Hi tommorow or whenever the back to school ipod deal starts I will be purchasing my first MBP. I will be paying using AMEX and I will be getting the high end 15" student discount. I was already planning on going with the 128gb ssd. But the 256 has me intrigued. My grandpa is getting this for me for college and the total needs to be under 3 grand (including tax which in nys is alot). Im getting hi res antiglare for sure and just doing 4 gb of ram. My question is since amex gives you an additional year of warranty is it worth it to spend the 250$ on apple care or to just go big and get the 256ssd. Also could i get the applecare before the year is up for the education discount or do i only get it now?
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Paying with AMEX, AppleCare or upgrade to 256GB SSD
- Thread starter gmans46
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You can buy AppleCare anytime before the included one-year warranty expires. Don't wait until the last few days though, sometimes there's a delay when registering AppleCare, and if yours finalizes after the one-year warranty expires.
IMO, AMEX vs AppleCare is a tough call. AMEX does double the included warranty, but you have to pay Apple for repairs after one year, and then AMEX will reimburse you, if they approve your claim. That may or may not be an issue for you.
IMO, AMEX vs AppleCare is a tough call. AMEX does double the included warranty, but you have to pay Apple for repairs after one year, and then AMEX will reimburse you, if they approve your claim. That may or may not be an issue for you.
Personally I would get the MBP you want $2323 after student discount and tax in New York, NY. Then get a high speed Crucial SSD and 8GB RAM through Newegg.com ($500 no tax) and a knock off optibay on eBay ($15) for the 750GB HD. So everything would be about $2850 after shipping.
With the remainder you can get an external HD, laptop lock (a decked out MBP is a really tempting target so get the lock and use it always) and decent 802.11n router for about $150 or MS Office 2011 Home and Student. I would get the router and Hard Drive and make due with Openoffice.org, just make sure to change the default save as settings to .doc, .xls and .ppt.
I consider warranties to be a waste. Companies make huge margins off of warranties. Besides AMEX warranties the product better than Apple.
You may also want to consider a Keyboard skin and hard case. The skin is most important for when someone is drinking around computer. This is college people will drink around it. A keyboard skin could save the internals.
With the remainder you can get an external HD, laptop lock (a decked out MBP is a really tempting target so get the lock and use it always) and decent 802.11n router for about $150 or MS Office 2011 Home and Student. I would get the router and Hard Drive and make due with Openoffice.org, just make sure to change the default save as settings to .doc, .xls and .ppt.
I consider warranties to be a waste. Companies make huge margins off of warranties. Besides AMEX warranties the product better than Apple.
You may also want to consider a Keyboard skin and hard case. The skin is most important for when someone is drinking around computer. This is college people will drink around it. A keyboard skin could save the internals.
I disagree about the warranty when it comes to laptops, especially for a student. Almost every laptop we've ever had, either for home, or the ones I purchase for our office ends up using the warranty. I actually think students should have an on-site warranty, but Apple doesn't offer that, and their depot repair is actually quite fast. The last thing you want to happen is to be without your laptop waiting for it to be repaired during finals or with a major project due. The Amex warranty isn't bad, but I'm not certain your experience would be as smooth as it is with AppleCare, and you'd have to chase down your reimbursement.
Lastly, with that budget, get the SSD, even if it means only 4GB RAM.
Lastly, with that budget, get the SSD, even if it means only 4GB RAM.
Well in Australia, our Applecare up until a year ago was around $500. So when you think about it, your almost paying 20% more for your product, just incase it dies due to no fault of your own.
Say down the track, you get a DVD stuck in the drive, or the RAM fails, these things can be repaired yourself, if you are game, for between $30 - $99. I just bought 8gb OWC RAM here in Australia from macfiit.com.au (should be arriving tomorrow) and it was only $119. Which is pretty much what it would have worked out to if I had it shipped from the US.
This is the first thing I have felt like doing to my MBP since I bought it almost 2 years ago. And nothing has failed, I just felt like upgarding from 4gb since I was ordering a new screen for my iphone.
But in saying that, my experience is probably a lot different from the next poster.
So, let me put it to you like this. In 2 years time, something goes wrong. The MBP's worth, which cost $2200, is now worth $1,100 on ebay. It's either going to be a problem which is going to cost you less than Applecare, in which case you just saved yourself a buckedload & you feel good. Or it's going to cost more, in which case you would sell the MBP as is, and simply put the money you would have spent on Applecare towards the latest and greatest, dual 8 core 5.4Ghz processor with a 4gb Graphics card, and a 4000 x 6800 resolution screen & has a battery capacity of 24hours, over your old one which you would most likely be getting 80minutes on.
