How necessary is AppleCare?

[jackc]

Applecare for the iMac from L.A. Computer is $120. That's $5 per month over the extended 24 months of coverage. And for the 10,000th time, even if you don't have cause to use the coverage you do get something for your money: peace of mind.

You do get peace of mind, but you have to realize you are paying a premium for it. Warranties are profitable for companies, and often very profitable, for a reason: Cost of repair times probability of breakage at a reasonable discount rate is less than the cost of the warranty. For every story of a $500 repair there are many more of $0-$150 repairs.

 

[SaSaSushi]

You do get peace of mind, but you have to realize you are paying a premium for it. Warranties are profitable for companies, and often very profitable, for a reason: Cost of repair times probability of breakage at a reasonable discount rate is less than the cost of the warranty. For every story of a $500 repair there are many more of $0-$150 repairs.

While I absolutely understand that this is a very profitable business for Apple I do not agree that an average of 16 cents a day over the last 2 years of coverage is a "premium" for the peace of mind I get.

Apple makes considerable profits on selling the machines themselves. Nothing they do is for charity.

 

[Dustman]

While I absolutely understand that this is a very profitable business for Apple I do not agree that an average of 16 cents a day over the last 2 years of coverage is a "premium" for the peace of mind I get.

Apple makes considerable profits on selling the machines themselves. Nothing they do is for charity.

(Product)RED

 

[cherry su]

not really. you probably can fix most problems you encounter by yourself.

 

[swingerofbirch]

Also consider SafeWare as a complement to AppleCare. On my MacBook I have SafeWare (accidents, theft), and AppleCare (Apple messing up).

http://www.safeware.com

 

[IJ Reilly]

While I absolutely understand that this is a very profitable business for Apple I do not agree that an average of 16 cents a day over the last 2 years of coverage is a "premium" for the peace of mind I get.

Apple makes considerable profits on selling the machines themselves. Nothing they do is for charity.

This is true, but only if the "peace of mind" argument works for you. The issue I have is with the argument that there is some sort of economic logic to buying extended warranties.

 

[queshy]

I would never buy AppleCare unless on a laptop I was offered it for <$50.

I work at a big box store that sells computers and warranties for the computers.

This is how I see it:

In my experience, if it's broken, you'll know right out of the box (there are exceptions, clearly, but in general, I've seen way more "defects" than problems that occur later in the life of the product). At that point, just exchange it.

Infrequently, customers come back within their one year warranty with problems, but usually it's because they have a virus or something or it's a super simple problem to fix and the tech support from the manufacturer takes care of it perfectly. of course with apple you only get 90 days, but if you live near an apple store, you have the genius bar for that. If it's within the first year, they'll cover it.

Working at the store for over a year (this is a Best Buy, a huge one), I have seen LESS THAN 5 customers come back with their warranties and laptops. Think about it. The store sells anywhere from 1 to 5 computer warranties a day, I'd estimate. Sometimes more, sometimes less. So most people never end up using i t. These aren't official stats, but it's all based on my observation.

AppleCare won't save you that much money. Most repairs won't end up costing $900 like people will tell you they will.

Spend the extra money you have on the actual computer. In 3 years, your computer will be extremely outdated anyways, and you'll probably want to buy a new one regardless.

The bottom line: extended warranties = good for the company, provide huge profits, never get used.

Keep in mind none of these warranties (except an available one from Dell and Lenovo I believe) provide accidental coverage.

The first thing Apple will do is look for evidence of damage so they have a good excuse not to fix the computer.

Good luck with your choice. I 100% recommend you NOT purchase AC at the time of purchasing the laptop because you are clearly unsure. Remember, you have a whole year to think about it!

 

[MacIllini]

Mbp & Ac

just echoing what everyone else has said. get the MBP, then get AC near the end of year 1

 

[adi8038]

Apple care: yes!

Based on my experience I would recommend Apple Care to any buyer of new hardware. Once I had to replace the whole motherboard on my 15 inch Powerbook - and boy was I happy not to pick up that bill.

Last week the powersupply of my Powermac G5 Quad went dead with a big bang . Unfortunately, I had no Apple Care for the machine since I bought it off e-bay. The bill for the new powersupply was USD 900, which I had to pay since the one year warranty had expired already. Lesson learned: never without Apple Care.

 

[Chundles]

I would never buy AppleCare unless on a laptop I was offered it for <$50.

I work at a big box store that sells computers and warranties for the computers.

AppleCare won't save you that much money. Most repairs won't end up costing $900 like people will tell you they will.

Er, yeah it will.

The price of a 2.16GHz MacBook logic board from Apple currently runs at north of $2000. I'd much rather spend $419 than over A$2K.

Most repairs on the laptops, once labour is taken into account run at around 2 to 3x the cost of the AppleCare Protection Plan.

We see it all the time here with people having problems with their computers that will end up costing them close to the price of a new machine that would've been completely covered if they'd taken out the APP.

AppleCare is not some dodgy in-store warranty where they send it away for weeks or just palm you off to somewhere else - they actually look after you, it has 24hour phone support, techtools deluxe, ONSITE servicing for desktops - it's very good value.

Telling someone not to get AppleCare is nigh-on irresponsible. If they have a problem after that one year is up, they're f*cked without AppleCare.

 

[neiltc13]

You do get peace of mind, but you have to realize you are paying a premium for it. Warranties are profitable for companies, and often very profitable, for a reason: Cost of repair times probability of breakage at a reasonable discount rate is less than the cost of the warranty. For every story of a $500 repair there are many more of $0-$150 repairs.

