Apple care yes or no?

[Thunderhawks]

I am going to by a new MBP. Should I take the apple care or not? Does it often happen that a hardware problem occurs after 1 year with Apple products?

Apple everything since 1984.

ALWAYS buy apple care now, especially for Schlepptops.

Only takes one incident to cover the ac costs.

My daughters 2 1/2 year MacBook motherboard just died.
She was more than happy and had a great "Geek" experience.

After having it all repaired, all she could say was "I love Apple"

 

[blackburn]

In my country apple has to give 2 years of warranty so I think I'm safe

 

[gwsat]

Whether to buy AppleCare is, of course, a personal decision. if you are comfortable with replacing parts that fail yourself then you might want to skip AppleCare. But if you are like me and don't like getting under the hood of a laptop, AppleCare is the way to go, it seems to me.

I had NEVER bought any kind of extended warranty on any piece of electronics I had bought until I got my Powerbook G4, seven years ago. I immediately realized that I didn't want to work on it myself and that Apple replacement parts were startlingly expensive. Added to that was the factor that unlimited telephone Apple telephone support is included with AppleCare. I have found that if I explain my problem carefully enough to get bounced up to a second level technical specialist, I will almost always be advised by somebody who knows his business. I bought AppleCare on my MBP when I got it a couple of years ago. At the time I bought it, I also got an Apple TV, Time Capsule, and a couple of Airport Express units. Thus, it seemed as if the price was right.

AppleCare paid further dividends last month, when the MBP's logic board failed. I understand that it is an $800 part so not having to pay for it was a big relief.

 

[frank.deale]

I bought it along with the MBP. Had I been a reader of this forum then, I would have waited until the end of the apple warranty.

 

[gwsat]

I bought it along with the MBP. Had I been a reader of this forum then, I would have waited until the end of the apple warranty.

If it makes you feel any better, I bought AppleCare for both my Powerbook G4 and MBP before the end of 90 days. That way, I retained the right to unlimited telephone support. I agree, though, that for those who wouldn't get much good out of extended telephone support, picking up AppleCare right before the end of the first year would be the way to do it.

 

[Pax]

I say "No". Like most extended warranties Apple probably makes more profit on Applecare than it does on the sale of the Mac. You are unlikely to have a problem, and if you do have a problem it's not likely to cost THAT much more to fix than Applecare would. And Applecare doesn't cover the 2 most common/expensive causes of failure - accidental damage, battery failure.

Remember lots of people posting on here are saying "Yeah I needed a new X and Applecare paid for itself" but there are many many more for whom Applecare was a waste of money, they never claimed. They're probably not posting on here so much.

Just to put some balance in.

 

[gwsat]

I say "No". Like most extended warranties Apple probably makes more profit on Applecare than it does on the sale of the Mac. You are unlikely to have a problem, and if you do have a problem it's not likely to cost THAT much more to fix than Applecare would. And Applecare doesn't cover the 2 most common/expensive causes of failure - accidental damage, battery failure.

AppleCare coverage is a form of insurance. Nobody should ever expect to make a profit in terms of the cost of his covered losses exceeding the premium he paid. Instead, the prospective buyer should look at whether the peace of mind provided by AppleCare coverage, plus the convenience of unlimited telephone support, is worth AppleCare's price. To me it was because I had no intention of working on my own laptop and I did not want to be exposed to the potential cost of paying for expensive repairs out of pocket. That said, I have never bought extended coverage on any other piece of electronics I have owned. For me, though, AppleCare was a special case. That's why I said in my first post to this thread that whether to get it is a matter of personal preference.

 

[Eddyisgreat]

I say "No". Like most extended warranties Apple probably makes more profit on Applecare than it does on the sale of the Mac. You are unlikely to have a problem, and if you do have a problem it's not likely to cost THAT much more to fix than Applecare would. And Applecare doesn't cover the 2 most common/expensive causes of failure - accidental damage, battery failure.

What? I've had two batteries replaced. They are consumables but guaranteed to work within a certain specification.

 

[GGJstudios]

AppleCare coverage is a form of insurance.

No, it is not. AppleCare is a warranty, not insurance.

 

[Moriarty]

Depends on your consumer laws. Here in New Zealand, AppleCare provides us with very little over our rights under our Consumer Guarantees Act (though if anything went wrong, I'd no doubt have to fight Apple for my money back on the repair bill... but things are legally required to be guaranteed to last a "reasonable time", and for computers that is definitely well over a year!)

So, I don't buy Apple Care. But where you live you may not get such protection so it may be a better idea (I'd probably buy it if not for our good consumer rights laws)

 

[highscheme]

not worth it

 

[gwsat]

No, it is not. AppleCare is a warranty, not insurance.

You are right that by the narrowest definition of the word "insurance," a warranty is not insurance because it is not issued by an insurance company and is not covered by the many strict laws and regulations regulating the business of insurance. In other words, a warranty does not involve the "business of insurance" as that term is used in the McCarran-Ferguson Act and interpreted by the federal courts.

The foregoing notwithstanding, in a broader sense it seems to me that any product one buys as a hedge against the risk of a contingent loss is insurance, despite not having been sold by an insurance company. Thus, an extended warranty for which one pays a premium, such as AppleCare, would seem to be a form of insurance, at least from the perspective of the person buying the extended coverage.

