Should I buy apple care?

[Vian the Lion]

Buy Apple Care on Amazon

MacBook Pro Apple Care is $260.63 on Amazon $88.47 cheaper than Apple divide that into 3 years it comes out to 24 cents a day, a penny an hour. Why wait 11 months?
Your blowing 8 months of phone support. If you buy the 15" MacBook Pro 2.8 GHz from them the savings on the machine and lack of Sales Tax gives you money left over... In my case $75.52. I've called them 3 times with Snow Leopard on the line a couple of hours... priceless! My Mac is Fall 2006 and want to get a new one just for peace of mind. If you can't afford a quarter a day extra to own a Mac with peace of mind. Get Help NOW!!!!

 

[SchneiderMan]

Well i have a unibody macbook pro i bought last october and my warranty will end this october 30th, i have not had any problems yet thank god, but anything could happen after the warranty expires. so i probably would try to get applecare a few days before the 30th..

 

[Rizvi1]

....Why wait 11 months?
Your blowing 8 months of phone support. ..

well, you can still pull of phone support I've noticed in year 1 if you haven't bought applecare yet. I had someone call me yesterday by filling out the form online to have them call you now - just select hardware issue and they'll give you phone support anyways

Just sell the machine after 6 months and use the applecare money and the machine sale price and buy a new machine... That's what I do and it's great. Always under warranty and never have to deal with bad decisions... I can fix it in 6 months.

wow, that's hardcore. I change mine out w/in three years so I can sell it w/ some applecare left. But to do it every 6 months is just too much for me.

 

[Bigabouli]

Applecare in Australia is $579 for a 15" MBP

That is the most ridiculous price i have ever seen, considering a new 2.53 GHz is around $2500. Apparently retailers make the most off selling Applecare, not far off what they make on selling a machine.

 

[Eddyisgreat]

Applecare in Australia is $579 for a 15" MBP

That is the most ridiculous price i have ever seen, considering a new 2.53 GHz is around $2500. Apparently retailers make the most off selling Applecare, not far off what they make on selling a machine.

Yeah it sucks alone for that price you might as well load up the options to get the maximum value meaning : An additional ACD, wireless kb and mouse, airport extreme base station or time capsule and global send in repair (or apple store exchange) for all. All that covered for under three years or less if you buy them separately (minus the ACD which must be bough at the same time) it isn't such a bad deal (well maybe for you guys "down under" ). Remember the macbook/macbook pro 13" apple care doesn't include coverage for an extra display. To try and get my monies worth I brought in my two year old thin bluetooth keyboard and mighty mouse and got it exchanged under a computer which was purchased a year after I bought the original accessories (since they were for my old MBP). If I stay up to date on machines I can have new keyboards every time they do a new refresh!

 

[Bigabouli]

Yeah it sucks alone for that price you might as well load up the options to get the maximum value meaning : An additional ACD, wireless kb and mouse, airport extreme base station or time capsule and global send in repair (or apple store exchange) for all. All that covered for under three years or less if you buy them separately (minus the ACD which must be bough at the same time) it isn't such a bad deal (well maybe for you guys "down under" ). Remember the macbook/macbook pro 13" apple care doesn't include coverage for an extra display. To try and get my monies worth I brought in my two year old thin bluetooth keyboard and mighty mouse and got it exchanged under a computer which was purchased a year after I bought the original accessories (since they were for my old MBP). If I stay up to date on machines I can have new keyboards every time they do a new refresh!

I do have an apple keyboard that would be covered

Unfortunately, i already have a Dell 2209WA monitor (ACD was far too expensive on my uni student income ) and the mighty mouse looks crap for gaming... But i agree, it would be more worthwhile if you took advantage of everything that can be covered.

 

[maflynn]

Why wait 11 months?
Your blowing 8 months of phone support.

No you're not. If you have a valid hardware problem apple will not charge you for calling them Plus, I'd rather bring my laptop in to apple genius instead of talking to someone who barely grasps the English language from who knows where.

 

[Eddyisgreat]

No you're not. If you have a valid hardware problem apple will not charge you for calling them Plus, I'd rather bring my laptop in to apple genius instead of talking to someone who barely grasps the English language from who knows where.

Apple has support staff in the US. I won't venture to say that everyone is from the US because obviously AAPL is a global company, but i've either talked to americans or had some REALLY good non-natives.

 

[thegoldenmackid]

Apple has always used 100% American technical support for phone. I thought every one knew this.

At one point they were planning on moving it out of the country, the reaction from the customer base caused them to seem to abandon this idea.

To the OP, if you are going to keep your computer longer then a year and a half, I recommend it.

 

[foulmouthedleon]

I think, by and large, AppleCare is a good thing. But it's not infallible. I was looking at some MBP's on Craigslist a few weeks back, met this guy at a mall who had AppleCare on his laptop. He took it to the Apple store, they sent it in and then Apple wrote him back with pictures of his unit and said that AppleCare didn't cover the damages and that it would cost $1200 to fix them.

It's one of those things that, when it works, it's totally worth it but in my experience I've found that I wouldn't use it.

Your computer, your call.

 

[Eddyisgreat]

At one point they were planning on moving it out of the country, the reaction from the customer base caused them to seem to abandon this idea.

To the OP, if you are going to keep your computer longer then a year and a half, I recommend it.

