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Is Applecare a must?

T

Tragedies

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 4, 2007
374
0
Melbourne, Australia
I'll be purchasing a new iMac in October, and $1,700 dollars is a bit hefty (Australian dollars, 20inch iMac) for me, but I'll manage, but considering I'm only a teen, money's hard for me to get, so I don't know if I should pay another $200 - $300 for an Apple Care plan.

If I take good care of the iMac I buy, do you think I'll need an Apple Care plan?
 
It is advisable that you do buy the AppleCare plan. But, you have year from the date of purchase to buy it. So, if you buy the iMac on 1st October 2007, you have till 30th September 2008 to buy AppleCare. So, you could easily buy it next year.
 
Get it. Even if nothing happens in the 3 years you'll be protected if it does. It isn't totally necessary for an iMac but for laptops it's a necessity.
 
I've owned 6 macs of one sort or another and I've never had a repair come up that would have been covered by the applecare warranty extension.......so obviously I don't think it's a "must"

if you consider yourself an unlucky person, of if you're prone to worry and prefer spending money for "peace of mind" then maybe it's for you
 
the general rule of thumb is that for laptops you always are better off getting applecare. But since an iMac is an all-in-one product, i would recommend getting Applecare in case anything goes wrong with the LCD.
 
I'd highly suggest getting AppleCare. Although you don't have to purchase it at the time you buy it, you have a year afterward to buy it.
 
I bought AppleCare with my iMac, and never once needed to use it.

With that being said, I'm not disappointed that I did buy it. I've got no worries now that my iMac has been running great for almost three years.

Why not buy it, and sell the iPod, if you really need the money?
 
Alright, sorry if I'm hijacking this thread, but I take it AppleCare is also strongly recommended for college students? I'm going to be a freshman this year bringing a new MBP...
 
diehldun said:
Alright, sorry if I'm hijacking this thread, but I take it AppleCare is also strongly recommended for college students? I'm going to be a freshman this year bringing a new MBP...
Click to expand...
Yes, for the love of all that is holy.

I say that as I type this from my PowerMac G5 which did not have (or need AppleCare). I probably wouldn't spring for it on a MacPro, or a Mac Mini.

I have a MacBook Pro that I use for work, and has "gone home to Apple" twice in the past four months, and my wife just got her MacBook back from the local Apple Store a couple days ago. My old MBP (I upgraded with the C2D came out) also paid a visit to Cupertino.

Despite being something of a Mac zealot, I have to admit that the MacBook and MacBook Pro are not built terribly well. The PowerBook G4's were tanks by comparison.

Check eBay, and you can usually find AppleCare for less than you'd pay with your student discount.
 
Uaually, hardware problems, if they are going to happen, crop up very quickly after the purchase of your computer (within warranty period). So in that sense, it's not worth it.

Since it sounds like you don't buy a new computer that often, I would say go for the Applecare if you can as the cost of an out-of-warranty repair will pay for it. If you can't, you have a year to save up the necessary money.
 
Yeah I don't buy a computer very often so I will get Apple Care.

However I forgot that I had a year to buy it, so that's some time to purchase it.

Thanks everyone :D
 
steamboat26 said:
the general rule of thumb is that for laptops you always are better off getting applecare.
Click to expand...

This may be your rule of thumb, but it is not a "general" rule of thumb.

Anyhow, this question is asked at least once a month on these boards. A search for AppleCare in thread titles will reveal all of the extensive past discussion and debate. No need to repeat it again.
 
does anyone know the statistics of the intel iMac failures within the first year, 2nd, 3rd, etc.?
 
If you're concerned about something happening to your computer at school. Get it covered under your insurance policy. It costs like $50 for an entire year and you're covered from everything, theft included. I actually took out an additional insurance policy on both my home theater room and my computer room.
 
I had to send my powerbook in for a lcd/keyboard repair within the year applecare. I was planning on selling my powerbook so I didn't bother to get extended applecare.. which I regret now.

When I bought my sister's macbook, applecare was a must and it was a good thing since we had to send it in for repairs immediately.
 
Yeah

diehldun said:
Alright, sorry if I'm hijacking this thread, but I take it AppleCare is also strongly recommended for college students? I'm going to be a freshman this year bringing a new MBP...
Click to expand...

I was a freshman last year in college and I used my MBP everyday. I am very happy that I got AppleCare because theres a lot of little things that go wrong and AppleCare will cover it. That being said, I waited until about January (I bought my MBP in August) before getting it. I figured buying it at the time was just a waste because I could get it a year after and I wouldn't lose any coverage whatsoever.

That being said, you just kinda have to remember to get it.
 
Get it

I got it for my Macbook pro off of ebay for 175.00 registered it and recieved a letter a week later from Apple that everything is cool. Its peace of mind especially on a laptop. Also by the OP nickname "tragedies" I would get it no doubt.
 
When I bought my iMac I didn't buy the AppleCare initally, but 6 months later my logic board failed and had to be replaced twice. Those were each $800~ repairs. So I bought the Applecare just in case something like that happened again I wouldn't be stuck with an expensive repair.

It's a good thing I bought it too, my logic board and hard drive both had to be replaced again and still broke, fortunately I ended up with a replacement on Friday :D


allison.
 
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