Buy direct from Apple....

[Janeilfen]

Or buy from an Apple authorised seller? Apple give 1 year warranty (ignoring Applecare for the time being), John Lewis in the UK give a 2 year warranty.
What would influence you?

 

[Ifti]

I always buy AppleCare so go to Apple Direct and generally spec the system I want/need

 

[scubachap]

If you're buying a stock/standard Macs then John Lewis is a good option. I know of a couple of smaller companies that buy their laptops from them because of the 2 year no quibble warranty.

 

[sublunar]

John Lewis certainly does a decent discount for Minis. Would buying 3 year AppleCare then work for you?

 

[Boyd01]

Here in the US, I have generally shopped around and bought from resellers like B&H Photo in recent years to get the best price, but have also purchased refurbs from Apple. Not sure if they offer it in the UK, but if you have an Apple Card here, you get 3% cash back on any Mac purchases. That might be a factor in the future for me.

 

[Janeilfen]

John Lewis certainly does a decent discount for Minis. Would buying 3 year AppleCare then work for you?

I generally avoid AppleCare, as I don't believe it is good value. In the UK we have recourse to the 6 year European warranty process (that was until they voted to leave the EU!) and I have used this with Apple.

 

[sublunar]

I generally avoid AppleCare, as I don't believe it is good value. In the UK we have recourse to the 6 year European warranty process (that was until they voted to leave the EU!) and I have used this with Apple.

Post EU retail rules will be interesting indeed. AppleCare generally has a reputation of being fixed or replaced over the counter at an Applestore whereas a third party retailer would have to send things away.

Claiming under European regulations is very much down to the retailer - I have successfully used it before and had to struggle before on various items. Bigger name retailers generally have a better reputation over this but most third party retailers will have to send your kit away for a time which could be a downside.

Especially if you have personal information on the device - I guess this is where encryption comes in handy.
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Here in the US, I have generally shopped around and bought from resellers like B&H Photo in recent years to get the best price, but have also purchased refurbs from Apple. Not sure if they offer it in the UK, but if you have an Apple Card here, you get 3% cash back on any Mac purchases. That might be a factor in the future for me.

Some retailers subscribe to other loyalty card services in the UK - such as Nectar - or various cash back schemes. There are deal websites out there that can explain in more detail.

Some people's thinking will then be to use AppleCare to protect their purchase, others will rely on the EU regulations, your mileage may vary - as the American saying goes