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Is AppleCare worth it?

As others have said, given the difficult to impossible self-repairable nature of the new rMBPs, I think AppleCare is definitely a worthwhile investment.

My previous MBP 15" since it came out in 2006, during Year 2, I had the display replaced, and then the Aiport Extreme card inside of it just a few months before expiration... those alone covered the cost of protection. (Only wish they 'fully' covered the battery...but oh well). You just never know.

Also, from a future re-sale standpoint, since a well cared for Apple laptop holds its value really well, having any leftover coverage from AppleCare is a great selling point.

When I sold my iPad 1, I had purchased AppleCare on it (there was about 2 months left on it at the time of sale)... gave the buyer a little more peace-of-mind and let me sell the device a few % over the average sell price of comparably old units.
 
From my experience, ever since the rMBP with everyone requesting replacements all over the place, Geniuses have been much more hard-ass. A few years ago, it seemed like any major issue and the Genius would be more than happy to replace with a brand new machine. Nowadays, they would rather perform a $1000+ repair on an iMac than replace it.

Paying $130 or whatever per year for the Worth Ave group insurance full coverage for my MBP was far more useful, especially since an accident denting or damaging my laptop is far more likely than my logic board spontaneously being fried.
 
So - I got AppleCare from B&H Photo for my new 2013 Retina 13 for 177 after tax and shipping. Since the list price for my 2.5/512/16G MBPr is cool 1999, its was a pretty small price, less than 9%. (I might not have been quite as quick if I was buying a base model MBA 13).
-Shaown
 
As someone working for a computer repair shop, knowing what we charge people to fix their Mac I'd have to say its worth it.
 
After a little research it seems that in Australia Apple is unofficially offering 24 month warranties in order to comply with the Australian Consumer Protection laws that suggest that electronic items over $1,000 should last for at least 2 years - this makes Applecare a waste of money for me.
 
Anyone know where to get apple care other than B&H for cheap? I live in Florida and they cant sell it to me because of some law about extended warranties....anyone else have this issue?
 
JWorld127 said:
Anyone know where to get apple care other than B&H for cheap? I live in Florida and they cant sell it to me because of some law about extended warranties....anyone else have this issue?
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Yup, I'm in Florida too. You can get the AppleCare through Apple with the education discount. Cheapest you will find, $183 for 13-inch and 2-something for 15".
 
MN7119 said:
Just ordered a fully loaded 13" Macbook Pro: 2.8Ghz i7, 1TB flash memory and 16gb RAM. AppleCare was $249 so I decided tomhold on that. Used Amex card for payment which should extend my warranty by 1 year over Apple's warranty. Should I add AppleCare?
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Depends where you live. If you live in the EU then no, it's a waste of money...the consumer laws in the Eu give you more protection and coverage for much longer and it's your right to it without paying through the teeth.
 
FelicityW said:
I would buy it. If I decide to sell it early, it helps tremendously with resale. If I keep it, I will worry about things a lot less. The one time I didn't buy it, I limped along with a bad track pad until now when I just bought a new rMBP. Now I have to get the trackpad fixed because I am going to give my old one to my son. Wonder that will cost ...
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doesn't help at all with resale as AC does not transfer ownership
 
ano0oj said:
doesn't help at all with resale as AC does not transfer ownership
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AppleCare follows the computer, not the owner. No transfer of ownership of AppleCare is required. If a Mac is covered by AppleCare, the buyer would benefit from that coverage. It may not justify any increase in sale price, but it may motivate a buyer to choose a Mac with AppleCare over the same model without it.
 
It's probably worth it to random individuals who end up needing it, but it ends up not being worth it for the majority who don't end up needing it and wind up subsidizing those who do. Obviously Apple prices it to make money, so just like a casino slot machine most people are losers.

The question is, would you be professionally crippled if something happened to your machine and you couldn't afford an out of warranty repair or replacement? If the answer is yes then maybe it's worth the insurance. If the answer is that it'd be an annoying repair/replacement expense but wouldn't change your life, then I'd skip the warranty.
 
Stunned Monkey said:
It's probably worth it to random individuals who end up needing it, but it ends up not being worth it for the majority who don't end up needing it and wind up subsidizing those who do. Obviously Apple prices it to make money, so just like a casino slot machine most people are losers.
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This x1000. It's not much different than insurance. You know you're paying a slightly unfair price for that insurance to hedge against the bigger loss if something happens. If you don't mind risk, then on paper skipping the extended warranty is a good gamble. If you dislike risk, or you know something that makes you more likely to need repair than average (e.g., you're a serious mobile warrior, or you know that you eat through AC adapters like cake), then it's in your best interest.

The decision is ultimately an individual one about tolerance for risk under information asymmetry.
 
For Australian owners - from http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/53..._medium=newsletter&eid=-240&utm_source=retail


"Apple will be giving Australian consumers 24 month warranties across its products after an intervention from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

ACCC was investigating Apple’s consumer guarantee policies and practices, and representations about consumer rights under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL).

The consumer watchdog was concerned that Apple had made a number of false or misleading representations to a number of consumers regarding their guarantee rights, including that Apple was not required to provide a refund, replacement or repair in circumstances where this was required by the consumer guarantees in the ACL.

Apple’s policies include a 14-day return policy and 12-month limited manufacturer’s warranty.

