I have until Sat. to buy Applecare for my powerbook... Should I???

crazydreaming

crazydreaming

macrumors 6502a
I'm sorry for asking this as I know it's been asked before, tried searching however and couldn't find anything real specific.

Anyway, I'm in College, I have a 15" Powerbook that I bought a year ago. I have until August 5 to buy Applecare, so I have to act fast. I know it's a worthwile investment, especially for notebooks, because if anything goes wrong, the cost of a repair easily equals or is greater than the cost of Applecare.

I'm broke though! Make me feel better about spending $240 on what seems to be nothing to me now! I'll be really broke for quite some time if I do it, but I know it's what's best...
 
Well, it's a gamble, and you'll have people argue both ways.

Personally, I've seen enough LCD & logic board replacements to totally warrant making ALL my users purchase AppleCare right up front.

Personally, I'd rather gamble on $10 a month for piece of mind, over the $800+ pricetag of an major fix.
 
I have until next saturday for my apple care. And I will definitely be getting it.
 
If you can get it, DO IT!!

Portables are more prone to breaking and are $$$$$$$ to repair.
My PowerBook went in for some stuff and PAID for the applecare first time 'round.

Use your edu discount to help. :)
 
Anyone have a story for me of powerbooks going after being 2 or 3 years old?

I plan on keeping this one for awhile
 
I would say go for it. Purchased mine a year ago and have lucked out by not having anything major. It's nice to know that I have a have it anyway.

I do have white spots on my screen and I should have taken it in weeks ago but I wanted to finish my Euro Blitz trip before taking it in. Now I can't let go of it due to some projects and I have no back-up computer around. At some point I will take it in.
 
I've had my Powerbook since 2004 and it's still going strong.

I bought the Applecare at the last minute also. I say if you have the money, get it. It's one less thing you have to worry about.

I plan on keeping mine until Apple no longer supports PowerPC basically because I can't afford a new Mac at the moment with wedding plans, moving, etc.
 
You only have a few days left to purchase AppleCare, yet your machine still has plenty of years left for something to go wrong. BUY APPLECARE. I guarantee you that you'll need it at some point over the next two years.
 
Do it for your peace of mind!

Picture this, sod's law just says, come midnight saturday night, your logic board fries itself into a pool of molten silicon, then throught the ventilation gaps, on tou your lap/table ruining you/the table! :eek:

Cheers
 
So is it better to buy Applecare right from the start of the purchase or Wait a year like he did?
 
poppe said:
So is it better to buy Applecare right from the start of the purchase or Wait a year like he did?
Click to expand...

It's about the same either way except that it feels cheaper if you do it later because you get to spread the payment out (ie: your original purchase isn't an additional $350). The only problem is you're often tempted not to get it if you've had a flawless year of use. If things are going wrong, you'll definitely think hard about getting it, but if everything is fine and dandy you might hesitate. In this case, it might be better to have purchased it initially.

Either way, it's good form to get it on laptops and slightly more questionable for desktops.
 
poppe said:
So is it better to buy Applecare right from the start of the purchase or Wait a year like he did?
Click to expand...

Warranty-wise, there's no difference. But standard phone support runs out after 90 days, so if you have a problem after ninety days, it might be smart to pick up AppleCare at that point so that you can talk to someone without fear of getting charged for it.
 
breakfastcrew said:
.....it sounds like apple laptops are really fragile.
Click to expand...

They're no more fragile then most other laptops, perhaps even stronger, as the demand isn't as high as with a company such as Dell, so more care is put into products to improve quality and brand image....

Cheers
 
I bought an iBook in August of 2001, didn't purchase AppleCare, and never had any problems what-so-ever with the machine.

I purchased a 15" PowerBook last August and invested in AppleCare this week after discovering that my headphone jack no longer plays sound out of the left earphone. I'm working on a website for a client and I can't send out the PB for repair until the 21st, but my warranty expires on the 12th. So, I had no choice but to buy AppleCare.

BUT, if I hadn't had this problem, I would not have purchased AppleCare.
 
I say as long as there doesn't seem to be anything failing, don't do it, and in the unlikely situation something does fail, sell it on as semi-working. Someone will pay what it's worth minus the cost of the part and you can buy a newer model. It's what I did. :)

Having said that, I work on that principle for everything, and never buy rip-off extended warranties, and so even one big repair would still be cheaper than buying warranties for everything. So far, I'm in credit. :D
 
I think it's important to note that Apple Care is nearly pure profit for Apple. They don't offer it to lose money. For the buyer, it's a lot like going to the casino and playing a game with fairly bad odds.
 
tobefirst said:
I think it's important to note that Apple Care is nearly pure profit for Apple. They don't offer it to lose money. For the buyer, it's a lot like going to the casino and playing a game with fairly bad odds.
Click to expand...

Pure profit? Not quite. They make money on the program as a whole (as all insurance companies do), but that's the concept of insurance. The populace as a whole pays a small premium for the ability to make a known, small payment instead of facing uncertain chances of a much larger payment.

You might win, you might lose, but you won't know until it's over.
 
I am not even going to bother reading all the replies to your question, let me just answer it....

yes.
 
Take comfort in knowing if you do not buy it then you'll get to start another thread in the future for free when you're upset about your bad logic board, lcd, super drive whatever it is. ;)
 
I have a G3 PowerBook (FireWire) ~ Pismo that has been chuggin along going on 7 years. But you were asking about the G4s werent you :p
 
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