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AppleCare - needed or not?

Personally I think it's a bit of a rip off. In the UK it's between £199 and £250 (or there abouts, could've changed since I bought mine in June 07), but of course everything in the UK is expensive anyway. With the UK cover you don't get a freephone support line like you do in the US which I think is disgraceful. I'm not sure where you're from but if you live in the US you're probably getting a better deal anyway.

I'd look into alternatives if I were you. The reason I bought the AppleCare was because I was offered it at £59 if I purchased it at the same time as my MBP and because I'm a student. After that though, I purchased separate accidental damage cover from a leading UK insurer, for £90. I'm so thankful I did that because recently I dropped my MBP and now the DVD drive is screwed and all the casing is dented and bowed (everything else is still working fine surprisingly, touch wood).

All it does is cover you for an extra two years in regards to mechanical breakdown, and phone support. I know people have had problems with their Apples but generally they are machines built to last and I know plenty of people still using G3's, G4's, whatever. Plus, I've tried using the support line once before and I was waiting in a queue for ages then they put the phone down on me so I've lost faith in it and has naturally made me cynical about the AppleCare support.
 
Definitely AppleCare for Laptops, but for Desktops, you can live without it.
I had a G3 running flawlessly, and still being used (We gave it to a family friend who needed an extra computer just to check email). Am actually glad not having bought apple care for it. The 3? year old G5 is also running fine too, and outlived apple care.

I regret not getting it for my laptop, however.... Now have to run on a crippled macbook.
My Macbook battery died after coming back from vacation. Now it runs at half-speed. New battery costs $199 AUD (Australian Dollar), but AppleCare costed less than that, with the student discount.
My Optical drive also appearing to be getting older, (or maybe the dvd's are scratched), spinning loudly to read it.
 
leRiCl said:
Definitely AppleCare for Laptops, but for Desktops, you can live without it.
I had a G3 running flawlessly, and still being used (We gave it to a family friend who needed an extra computer just to check email). Am actually glad not having bought apple care for it. The 3? year old G5 is also running fine too, and outlived apple care.

I regret not getting it for my laptop, however.... Now have to run on a crippled macbook.
My Macbook battery died after coming back from vacation. Now it runs at half-speed. New battery costs $199 AUD (Australian Dollar), but AppleCare costed less than that, with the student discount.
My Optical drive also appearing to be getting older, (or maybe the dvd's are scratched), spinning loudly to read it.
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I would agree except for new iMacs. They have laptop components (mostly) but are considered desktops so their components are more expensive. Not only that, but it's not easy to get in there and fix things yourself. (Possible, but nowhere near as easy as a MacPro.) Also, there is also a screen with the iMac so you can't just fix it yourself without high costs. So the iMac is like a laptop in many ways and I will probably buy applecare with student discount this coming summer before the year is up.

About old desktops that you are talking about. The old iMacs used all Desktop components and were very strong computers. Often it was the CRT that died long before the computer. If the CRT lasts, the computer lasts.
 
unexploded said:
Personally I think it's a bit of a rip off. In the UK it's between £199 and £250 (or there abouts, could've changed since I bought mine in June 07), but of course everything in the UK is expensive anyway. With the UK cover you don't get a freephone support line like you do in the US which I think is disgraceful. I'm not sure where you're from but if you live in the US you're probably getting a better deal anyway.

I'd look into alternatives if I were you. The reason I bought the AppleCare was because I was offered it at £59 if I purchased it at the same time as my MBP and because I'm a student. After that though, I purchased separate accidental damage cover from a leading UK insurer, for £90. I'm so thankful I did that because recently I dropped my MBP and now the DVD drive is screwed and all the casing is dented and bowed (everything else is still working fine surprisingly, touch wood).

All it does is cover you for an extra two years in regards to mechanical breakdown, and phone support. I know people have had problems with their Apples but generally they are machines built to last and I know plenty of people still using G3's, G4's, whatever. Plus, I've tried using the support line once before and I was waiting in a queue for ages then they put the phone down on me so I've lost faith in it and has naturally made me cynical about the AppleCare support.
Click to expand...

I can't say for sure but I would imagine those in the UK could purchase the AppleCare from L.A. Computer. I know that I purchased my own AppleCare coverage there and applied it with no issues to my Japan Apple Store-purchased iMac.

Sorry to hear the support telephone line service is so poor in the UK. It is extremely good here in Japan: prompt, courteous and efficient. Those who can't speak Japanese can even get English support.

Purchasing damage coverage from an insurance company might be a good idea except as someone else already pointed out filing claims generally causes premiums to rise. This is not an issue with AppleCare.
 
I skip a few pizzas or sushi orders and go for the Applecare. Only thing I don't get it for is iPod shuffles.

I've never regretted the tradeoff (well... once in awhile I think about those unbought orders of California rolls... in the middle of the night when I'm running a backup on a machine that has never failed YET).

It's not that I've had to use Applecare often. It's that I'm nailing the cost of covered repairs down to zero for an extra year. And in the very few times when I have needed to get a machine fixed, I just picked up the phone and described the problem and they shipped a box and it was turned around inside a few days. It was great.
 
