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If i'm buying a MacBook AND a an IMac, do I need to get AppleCare for both?

E

e8w117

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 16, 2008
31
0
I'm close to purchasing both, maybe by end of month(my first Apple products ever). Does anyone know if I need to buy TWO different Applecare's???

How neccessary is AppleCare in the first place?

I'm trying to find out if buyers have felt like they've used it.

THNX for any help.
 
e8w117 said:
I'm close to purchasing both, maybe by end of month(my first Apple products ever). Does anyone know if I need to buy TWO different Applecare's???

How neccessary is AppleCare in the first place?

I'm trying to find out if buyers have felt like they've used it.

THNX for any help.
Click to expand...

Yes it would need to be two AppleCare purchases.

Just curious, have you considered the MacBook with the LED Cinema display? Or maybe even the 15" MacBook Pro? Usability may increase, and you're spending just as much, if not less than the MacBook and iMac together. Plus if you buy AppleCare with a MacBook (or Pro) with LED Cinema display, the display also gets the 3 year AppleCare at no additional cost.
 
I forgot to mention is that AppleCare is like any other extended warranty coverage: You are betting on the fact that your computer will fail in some shape or form after the limited one year warranty. With a laptop computer, it is somewhat inevitable, though many laptop computers have been known to be problem-free for their entire lifespan of many many years. If you take your computer on the go and abuse it somehow, component failure is more likely, and AppleCare is valuable. However if you have a habit of dropping your electronics or breaking them in other ways, AppleCare may not be the choice for you, but instead you should look for insurance policies that cover accidental damage as well as loss and theft.
 
EVERYONE, thnx for the help/advise.... its goes alot further than what any salesman could do...

alpha, no, i haven't considered the LED. reason being, its goin to be portable for me, so i don't want spend alot of money. granted its only amatter of a few hundred bucks, i'd like to save when i can.

that being said, thats why i'm also getting an iMac desktop.

I want the desktop to be my workhorse for Dad duties(music, pix, and vids).

the MacBook, would be the internet browser, for everyone to use.

thnx for everyones help!!!!!!




alphaod said:
Yes it would need to be two AppleCare purchases.

Just curious, have you considered the MacBook with the LED Cinema display? Or maybe even the 15" MacBook Pro? Usability may increase, and you're spending just as much, if not less than the MacBook and iMac together. Plus if you buy AppleCare with a MacBook (or Pro) with LED Cinema display, the display also gets the 3 year AppleCare at no additional cost.
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Cave Man said:
I've never bought Applecare and never will. You should think of it as an insurance policy - the odds are you won't have any problems. But unlikely things do happen.
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When you can save 60 to 75 percent, it is senseless not to buy AppleCare. I have only used mine twice. Once for MBP where had $1100 repair of logicboard and misc items and once when got AirPort Extreme Base Station replaced value of $200.

I agree that at full price of $250 for iMac or MB and $350 for MBP, it could be a bad deal. However, using eBay and Live.com discount and buying for less than and barely more than $100 depending on Mac, it's a worthy insurance policy. It's not like these Macs never break. By reading a few posts here, you can learn by other people who did and did not have AppleCare.

Buy it for both Macs if you want them both covered, but buy them from an Apple reseller for a substantial discount.
 
thats how i was thinking of it, as insurance.... wouldn't be much of an issue if i was only buying ONE apple product, but i need to buy two.

maybe i'll just get it for the macbook, but not the imac.

then again, i don't think macbook will cover getting dropped, right???

see.... thats my thing.... since the macbook is more portable, its more likely to move, more likely to have problems....







Cave Man said:
I've never bought Applecare and never will. You should think of it as an insurance policy - the odds are you won't have any problems. But unlikely things do happen.
Click to expand...
 
e8w117 said:
....

then again, i don't think macbook will cover getting dropped, right??....
Click to expand...

you are aware that applecare wont cover the cost of repairing the damage if drop your macbook, right? it's NOT insurance in that sense, it doesn't cover accidental damage.
 
Macky-Mac said:
you are aware that applecare wont cover the cost of repairing the damage if drop your macbook, right? it's NOT insurance in that sense, it doesn't cover accidental damage.
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yes, of course. my train of thought was that the more-portable macbook, would be prone to more 'accidental damage' than something actually covered under applecare.

it did make me think about it more, thnx!!!
 
so... if i get the applcare from ebay, for cheaper, how does the 'care' start? is each applcare tied to a serial number?

if so, how are all these eager seller about to purchase AppleCare w/o actually owning an Apple product?
 
you call Apple to register your newly purchased applecare plan. You'll also give them the serial number of your computer and that's when the two get tied together
 
Just a personal opinion, but I always felt that buying two computer at once is a bad idea. They will go out of date around the same time, and after a period of time both of them will get sluggish. I'd usually suggest a 6 month separation between the two. The iMacs are bound to get refreshed soon, so I'd get that when it happens, and wait on the next or even the next next Macbook update to get one. That way, you don't have to spend a big sum of money all at once, and one of your system will always be new.
However, if you have the cash now and don't need it for something else, and you don't think your demand will increase, then buying at the same time is ok. But especially because it's your first Mac purchase, I would just get one to try it out. Not everyone prefers Macs :eek:.
 
teflon said:
Just a personal opinion, but I always felt that buying two computer at once is a bad idea. They will go out of date around the same time, and after a period of time both of them will get sluggish. I'd usually suggest a 6 month separation between the two. The iMacs are bound to get refreshed soon, so I'd get that when it happens, and wait on the next or even the next next Macbook update to get one. That way, you don't have to spend a big sum of money all at once, and one of your system will always be new.
However, if you have the cash now and don't need it for something else, and you don't think your demand will increase, then buying at the same time is ok. But especially because it's your first Mac purchase, I would just get one to try it out. Not everyone prefers Macs :eek:.
Click to expand...

I agree with this also. I stagger my desktop and laptop purchases.
 
Buy it for the macbook, the iMac isn't such a big deal since you don't take it around with you.
 
ikermalli said:
Buy it for the macbook, the iMac isn't such a big deal since you don't take it around with you.
Click to expand...
Amen to that, also your more likely to be able to fix the iMac yourself as fixing desktops isn't so hard. However still as i said earlier, i would get it for both if you dont know a lot about computers, and just buy it on Ebay to save a lot of money.
 
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