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applecare


  • Total voters
    37
  • Poll closed .

tim1000

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 16, 2014
450
116
how many think AppleCare is worth it for current MacBook Pro.
 
From experience, there is approx a 10% chance that your laptop will fail within the first 24 months (conservative estimate). I'd say that some extra insurance makes total sense here. You can also get it cheaper from other shops I think.
 
Given the high likelihood of a keyboard failure, I'd say you're better off with AppleCare then without it.
 
If you can handle a $600 repair bill for keyboard failure 13 months after buying go without AppleCare.

Given the high likelihood of a keyboard failure, I'd say you're better off with AppleCare then without it.

From the little we know about keyboard failure rates, its unlikely to substantially increase the overall failure chance. After all, its still a very small fraction, even if the pattern is obvious. I wrote in more detail here: #4994

From here, we see that the keyboard failure rates on the newer MBP are double of the previous models (from 5% to 11% of warranty cases). We don't know of course how many failure rates in proportion to laptops sold there are, but if we assume a conservative 10% failure rate for two years and that otherwise the reliability has not suffered, then the increase of keyboard failures would put the overall failure rate at around 11%. If instead we assume a more optimistic overall failure rate at around 6%, then the failing keyboard would put it up to 6.5%.

[...] The overall failure rates are within what is normal for the market. And even if we assume that the keyboard failure rate has went up 5 times, we are still at 7.2% -12% of total failures — which is still within the regular failure rates for laptops.
 
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the cost for AppleCare is rather high.
It is, but its cheaper then getting the keyboard fixed in year 2 of ownership without AC
[doublepost=1527879947][/doublepost]
From the little we know about keyboard failure rates, its unlikely to substantially
Its substantial enough for Apple to write a KB article that has the owner holding their laptop in weird angles to try to clean it out, and substantial enough for two class action suits. I believe its a lot larger then many mac fans try to make it out to be. In fact I remember the same sort of arguments on the 2011 MBP where the GPUs were failing. Many times people were marginlzing the failures but we found out in the course of time that it was a bad problem. I beleive where there is smoke there is fire and plenty of people are incurring this to warrant caution.

Here's images from that article and tbh, its very unapple like
2018-06-01_15-06-36.png
 
Its substantial enough for Apple to write a KB article that has the owner holding their laptop in weird angles to try to clean it out and substantial enough for two class action suits

Well, the problem obviously exists and the keyboard is certainly prone to dirt buildup. The cleaning instructions are quite useful in this scenario (of course the keyboard should not have had that problem to begin with). And class action suits... its a company that specialises in making money from suing Apple, of course they'd sui.

I believe its a lot larger then many mac fans try to make it out to be.

I am basing my calculations not on some baseless assumptions, but on the only available data source we have, which is the numbers dug up by digitaltrends. In absence of any other statistics, thats the only info we can draw conclusions from. Personally, I tend to believe those statistics, since they match my experience with this machines (one keyboard-related repair in two years on 2016+ laptops out of over twenty we own).

Anyway, my point is not to argue that this issue is not serious (it clearly exists and already that makes it serious). It is to make clear that additional warranty makes a lot of sense regardless of increased laptop failure. After all, if 10% failure chance doesn't convince you to get Apple Care, why should 12% or even 15% chance?
 
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It is, but its cheaper then getting the keyboard fixed in year 2 of ownership without AC
[doublepost=1527879947][/doublepost]
Its substantial enough for Apple to write a KB article that has the owner holding their laptop in weird angles to try to clean it out, and substantial enough for two class action suits. I believe its a lot larger then many mac fans try to make it out to be. In fact I remember the same sort of arguments on the 2011 MBP where the GPUs were failing. Many times people were marginlzing the failures but we found out in the course of time that it was a bad problem. I beleive where there is smoke there is fire and plenty of people are incurring this to warrant caution.

Here's images from that article and tbh, its very unapple like
View attachment 764021
what is the calculation if you don't keep the MacBook for a long time/full 3 years?
 
Then you sell it and get a better price since it still comes with warranty ;)
I would hate to invest the money if apple re-designs the machine this year. I don't like dated hardware.
 
you'll get some (probably not all) of it back on resale value as prospective buyers, like with cars, will appreciate the warranty


what is the calculation if you don't keep the MacBook for a long time/full 3 years?
 
Can you buy appleCare on last day of normal warrant? e.g. 1year minus 1day after purchase day? Would that give you an extra year of coverage? or appleCare is applied to the day of purchase?

Can you buy appleCare after damage has been done? :D
 
Can you buy appleCare on last day of normal warrant? e.g. 1year minus 1day after purchase day? Would that give you an extra year of coverage? or appleCare is applied to the day of purchase?

Can you buy appleCare after damage has been done? :D

Regular apple care you have a year to buy. Apple care plus is 30 days
 
I would hate to invest the money if apple re-designs the machine this year. I don't like dated hardware.

That's always the chance you take with technology, so the decision is yours to make. I'm using a "dated" 2013 rMBP that does everything I need it to do including video making with FCP X. And yes, I did get Apple Care for it, but was happy to do so .... it's a laptop and Murphy is everywhere.
 
Don't even buy a new MacBook Pro.

This thing is lemon.

The keyboard would probably fail after a few months.
 
I would hate to invest the money if apple re-designs the machine this year. I don't like dated hardware.
Do not buy AC+ see how your MBP pans out over the year and make a more informed choice to buy AC before the year warranty runs out

This way you have spread the cost and may feel different about the risk and can decide to upgrade later if things change. Its quite possible the re-sale value could drop if this gets an official lemon sticker and if Apple do offer extended repairs before you buy AC then its a win win

Sure says a lot about Apple premium build when most advocate getting AC :rolleyes:
 
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Do not buy AC+ see how your MBP pans out over the year and make a more informed choice to buy AC before the year warranty runs out

This way you have spread the cost and may feel different about the risk and can decide to upgrade later if things change. Its quite possible the re-sale value could drop if this gets an official lemon sticker and if Apple do offer extended repairs before you buy AC then its a win win

Sure says a lot about Apple premium build when most advocate getting AC :rolleyes:

can AppleCare plus be purchased after 60 days? I thought apple care plus replaced AppleCare, can AppleCare still be purchased before the end of 1 year?
 
can AppleCare plus be purchased after 60 days? I thought apple care plus replaced AppleCare, can AppleCare still be purchased before the end of 1 year?
There's two extended warranties and its confusing.
The older Applecare which only covers manufactorer defects and the newer applecare plus which includes accidental damage
https://www.apple.com/support/products/

The older one can be purcahsed up to one year from date of purchase, the newer one (accidental damage) 60 days
 
There's two extended warranties and its confusing.
The older Applecare which only covers manufactorer defects and the newer applecare plus which includes accidental damage
https://www.apple.com/support/products/

The older one can be purcahsed up to one year from date of purchase, the newer one (accidental damage) 60 days

there isn't much information about AppleCare on apples website just AppleCare plus. whats the difference?
 
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