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Is Apple Care Worth it?

IJ Reilly said:
I don't know about that, but I do know I've given up on trying to explain that extended warranties are priced to be profitable, so lately I've taken to urging people to buy AppleCare to help fatten Apple's bottom line.
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Well, that's so kind of you. In exchange after this post I'll give up trying to explain that all insurance costs money. It would be fairly hard for insurance companies to remain in business if they didn't take more money in premiums than they pay out in claims.

Finally, there is value in the peace of mind alone the extra two years of coverage provides regardless of whether it comes to use or not. Perhaps you disagree personally but that doesn't change the fact.

I am uniquely qualified to say that NOT buying AC fattened Apple's bottom line about 3 times what I would have paid for the coverage on my last Mac. You and all the other AC bashers keep your fingers crossed out there. ;)

I'm not raising your stock shares the value of a bad logic board again, sorry. For what I paid for the coverage it was well worth it already and I haven't even put it to use yet.

No offense but I don't care if you don't buy it. This is just my opinion in reply to the OP's question and definitely not a sales pitch.

I doubt any of the anti-AC pundits would post openly in here if a Mac they owned went bad out of warranty but it would be vindicating.

Till then I'll serve in that role as a reformed anti-AC pundit. :p
 
If you want to sell the laptop before the AC is up (possibly to put the funds towards a newer model), there's no question it'll be easier to sell, and you'll get more money for it, if you have the AC. It's fully transferable. This is what made me confident enough to buy a used PB 1.25 off of CL 1.5 years into the warranty period. I ended up using it four times, and within about a month of it expiring they ended up just replacing it with a rev A. MBP, free of charge.

It's a gamble, but if you're getting the education discount, I'd expect it to pay for itself fairly easily, one way or another.
 
SaSaSushi said:
Personally, I'm not in the tax bracket where I can afford to consider a Macintosh disposable. :p

I usually sell my Mac and put the proceeds towards a new one. Macs tend to have excellent resale value.



That's just it. With AppleCare there IS no hassle. You send it in and they fix it. They even send out the courier with all the necessary packaging.

I'll never buy a Mac without AppleCare coverage again. I've already told the story about how my prior Core Duo iMac's logic board went bye bye 6 weeks out the one year warranty and cost me $500 (plus shipping) in enough of these "Do I need AppleCare" threads.
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Heh, obviously it's a great idea to sell the old computer to get a new one. But is it really worth spending a few hundred dollars extra to have that luxury? Think about it, people who buy apple care - usually the apple care is a significant part of the total amount of money they spend! Apple Care is clearly a way for Apple to make money and more often than not, Apple wins, otherwise they wouldn't be selling it.

And I'm not sure if I completely agree with the "no hassle" thing. Even without apple care, you can still go to the genius bar and they'll tell you what's wrong with the compute. And even then, I've heard some pretty bad things about apple care, though they are more "competent" than other computer companies.
 
pna said:
If you want to sell the laptop before the AC is up (possibly to put the funds towards a newer model), there's no question it'll be easier to sell, and you'll get more money for it, if you have the AC. It's fully transferable. This is what made me confident enough to buy a used PB 1.25 off of CL 1.5 years into the warranty period. I ended up using it four times, and within about a month of it expiring they ended up just replacing it with a rev A. MBP, free of charge.

It's a gamble, but if you're getting the education discount, I'd expect it to pay for itself fairly easily, one way or another.
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Thank you for making this point. I'd completely overlooked the fact that of course AC adds to the resale value of a Mac for the duration of its coverage. This is absolutely the case on auctions over here in Japan. :)
 
Humblebee said:
I noticed it doesn't cover theft, accidents, or power surges, so what good is it?
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Theft is covered (should be covered) under your home owners / renters insurance. Accidents can also be claimed under your home owners / renters insurance. Working for a university, students have gotten accidental damages fixed on computers/laptops through their parents insurance.

Power surges is covered through your surge protector if you have it plugged in through one.

I have had apple care added to my mac book pro because I if something were to happen with all the traveling and moving around of it in my laptop case, in theory it should be covered. So far nothing has gone wrong.
 
Answering the OP:

If you're going to use the new Apple product as is, not modifying, overclocking, or hacking it, like a regular consumer, get AppleCare. It's WELL worth it if something goes wrong after the warranty expires.