Indeed, and we must remember that when Apple says that it's going to cost $500 to repair a computer to someone without a warranty, that too includes a hefty amount of profit.

 

[queshy]

Hey there,
No time to break up your quote, so I'm just going to insert comments in bold

Er, yeah it will.

It might. It might not. Nobody knows.

The price of a 2.16GHz MacBook logic board from Apple currently runs at north of $2000. I'd much rather spend $419 than over A$2K.
So would I. In fact, if the logic board on my MBA dies out of warranty, I'll just buy a new laptop instead of spending $2k or whatever it is to fix it.
In all honesty though, what % do you estimate the # of apple laptops that require logic board replacement after one year but less than 3? I have no idea on what a good value would be, but it's nowhere near 50% I would say. Much less, probably.

Most repairs on the laptops, once labour is taken into account run at around 2 to 3x the cost of the AppleCare Protection Plan.

I don't know about "most" repairs. Some, yes, but I'm not sure if most repairs will cost that much. Depends what it is. But if you drop the computer, that will most likely be an expensive repair, and AC won't cover it.

We see it all the time here with people having problems with their computers that will end up costing them close to the price of a new machine that would've been completely covered if they'd taken out the APP.
I won't doubt you there. But again, I'm the type to play the odds
AppleCare is not some dodgy in-store warranty where they send it away for weeks or just palm you off to somewhere else - they actually look after you, it has 24hour phone support, techtools deluxe, ONSITE servicing for desktops - it's very good value.
I never said it was - in fact - I urge people who read this - if you feel you must have some kind of additional protection with your Mac, go with apple care over the in store best buy warranty, despite what the salesman tells you. Apple's #1 goal isn't to sell you a warranty, but it's pretty well BB's #1 goal. Margin on computers for big box stores is incredibly low. Macs (and other laptops) often sell for less than $30 above cost!
Telling someone not to get AppleCare is nigh-on irresponsible. If they have a problem after that one year is up, they're f*cked without AppleCare.
I never said don't buy apple care. I said "I wouldn't buy AC". I even said at the end of my post that if you are thinking about buying it, don't buy it at the time of purchase, just think about it first and be sure you want it.

I don't doubt the service is not good...in fact, I know it's good. I've called Apple many times and the tech's on the phone do the best they can to help you most of the time, and they're way more knowledgeable than I am!!! (not saying much since im not very knowledgeable, but hey, it works for me) No matter how good their service is, for most of the customers, AC will be 100% profit for Apple. That's why they sell it. If every computer required expensive repairs, they wouldn't sell it. But most computers will show problems right out of the box and not after only one year and before 3. That's what Apple is banking on.

Not only are customers taking the chance that their laptop will break after one year and before 3, but they're also banking on the possibility of some sort of mega repair that cost way higher than the price of apple care. If the repair ends up being super pricey at let's say $500 but you have apple care, you're not saving "that" much because Apple care was pretty expensive to begin with. THe customer only wins when the repair is big, and you save yourself from spending big bucks on a repair. But that doesn't happen 100% of the time, thankfullly for apple.

 

[SDLSteve]

I purchase all of my high ticket items including a mac pro with my american express card. They double the warranty for everything. It helped me get a new ipod a few years ago when it broke 13 months after buying. I actually made money as the original ipod was $400 which I received a credit for and purchased a new one for $300.

 

[IJ Reilly]

I don't doubt the service is not good...in fact, I know it's good. I've called Apple many times and the tech's on the phone do the best they can to help you most of the time, and they're way more knowledgeable than I am!!! (not saying much since im not very knowledgeable, but hey, it works for me) No matter how good their service is, for most of the customers, AC will be 100% profit for Apple. That's why they sell it. If every computer required expensive repairs, they wouldn't sell it. But most computers will show problems right out of the box and not after only one year and before 3. That's what Apple is banking on.

Not only are customers taking the chance that their laptop will break after one year and before 3, but they're also banking on the possibility of some sort of mega repair that cost way higher than the price of apple care. If the repair ends up being super pricey at let's say $500 but you have apple care, you're not saving "that" much because Apple care was pretty expensive to begin with. THe customer only wins when the repair is big, and you save yourself from spending big bucks on a repair. But that doesn't happen 100% of the time, thankfullly for apple.

In short, Apple prices AppleCare to be profitable -- very profitable -- which means, on average, that a buyer will collect far less in coverage than what they pay for it. Virtually every advocate for buying AppleCare totally overlooks this fundamental financial issue. They also overlook the fact that their Mac is going to be substantially depreciated at the end of three years, and if their Mac broke and they didn't have AppleCare, they'd probably replace the Mac instead of spending big bucks to repair it, because replacement would make more economic sense. Extended warranties are good money after bad, really.

 

[i0Nic]

If I buy AppleCare I only get it close to the end of the first year. If I have had some issues with the computer I will most likely buy it, if I have had no problem I will probably not buy it. I think everyone should use this policy.

 

[fishmama]

The mac is covered for the first year, you just don't get phone troubleshooting; but if you live near an Apple store, you can go to the genius bar for free. Work with the computer for about 9 months, and spend those months saving up to get applecare. If you've dropped the mac and banged up the side, don't get applecare, it probably won't help you much. If you haven't dropped the computer, get applecare.

I think I've had applecare on 2-3 computers over the years. It's paid for itself.