Apple has since acknowledged the ACCC's concerns, and that some of these representations to consumers may have contravened the ACL. It has worked with the ACCC to resolve these issues and has committed to taking a number of compliance measures.

“The ACCC was concerned that Apple was applying its own warranties and refund policies effectively to the exclusion of the consumer guarantees contained in the Australian Consumer Law,” ACCC Chairman, Rod Sims, said.

“This undertaking serves as an important reminder to businesses that while voluntary or express warranties can provide services in addition to the consumer guarantee rights of the ACL, they cannot replace or remove those ACL guarantee rights.”

The ACL came into effect in January 2011 and provides consumers with basic rights in relation to consumer goods sold in Australia. These basic rights operate in addition to any express or voluntary warranties offered by businesses and can't be excluded by a business’ terms and conditions of sale."
 
Absolutely yes, in my case anyway. I've always purchased Applecare within a few days of my one-year warranty expiration. I've had to use it twice.

First was on a 2008 15" MacBook Pro when the logic board failed.

Most recently was for a late 2011 15" MacBook Pro that was fraught with intermittent issues from day one. Over the life of the machine I had the logic board replaced, hard drive replaced, and most recently had the airport/BT card replaced. Last month another issue reared its ugly head, and the Genius looked up the history and said that besides all of the problems I've experienced, it also becomes a problem when they keep repeatedly opening the computer to repair it. That laptop was maxed out/upgraded by me, and the Genius got approval to give me a brand new rMBP...maxed out.

Applecare. Yes.
 
It is worth it if it gives you peace of mind. A lot of people spend quite a bit of time deciding if they should get it or not. If you just get it and stop worrying about it, then mentally you have done yourself well.

It's like when people spend countless hours searching for deals on products. Sometimes it's better to pay full price immediately then waste all those hours searching for a deal. Spend your time (mental energy) on something constructive and you will be surprised at what you can accomplish.
 
I will say if you buy AppleCare from somewhere like BandH where it is cheaper then by all means do it!

My story begins with hell I had with my 2011 MBP, lets just say it was repaired about every way possible because for some reason I kept getting bad logicboard swaps. Always having issues with the ports on the side, even issues with the hard drive the local store here told me nothing was wrong despite tests to prove them wrong.

Well, finally I got fed up and did some research and found that Apple actually does have, if you get a rep who is willing to be sympathetic, a "no lemon policy" and let me put it this way... having your computer repaired 4 times because of issues with the ports most definitely counted!

Well, the store manager and I went back and forth about what is comparable now since well, they try to replace it with a "new, but comparable unit" and even after this conversation and proof it as documented of what I would receive (non retina mbp 2012 edition, but with the upgrades for graphics since I paid a lot more back in 2011 for the higher graphics card switching option), there should be no confusion, I was HAPPY!

Well, guess what, the machine I got sent was the one that was not what I was promised and it had a plethora of problems it self!

Now there are parts of my story that will be unique because of some very... interesting and incorrect information told to me by store employees I had to escalate the situation to the office of the CEO and the outcome was finally handled beyond my expectations... but no reason to go deeper than that.

To summarize, AppleCare is worth it 100% and Apple will take care of their customers and their equipment and the one thing I will stress in this is, and I stress ONLY IF you have exhausted all normal chains of command and you still ever have issues with an Apple device and it being corrected under AppleCare... reach out to the office of the CEO with your RESEARCH, SERIAL NUMBERS and NAMES ready to allow them to investigate your case.

Apple is the only company I have ever seen that cared this much about their customers and products to actually, to mildly put it, give a poop!

Life will happen, you just dropped a few grand on a laptop.... within your year, you would be betting against the fate of the electrical gods to not spend another couple hundred to protect your new "baby" so to speak.
 
In my opinion, AppleCare is really more about turning a potentially variable cost into a fixed cost. For notebooks, I'd definitely buy it, especially if I'm spending north of $2000. For an Apple TV or iPod shuffle, nah, I'll pass. Those are simply way too inexpensive to care.

So for your financial planning, do you want to deal with more variable costs or would you rather turn some of those into fixed costs?
 
Based on some of the comments in this topic, I don't need to buy AppleCare when I bought my rMBP right? I can get it before my first year of warranty expires?
 
Supercell said:
Based on some of the comments in this topic, I don't need to buy AppleCare when I bought my rMBP right? I can get it before my first year of warranty expires?
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Correct. You can purchase AppleCare any time within the first year of warranty.
 
Yes. Reasons:

1. Repairs are generally expensive
2. AppleCare follows the computer if you sell.
3. If you decide you don't want it later, you can get a prorated refund.
 
Quackers said:
I had this decision to make when I bought my rMBP and my decision went with a yes.
It's not so much that I think something will go wrong (though looking at the MBA's I wonder) but rather if something does go wrong it's so expensive to fix. Also with non-user replaceable parts (battery, SSD, ram etc etc - not to mention the screen) I viewed it as too much of a risk to not have Applecare.
Just my own view, you understand :)
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I realize this is old, but it's important to mention that the battery is only covered for defects. If it's an issue of high cycle count, you still pay for replacement. Now Apple does say up to 1000 cycles to 80%, but the range that is considered actually defective is far worse than that. It should cover you for swollen batteries, but results reported by users on this forum have varied quite a bit. It's also important to remember that as long as the machine is undamaged, depot repair is frequently offered outside of warranty. That is typically $300-400 for something like a rmbp, which is completely different from the retail list of such repairs.
 
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