If you're going to hack the crap out of it and put better/bigger/faster stuff in it, don't bother. The warranty will cover any DOA items. So, after you get the product and verify it works and then you mod it, if you have a problem, you're SOL whether you have AppleCare or not.
 
queshy said:
Heh, obviously it's a great idea to sell the old computer to get a new one. But is it really worth spending a few hundred dollars extra to have that luxury? Think about it, people who buy apple care - usually the apple care is a significant part of the total amount of money they spend! Apple Care is clearly a way for Apple to make money and more often than not, Apple wins, otherwise they wouldn't be selling it.
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I paid $119 for the coverage on my iMac. I realize it is much more expensive on notebooks but that is obviously in accordance with their higher rate of claims.

And I'm not sure if I completely agree with the "no hassle" thing. Even without apple care, you can still go to the genius bar and they'll tell you what's wrong with the compute. And even then, I've heard some pretty bad things about apple care, though they are more "competent" than other computer companies.
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Well, OK, I can agree that it is of course a hassle to some extent whenever you have to send a computer in for service. You have to wait for them to get it and return it and pack it and unpack it, etc.

I am just definitely of the opinion that it is a worthy hassle having gone through the same rigmarole only to end up paying a full $500 on top of it all for a logic board on my last iMac.

I can't afford to cough up a failed Mac to experience. :eek:
 
SaSaSushi said:
Well, that's so kind of you. In exchange after this post I'll give up trying to explain that all insurance costs money. It would be fairly hard for insurance companies to remain in business if they didn't take more money in premiums than they pay out in claims.
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Of course these policies make money. Extended warranties are notoriously profitable. The costs are set such that you are unlikely to collect back what you pay in. Based on previous discussions, I'd say that significantly less than half of people are prepared to accept that this is true. So this is in response to the argument that AppleCare is "definitely worth it."
 
IJ Reilly said:
Of course these policies make money. Extended warranties are notoriously profitable. The costs are set such that you are unlikely to collect back what you pay in. Based on previous discussions, I'd say that significantly less than half of people are prepared to accept that this is true. So this is in response to the argument that AppleCare is "definitely worth it."
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Bingo. For every person who actually breaks even on AC, nine others will kiss the money goodbye. Groupthink on this forum suggests most here would rather believe themselves to be the One person out of ten who cashes in on Applecare than part of the 90% collective that simply loses money on the deal to Apple.
 
im surprised that everyone is forgetting the biggest thing about applecare.
It covers not just the computer, but the battery and the charger. If you have any intention to use this as anything other than a small desktop than your battery will lose its life. Applecare covers that. Also, apple chargers are infamous for shorting. They'll give you new ones of those as well.

I have gotten two new batteries and a charger which would have cost me 319 dollars. I'll probaby get one more battery before the next year when it expires. I have yet to have a repair on it so i kindda think of it as repair coverage for 30 dollars...
 
heatmiser said:
Bingo. For every person who actually breaks even on AC, 99 others will kiss the money goodbye. Groupthink on this forum suggests most here would rather believe themselves to be the One person out of a hundred who cashes in on Applecare than part of the 99% collective that simply loses money on the deal to Apple.
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Regardless, when I spend several thousand dollars on a Mac Pro, I'm not going to flinch on the "insurance" plan. To each his/her own....
 
nmamur said:
im surprised that everyone is forgetting the biggest thing about applecare.
It covers not just the computer, but the battery and the charger.
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In most jurisdiction it would illegal to cover the computer and not the battery and charger; products need to have a warranty of usability (that is, a customer can expect to be able to use the product for what it is intended for).

In either case, the cost of a battery and charger together would be less than $200, while Applecare on a mbp is $350 retail and close to $220 off of ebay.

And this assumes that your batter and charger will both be defective.

As for the insurance argument thrown around, please keep in mind that the idea of insurance is to protect what cannot be easily replaced or paid for on one's own (a car, a home, a life, etc); a $2,000 computer is hardly something that would lead you to become a pauper.
 
I purchased a MBP with AC last Tuesday. I was on the fence since I purchased it with an AMEX card. AMEX doubles the standard warranty, free of charge. However, it's not transferable. I decided to get AC regardless, since it's transferable, $100 cheaper with the education discount, and eventually will add resale value should I sell it down the road.

However I also agree that warranties are cash cows. I'm still 50/50 on my particular decision.
 
