Did you buy AppleCare+ on your MBA? Have you used it? Any experience with Best Buy Total and their AC coverage? (Poll)

[aarono2690]

Contemplating buying AC+ for my MBA M3 15" 16gb/512gb. I'm generally pretty careful with my devices and I have never had to use AppleCare on my iPhone or iPad. I don't recall ever dropping a laptop in the past. Money isn't an issue, but I also only bought the MBA because I got an amazing deal on it ($1,222). If I had to pay retail ($1,599 IIRC), I would not have bought the MBA.

My gut is leaning towards not buying it. I feel I should take the deal, be careful with it, and not invest more money into this product. It's basically a luxury toy for me to learn programming, Logic Pro, and for light productivity while traveling. I wanted a device I could play with when I want to sit on my couch or outside drinking coffee. I plan to keep the computer in a sleeve when not in use and a padded laptop bag when traveling. I plan to keep this laptop 5+ years. I plan on running it into the ground unless Apple releases a new MBA down the road I want and I get decent trade-in value on mine.

That said, it seems like repairs on Macs are quite expensive. If faced with a $500 repair, I'm not sure I'd fix the computer. I might just call it a day and sell it for parts. Even then with AC+ after you factor in the membership cost + the claim fee ($299) you're still out a good chunk of money.

I see Best Buy offers AC+ as part of their highest tier of membership. It's $179 a year, includes AC+ for each year you're a member, includes discounts, and offers exclusive access to limited quantity items (GPUs, new gaming systems, etc.). I spoke with a couple workers and they said they'd be happy to sell me a Best Buy Total membership and add my recently purchased MBA + Series 9 watch to it. Even with that though I'm still paying more overall for Total vs AC+.

I've read a bunch of threads on the topic and this seems to come down to personal risk tolerance and understanding yourself. I'm more gauging how this community views AC and if you've had to use it or if you bought it and never used it.

 

[OAG7]

Did not buy it on 13" M1 MBA. Would not have used it, if I did buy it.
Did buy in on 13" M2 MBA. Did not use it and got a partial refund on unused portion.
Have not bought it on 15" M3 MBA - probably will not buy it.
Current MBA M3 and MBA M2 were MTO units 24 GB Memory, 512 SSD.

 

[aarono2690]

Did not buy it on 13" M1 MBA. Would not have used it, if I did buy it.
Did buy in on 13" M2 MBA. Did not use it and got a partial refund on unused portion.
Have not bought it on 15" M3 MBA - probably will not buy it.
Current MBA M3 and MBA M2 were MTO units 24 GB Memory, 512 SSD.

Thank you

 

[Alameda]

One of my Chase credit cards offers one year of extended warranty protection. I bought a Dell laptop for my son, and it failed after 18 months. I found the original receipt, and got a letter from a repair shop stating that it was unfixable. They refunded me the full purchase price. These things really do work!

So my advice is to check your cardholder agreement and see which one offers you a one year added warranty.

 

[Ifti]

I purchase the 3 Year Applecare+ (not the monthly subscription) on all my Apple laptops. On other devices I don't usually bother, but the repair costs of MacBook's is too high for me to take the risk. Still have my M1 MAX MBP 16 covered, as well as my M3 MBA. Also got it when I purchased my daughters M1 MBA.

I previously had a 2019 MBP and just 1 month before the Applecare was due to expire I started having random disconnect issues with external drives. Took it in and they ended up replacing the entire mainboard! That was after almost 3 years of using the device!

Although otherwise I havent had to use AC coverage much, for me its more piece of mind over anything else. If I do sell any system early on I give the buyer the choice to pay for the remainder and take it over, or get it refunded from Apple.

 

[aarono2690]

One of my Chase credit cards offers one year of extended warranty protection. I bought a Dell laptop for my son, and it failed after 18 months. I found the original receipt, and got a letter from a repair shop stating that it was unfixable. They refunded me the full purchase price. These things really do work!

So my advice is to check your cardholder agreement and see which one offers you a one year added warranty.

I'll have to look. I have the Costco Citi card which used to offer additional warranty for items purchased at Costco, but they phased that out unfortunately. I think I bought this one with my Barclay's Arrival card so I'll have to see what they offer.

 

[Saturn007]

Have had Apple Care+ on all my Macs, Mac laptops, iPhones, etc. over the years. Typically provided by work, but for my own devices, I sprung for it myself.

Well worth it. The cost of repairs is high — so AC has been a godsend — and the convenience dealing with Apple has been incredible. Used AC several times with different devices — stage light display problem, battery swelling, keyboard replacements, home button failure, etc. Would have been out thousands of dollars in repairs, otherwise. Apple has sent prepaid mailers, you just box it up, and get a replacement back, with free shipping, in a few days.

Have paid with credit cards with the extended warranty, too — those I’ve never used, but I have read of hassles with paperwork, delays, reimbursements that took follow-ups, phone calling, and nagging to get action.

One big advantage of having AC is if you sell down the road! Being able to sell an Apple device with transferable AC to a new owner gives them confidence to buy and gives one, as the seller, peace of mind if something were to go wrong soon after their purchase. That’s worked well for me and several buyers. It also means you can command a higher price.

But do pay attention to the fine print. IIRC, the monthly version of AC is not transferable nor is a renewed AC after the first multi-year ownership of it.

 

[aarono2690]

Has anyone used their Best Buy Total membership for AC coverage?