 

[(Kahn)]

It's a waste of money if it doesn't cover accidental damage.

 

[swingerofbirch]

Yes. They will replace AC cords (they stop working sometimes) without question. They generally replace your computer with a brand new one after 3 attempted repairs (fewer in some cases). Just remember it's not accidental insurance. The phone technical advice they give isn't great unless you're a noob, in which case they might have a few helpful tips at troubleshooting, but if you don't need the phone help, don't worry about buying AppleCare until before the end of the first year is up.

 

[jwkempe]

yesss

I got a brand new uMBP in exchange for a buggy 3-year-old MBP, and all I had to pay was the $16 recycling fee for my old one... So in my experience, yes, AppleCare is worth it.

 

[GGJstudios]

You are right that by the narrowest definition of the word "insurance," a warranty is not insurance because it is not issued by an insurance company and is not covered by the many strict laws and regulations regulating the business of insurance. In other words, a warranty does not involve the "business of insurance" as that term is used in the McCarran-Ferguson Act and interpreted by the federal courts.

It's far more than that. Insurance protects you from things like accidental damage and theft, which a warranty doesn't. A warranty like AppleCare protects you from manufacturer defects, which insurance doesn't. That's a considerable difference. Insurance and warranties have completely different purposes.

 

[Pax]

I got a brand new uMBP in exchange for a buggy 3-year-old MBP, and all I had to pay was the $16 recycling fee for my old one... So in my experience, yes, AppleCare is worth it.

Sure, it worked for you, but for every you there are 7 or 8 people out there who bought it and never used it. I agree with the poster up there that it's a personal preference, I don't think the economics works out that well.

We know that about 15% of Macs fail within 3 years, there was some research published recently.

If nobody bought Applecare, and nobody bothered fixing anything, those 15% of users would have to throw their computer in the trash and buy a new $1500 Mac. 15% x $1700 = $255. Applecare is $349. So even in a worst case scenario Applecare is a marginal proposition. Now in practice you can pay to have Macs fixed, albeit expensively, say $500 a pop. 15% x $500 = $75. Applecare not worth it.

Now I know there are complicated edge cases of multiple failures within the 3 years etc etc but to counter that there's stuff Applecare doesn't cover like batteries (in some cases).

If you have the money, and favour peace of mind over a hard to quantify risk, then go for it. Personally I found the painful part to be the long conversations with the Applecare guys in India, not the handing over the money part.

 

[duky]

Wait until month 11 after buying the product then buy AppleCare at the last moment you can. This way if you decide to sell the computer before the first year is up (as I've done for my last 6 computers) you didn't waste your money on that (perhaps you could factor in the added resale value from having AppleCare but this isn't significant enough for me to purchase upfront). Otherwise the only advantage to having it during those first few months is that it covers any accessories you use with your computer (Time Capsule, Airports etc).

 

[Pax]

What? I've had two batteries replaced. They are consumables but guaranteed to work within a certain specification.

Sure, it depends on circumstances, my experience is you have to argue your case carefully. Apple site http://www.apple.com/batteries/replacements.html explicitly says they only cover against manufacturing defects.

I hate arguing my case with the Applecare guys, especially in marginal cases like this. I feel like I'm in court. I'd rather take the small-to-medium risk that I'll have to cough up the ~$150.

 

[Hazyb71]

The credit card you use to purchase it will probably double Apple's 1-year warranty. So Applecare is really only giving you a third year of protection (most hardware problems would manifest within those 2 years).

I never buy Applecare, and have never regretted it.

What do you mean? How does the credit card you use to purchase a Mac double the initial warranty?

 

[gwsat]

It's far more than that. Insurance protects you from things like accidental damage and theft, which a warranty doesn't. A warranty like AppleCare protects you from manufacturer defects, which insurance doesn't. That's a considerable difference. Insurance and warranties have completely different purposes.

Differences in extended warranty coverages arise from the language of the contract between the parties, just as is the case with insurance contracts. In any event, I believe that characterizing extended warranties as insurance, because they are agreements that transfer the risk of contingent losses from one party to another, does no damage to anyone's understanding of extended warranties.

Anyway, the subject of this thread is whether one should buy extended AppleCare coverage, not whether the many of us who use the word "insurance" as shorthand to describe it are right or wrong. Thus, I am moving on and will limit any further posts to the subject of the thread.

 

[GGJstudios]

I am moving on and will limit any further posts to the subject of the thread.

A wise choice, since it's misleading to imply that AppleCare is insurance of any kind.

 

[Alvi]

That's because AppleCare is not insurance. It's an extended warranty, which is quite different from insurance.

And what's the issue about that? It's basically a warranty in case of a failure and you save lots of money, unless you need phone support for 3 years, its nicer to save some bucks

 

[GGJstudios]

And what's the issue about that? It's basically a warranty in case of a failure and you save lots of money, unless you need phone support for 3 years, its nicer to save some bucks

That's up to each person to decide if it's worth it or not. As others have posted, they've saved a great deal on repairs because they had AppleCare, even aside from the phone support. Some find it valuable; some don't.

 

[nigameash]

Not another one of these threads

Get it, its well worth it