Consumer Reports recommends Applecare on any Apple product, its one of the few they say you really should buy one for.
 
Does anyone know of online retailers that sell AppleCare in Canada besides the Apple site?
 
akm3 said:
Applecare, like all extended warranty programs is basically insurance. You are spreading the risk. Apple makes money on Applecare, so that means that the likelihood is you will lose money buying it.

However, if you need a lot of tech support, or if you cannot financially handle a hardware failure out of warranty (i.e. you NEED this computer and if it failed you couldn't afford to replace it out of your savings or emergency funds) then Applecare might make sense for you.

If you have a large cash savings and could replace the machine yourself (grudgingly, of course) then you are better off to keep your money and take the full burden of risk upon yourself.

It is just like getting Comprehensive insurance on your car. You aren't likely to need it, but if you can't afford to replace the car if a tree falls on it, you better have it. If you can afford to self insure, and are willing to risk the principal if something does go wrong, then you might not need it.
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I agree - it is pretty much insurance. Since it covers failures that result from faulty hardware rather than damage that consumers can do to the hardware they are getting rid of the moral hazard problem that car insurance has. I think that makes it a better deal for Apple. Plus the fact that they rarely seem to increase the price to adjust even for inflation seems to indicate that they are easily making enough to do more than break even.
That said, it really comes down to personal risk tolerance. I usually take the route of waiting almost one year to extend it. For laptops I think it's a must and for desktops it's less of a concern for me. But I don't think it's a mistake to buy it - I just did for my macbook which I bought almost one year ago.
 
Let's just say this:

My friend works in the apple store, and when I told him I didn't by applecare with my old mac, he simply said this:

"You fool."

I bought applecare with my macbook.
 
definitely yes to AppleCare especially for laptops. If a major component fails such as the trackpad (in which case the entire top case assembly has to be replaced), you'll easily recover the cost you spend purchasing AppleCare (unless you get the replacement on Ebay or something and install it yourself.) I've used my AppleCare warranty several times already (battery replacement, trackpad repair, CPU fan on both sides), and it gives me a peace of mind.
 
normally, I don't believe in extended warranties but I have always purchased one with a mac and it always pays for itself. I've only had to take my macs in once or twice but when I did it would have cost more than the AppleCare so it was definitely worth it. The last time I took my PowerBook G4 in they replaced the logic board and the screen.
 
GO FOR IT.

the fan on my macbook pro died so i went in to get it replaced and it was approximately two months after the original warranty ended.

COST of APPLECARE: $300
COST of replacing fan: $150

if i had applecare now, it would still be worth it considering there would be approx. 1.5 years left if anything hsould happen.
 
I wish we got it…mum's almost-3-year-old PowerBook just developed a video fault, meaning the whole logic board will need to be replaced, costing more than it would to buy another off eBay.
 
I wouldn't buy it until the first year is almost up. I never keep a computer longer than a year so I dont plan to buy it. I sell it with a month left for the new owner to pick up the applecare.


That is, unless I buy a used apple, then I'll pick up the applecare straightaway
 
SaSaSushi said:
I can't say for sure but I would imagine those in the UK could purchase the AppleCare from L.A. Computer. I know that I purchased my own AppleCare coverage there and applied it with no issues to my Japan Apple Store-purchased iMac.
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Wait. Can I buy the AppleCare Protection from L.A. Computer ($119) up to a year after buying my refurbished iMac from Apple? And it is the exact same protection as buying it from Apple at the time of purchase for $169? If so, wow. No brainer.
 
jheer said:
Wait. Can I buy the AppleCare Protection from L.A. Computer ($119) up to a year after buying my refurbished iMac from Apple? And it is the exact same protection as buying it from Apple at the time of purchase for $169? If so, wow. No brainer.
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Yep, you can buy AppleCare protection from whomever you please for up to a year from the date of purchase of your machine.

And YES, it is a "no-brainer". :)
 
unexploded said:
Ah nice one, my account is 'okcomputer' on deviantART. Not sure if you remember me, I went to a DA meet in Brum the once with snakerboy and co.
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Oh! Sure I remember you. This is my new hideout :)

Chris204 said:
I'll buy AppleCare after my first year most likely.
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Yeah, I think after 10-11 months if you're not already itching to move onto something else you'll have an idea of how much longer you'll want to hold onto the machine and thus whether the extra two years is necessary.
 
tobefirst said:
I'll be the resident nay-sayer. Apple, and every other company that sells extended warranties, makes a profit (often a LARGE profit) off these sales. They don't do it to lose money. Therefore, the consumer, in the long run, is losing money.

It may benefit you once, but over the course of 2-3 or more computers, you're paying more (possibly way more) than you would have otherwise, taking into account not just dollar-for-dollar expenses, but also the time-value of money, etc.
Click to expand...

While your at it, cancel your auto and homeowner's insurance because the insurance company makes a lot of money on something you will probably never use.
 
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