Quick AppleCare question

[FuuFuu]

Is there a time limit on purchasing applecare for my laptop?

 

[jaikob]

Yes, you need to purchase it before your "given" warranty expires.

 

[munckee]

You need to buy and REGISTER applecare before the original 1 year warranty is up. If you buy it the day before your warranty is up, but wait a week to register it, they might give you a hard time...

 

[FuuFuu]

You need to buy and REGISTER applecare before the original 1 year warranty is up. If you buy it the day before your warranty is up, but wait a week to register it, they might give you a hard time...

so it would be smart to just use the current warranty for about a month before it expires and then purchase an applecare? are the warranties different in anyway?

 

[PLin]

so it would be smart to just use the current warranty for about a month before it expires and then purchase an applecare? are the warranties different in anyway?

The repair coverage of the standard 1 year warranty is mostly identical to that of the AppleCare Protection Plan, but you also get telephone technical support when you purchase and register AppleCare. Without AppleCare, you only get 90 days of support, so if you wait until the end of the first year to buy it, you are missing out on 9 months of support.

Then again, not everyone uses the telephone support. I never use it, so I usually see how reliable the computer is during the first 11 months and then buy AppleCare if I think I might need repairs down the road.

The other difference is that for desktop computers, AppleCare gives you on-site repairs if you're in a covered area. If you don't have AppleCare, you would have to take the computer to an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider. Apple only offers mail-in repair as an option for notebook computers.