going strong! It's about 4 + years old. My 17" Fujitsu has been pretty much a desktop replacement but I have traveled with it with success..although it is rather hefty compared to the Macbook Pro. I think the MBP will be the perfect laptop to travel with IMO. It's so clean and beautiful and oh so powerful... .A great tool to have with you anywhere you may go. The first weekend I had it I brought it over to a friend's house and she was having a gathering and so many people came up to me asking questions and mentioned that they had always entertained the thought of getting a Mac. I think I might have sold a couple of them on the idea of a Mac vs a new PC laptop. One of the features I like the best is the support at the Apple store! Wonderful support! There were some really bright kids working there who had a lot of enthusiasm about the product which was very refreshing!
In the end..I hope that with the proper care this computer will last me a good long while..I love the Apple philosophy and how they treat their customers...
Steve Jobs has built a great company and in light of the disaster of Vista..I was one of the dumb ones who bought a Vista equipped desktop last year..it's good to know that you have the stability of the Apple OS to keep you going...
After my experience with Vista I refused to upgrade my other XP equipped computers as I have them the working the way I want...
I think I'll eventually switch to Apple all the way around as my other PCs age..but so far I can integrate pretty successfully with my Windows equipped PCs...what I like about the Apple OS is the sharing is a no brainer...unlike Vista which requires a bit of thinking to get it set up properly..
Apple makes it simple and elegant...
I didn't want to get it initally with the purchase of the computer as it's a
pretty hefty expense along with the laptop so the way I understand it..you have a year to get it but it's good for 3 years from the date of purchase.
Ideally you will never have any issues with your computer and I have been pretty lucky with all the PCs I have ever had except with one Dell Dimension 8300 desktop where the video card died..a simple and rather cheap fix but
with this Macbook Pro most likely I will end up getting it before the year is up.
I don't anticipate lugging it around a great deal but will most likely bring it out with me here and there and when I travel. Of course I pride myself on being very careful with all my laptops. I had a Sony Vaio which I used in Grad school and ran it through the mill without any issues and it's still going strong! It's about 4 + years old. My 17" Fujitsu has been pretty much a desktop replacement but I have traveled with it with success..although it is rather hefty compared to the Macbook Pro. I think the MBP will be the perfect laptop to travel with IMO. It's so clean and beautiful and oh so powerful... .A great tool to have with you anywhere you may go. The first weekend I had it I brought it over to a friend's house and she was having a gathering and so many people came up to me asking questions and mentioned that they had always entertained the thought of getting a Mac. I think I might have sold a couple of them on the idea of a Mac vs a new PC laptop. One of the features I like the best is the support at the Apple store! Wonderful support! There were some really bright kids working there who had a lot of enthusiasm about the product which was very refreshing!
In the end..I hope that with the proper care this computer will last me a good long while..I love the Apple philosophy and how they treat their customers...
Steve Jobs has built a great company and in light of the disaster of Vista..I was one of the dumb ones who bought a Vista equipped desktop last year..it's good to know that you have the stability of the Apple OS to keep you going...
After my experience with Vista I refused to upgrade my other XP equipped computers as I have them the working the way I want...
I think I'll eventually switch to Apple all the way around as my other PCs age..but so far I can integrate pretty successfully with my Windows equipped PCs...what I like about the Apple OS is the sharing is a no brainer...unlike Vista which requires a bit of thinking to get it set up properly..
Apple makes it simple and elegant...
I didn't buy it with the machine, but then I had two issues within the first year (GPU died = new logic board, Superdrive wouldn't read any blank DVD-Rs, fixed itself when I got the new logic board.)
At that point I decided to get Apple Care. I've already used it to call them and get my battery replaced.
At that point I decided to get Apple Care. I've already used it to call them and get my battery replaced.
eidrunner247
macrumors 6502
In general I recommend Applecare, but something to look into (not sure how many people on Macrumors do) is that most credit cards offer extended warranties quite cheaply, and will double the manufacturer's warranty automatically.
Apple Care
Usually I purchase my computers on my American Express card which provides me an extended warranty automatically for such purchases. For instance, if my MacBook Pro has a year's warranty, then American Express will add a year of extended warranty to the warranty.
It is worth it to use that credit card to have the extended warranty, which buys you more time before you must purchase the Apple Care warranty.
Usually I purchase my computers on my American Express card which provides me an extended warranty automatically for such purchases. For instance, if my MacBook Pro has a year's warranty, then American Express will add a year of extended warranty to the warranty.
It is worth it to use that credit card to have the extended warranty, which buys you more time before you must purchase the Apple Care warranty.