So here is OWC's store - http://www.macsales.com/
I would suggest you either get an OWC drive. Not only because they are good, but because their customer support appears to be extremely hands on, or an OCZ Vertex 2, or Vertex 3. (You decide if you want to pay double for the OWC that runs at 250MB/s, or 500MB/s) That goes for both the OWC offering and OCZ.
Here is an issue that they discovered with the latest MBP's (pretty sure either only 13" & 17"), so you should be fine with a 15" as far as I can remember.
Anyway, here is the original post, and you can click across through his daily updates etc as he goes.
http://macperformanceguide.com/blog/2011/20110413_3_OWC6G--ssd.html
And here is OWC's response that they posted.
http://blog.macsales.com/9754-owc-offers-fix-for-2011-17-mbp-sata-problems
Anyway, hope that helps.
Say down the track, you get a DVD stuck in the drive, or the RAM fails, these things can be repaired yourself, if you are game, for between $30 - $99. I just bought 8gb OWC RAM here in Australia from macfiit.com.au (should be arriving tomorrow) and it was only $119. Which is pretty much what it would have worked out to if I had it shipped from the US.
This is the first thing I have felt like doing to my MBP since I bought it almost 2 years ago. And nothing has failed, I just felt like upgarding from 4gb since I was ordering a new screen for my iphone.
But in saying that, my experience is probably a lot different from the next poster.
So, let me put it to you like this. In 2 years time, something goes wrong. The MBP's worth, which cost $2200, is now worth $1,100 on ebay. It's either going to be a problem which is going to cost you less than Applecare, in which case you just saved yourself a buckedload & you feel good. Or it's going to cost more, in which case you would sell the MBP as is, and simply put the money you would have spent on Applecare towards the latest and greatest, dual 8 core 5.4Ghz processor with a 4gb Graphics card, and a 4000 x 6800 resolution screen & has a battery capacity of 24hours, over your old one which you would most likely be getting 80minutes on.
So here is OWC's store - http://www.macsales.com/
I would suggest you either get an OWC drive. Not only because they are good, but because their customer support appears to be extremely hands on, or an OCZ Vertex 2, or Vertex 3. (You decide if you want to pay double for the OWC that runs at 250MB/s, or 500MB/s) That goes for both the OWC offering and OCZ.
Here is an issue that they discovered with the latest MBP's (pretty sure either only 13" & 17"), so you should be fine with a 15" as far as I can remember.
Anyway, here is the original post, and you can click across through his daily updates etc as he goes.
http://macperformanceguide.com/blog/2011/20110413_3_OWC6G--ssd.html
And here is OWC's response that they posted.
http://blog.macsales.com/9754-owc-offers-fix-for-2011-17-mbp-sata-problems
Anyway, hope that helps.
I usually do not get extended warranties, however I have gotten Applecare for the several Macs I have owned.
While you do get 1 year basic, you only get 3 months telephone support unless you have Applecare. While there is a wealth of support on forums and the internet, sometimes calling Apple and having a tech help troubleshoot a specific issue was helpful.
On my previous (2008) iMac I had the hard drive fail, the screen become stained and the DVD recorder fail - after 1 year - all three times - Applecare took care of this quickly. Also on my previous MBP (2008) the screen had to be changed after it developed a couple of bad pixels (in year 3).
When I replaced the iMac and MBP with 2011 models I got Applecare for both. AMEX should cover 1 additional year if you still have them.
(I have used AMEX in year 4 on a Thinkpad for which I purchased 3 year warranty - also with good results)
If there is a problem - Applecare is great - not only for the cost of repairs but the dedicated attention Apple gives you
While you do get 1 year basic, you only get 3 months telephone support unless you have Applecare. While there is a wealth of support on forums and the internet, sometimes calling Apple and having a tech help troubleshoot a specific issue was helpful.
On my previous (2008) iMac I had the hard drive fail, the screen become stained and the DVD recorder fail - after 1 year - all three times - Applecare took care of this quickly. Also on my previous MBP (2008) the screen had to be changed after it developed a couple of bad pixels (in year 3).
When I replaced the iMac and MBP with 2011 models I got Applecare for both. AMEX should cover 1 additional year if you still have them.
(I have used AMEX in year 4 on a Thinkpad for which I purchased 3 year warranty - also with good results)
If there is a problem - Applecare is great - not only for the cost of repairs but the dedicated attention Apple gives you
Before you even worry about the specs, ask yourself honestly how long will you keep the laptop? If over 2 years, budget for AppleCare so then you've got warranty coverage 4 years out - 3 years from Apple, 1 year from AMEX after Apple's coverage.
What is the AMEX warranty? Is there any other threads or online information about this? I'll use an AMEX if it's worth it!
It actually doubles your electronic warranties up to one year. If you have a 6-month warranty on an item, it only provides another 6 months.