Yes get it

AppleCare is definitely worth it, its a no-brainer. Especially if you have an expensive machine, or at least expensive for your budget. It can save hundreds to thousands on a repair over the 3 year period. And it is also good for resale value. People will be encouraged to buy used if it still has warranty. Also, great idea to get it if you have a first generation machine.
 
SaSaSushi said:
I paid $119 for the coverage on my iMac. I realize it is much more expensive on notebooks but that is obviously in accordance with their higher rate of claims.



Well, OK, I can agree that it is of course a hassle to some extent whenever you have to send a computer in for service. You have to wait for them to get it and return it and pack it and unpack it, etc.

I am just definitely of the opinion that it is a worthy hassle having gone through the same rigmarole only to end up paying a full $500 on top of it all for a logic board on my last iMac.

I can't afford to cough up a failed Mac to experience. :eek:
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My white iMacs been going fine for over a year now. If something bad happened to i t, and required a 500$ repair, I'd pay it, since the computer was >2000$. And then for my next Mac, I'd probably buy apple care, but until you get slammed for a big repair, it's hard to say "yes" to a warranty.
 
IJ Reilly said:
Of course these policies make money. Extended warranties are notoriously profitable. The costs are set such that you are unlikely to collect back what you pay in. Based on previous discussions, I'd say that significantly less than half of people are prepared to accept that this is true. So this is in response to the argument that AppleCare is "definitely worth it."
Click to expand...

christheeskimo said:
I think it's always a good idea to have the full warranty
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sprice25 said:
AppleCare is definitely worth it, its a no-brainer.
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Play4keeps said:
AppleCare is definitely worth it:)
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Case closed...
 
Thanks guys. I think I'm going to get it. I was originally planning on getting a hard drive upgrade to 250gb, but since the MBP updated even the lowest model to 200 I don't have to worry about that anymore, so the apple care pretty much makes up for the price difference.
 
nmamur said:
im surprised that everyone is forgetting the biggest thing about applecare.
It covers not just the computer, but the battery and the charger. If you have any intention to use this as anything other than a small desktop than your battery will lose its life. Applecare covers that. Also, apple chargers are infamous for shorting. They'll give you new ones of those as well.

I have gotten two new batteries and a charger which would have cost me 319 dollars. I'll probaby get one more battery before the next year when it expires. I have yet to have a repair on it so i kindda think of it as repair coverage for 30 dollars...
Click to expand...

how often can you do that though? I know some companies have a policy where they will replace the product but only 3 times a year and what not per product.
 
A question, if I may?

I'm considering buying a sealed in box MBP with 3 months of original waranty left.

1. Is it possible to buy applecare for this situation
2. Do you need the receipt?
 
I'm a believer

Up until a few years ago, I would have said forget the AC, but some recent experiences with Apple's reliability have convinced me it's worth it. I've been a Mac user going back to the first Mac Pluses and had always been impressed with Apple's quality control. I still have my first Plus which is in working order though unused. I've gone through a half dozen Macs over the years and never had anything fail until my most recent models. I think that Apple has traded on reliability recently to remain competitive in price and that the cost of AC is that difference.

About six months out of the one(most components fail by then)year warranty, my wife's iBook needed a new logic board replacement, twice, plus a new hard disk and a CD drive controller. all this while she was in the middle of writing a book. Thank god for backups! Fortunately all of the problems arose in short succession after the first logic board failure so Apple made all replacements for the original repair fee. Now my iMac (iLamp model) is on tap for a replacement with a failing hard drive and a Superdrive that failed about two years ago (I've been relying on an external DVD writer since.) I would have never expected so many things to go wrong with my previous Macs. I bought AC for the new Macbook and will for the replacement iMac.

My advice is pay the premium because Macs are worth it and still a darn sight better than the competition and hope that you don't have to use AC before you buy your next Mac. Yes, like most insurance, many of us won't need it but who is willing to take the risk.
 
flamejob said:
A question, if I may?

I'm considering buying a sealed in box MBP with 3 months of original waranty left.

1. Is it possible to buy applecare for this situation
2. Do you need the receipt?
Click to expand...

as for question #2.......maybe!

Apple says you should always keep your receipt in order to validate your warranty coverage and from personal experience, yes, it's a good idea to have it. Apple's records on a computer that a client of mine brought from an authorized reseller was off by a matter of months. He had to have some repairs made and without the receipt to prove the purchase date, he would have had to pay for the repairs instead of having the work done under the warranty
 
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