Oh oh you can see I changed my post above because I didn't know exactly what Apple did as of late. Anyway yup thats probably why despite the 1 year standard warranty they are Apple is always up there with the best customer service. I even told one gal that i've already ran the service utility and it came up with a big fat FAIL (don't ask me where I got it) and she asked no more questions and shipped out a box.

 

[Rampant.A.I.]

Always, always, always buy Applecare.

It's better to have it and have "wasted" the few hundred bucks than it is to shell out $1,200.00 if your display breaks.

 

[ttate90303]

Yes.

When I got my first Apple laptop (PowerBook G4 about 5 1/2 years ago) I picked up AppleCare and it paid for itself over the life of the system - 1 logicboard, 1 LCD screen & bezel, 1 HDD. Never had a lick of problems in the 1st year of ownership but after that the above things went bad over the next 2 years - all covered by AppleCare. So yeah, I can say it's worth it - laptops are pretty delicate and under normal wear-n-tear things do break down, so it's better to have it than to not have it. Good luck.

 

[Arran]

Just sell the machine after 6 months and use the applecare money and the machine sale price and buy a new machine... That's what I do and it's great. Always under warranty and never have to deal with bad decisions... I can fix it in 6 months.

... but if you always resell in 6 months, you'd never have bought applecare in the first place. So there is no "applecare money" to speak of. Or am I missing something?

Anyway, I bought Applecare once for a MacBook which needed three repairs in three years. They all came in over $100 - so it was worthwhile. (of course, my wife reckons a 3-yr old laptop shouldn't needed any repairs. Have to agree)

 

[DoNoHarm]

YES. On my MacBook that I owned since September 2007 I've had the following free repairs done

HDD replaced , twice, January 2008 and August 2008
Motherboard replaced September 2009, due to ethernet not working
Superdrive replaced September 2009, due to epic failure
Keyboard/TopCase replaced four times
Plastic Display border replaced once

But don't get Applecare for iPods, because when do you ever need apple care for them anyway?

wow, all this and they didn't replace the computer???

 

[maflynn]

... but if you always resell in 6 months, you'd never have bought applecare in the first place. So there is no "applecare money" to speak of. Or am I missing something?

I think he's referring to the fact that Macs with applecare typically go for more $$ then Macs w/o applecare.

Personally if you're only going to keep the computer for < year, it makes little sense to buy applecare.

 

[maflynn]

I went and pulled the trigger. I purchased my MBP at that end of october 08 and so the time was coming close. Last year, I was like sure, I'll buy it then. Now that my wife is out of work, it was a harder decision.

Given that I plan on keeping my MBP for 3+ years, having the warranty to protect for the next two years seemed to make the most sense. I went and picked up a copy from amazon - cheaper then apple.

Based on that ebay applecare thread (or threads) I opted to avoid getting it there, i.e., if its too good to be true then it probably is.

 

[drake]

An alternative to Applecare. Sell the computer before the one year warranty is up, buy a new one. You'll get a good price on your old one, save the money you would have spent on Applecare to put towards the new one. You get new technology and a new warranty for a few hundred bux after the sale of your old one. Better yet, get an Apple Refurb as your new macbook.

 

[Rampant.A.I.]

An alternative to Applecare. Sell the computer before the one year warranty is up, buy a new one. You'll get a good price on your old one, save the money you would have spent on Applecare to put towards the new one. You get new technology and a new warranty for a few hundred bux after the sale of your old one. Better yet, get an Apple Refurb as your new macbook.

This is a great option... If you only ever keep it exactly one year.

Otherwise, you will have saved about $300.00 and be stuck with a $2,500.00 brick.

 

[LesPaul666]

*Always* opt for AppleCare before the year warranty is up. Trust me.

It's also a major plus if you have time left on the warranty, if you decide to sell the unit. It's worth it's weight in gold, as far as I'm concerned.

I had a PowerBook G4 1.67 that was in it's last month of warranty, and something went wrong with it. They sent me a brand new in the box 15" MacBook Pro with option for AppleCare. How can you possibly beat that!

 

[l.a.rossmann]

No.

They don't cover cracked screens, water damage, etc. If applecare were any good I wouldn't have a business dedicated to what they ignore.

The only time they have been useful in my experience is with batteries and optical drives. But the cost of batteries and optical drives is less than the cost of applecare. Funny how that works?

 

[GeneKam]

wow, i cant believe a lot of people voted no, warranty is awesome! i used mine three times already, not including wrist cracks.

 

[lhlee96]

Buy Applecare NOW!

Yes, yes, yes.
Buy Applecare. NOW.

In the first year purchase of my MacBook Pro, I have had 3 screen replacements, two bottom case replacements, one wireless card and one logic board replacement.

My warranty is running out soon, and the current issues I have with my MBP is a faint white spot on my screen, and dust trapped inside the screen.

I am buying Applecare.
You should buy Applecare. It's definitely worth it!

 

[5DollaFootlong]

The best way to get rid of trojans and malware is to reinstall the os. What applecare does is extends your hardware warranty to a total of three years. This does not include accidental damage, however. Although I have not used my Applecare yet, I am confident that I will be covered if anything ever goes wrong with my computer.

 

[Rizvi1]

No.

They don't cover cracked screens, water damage, etc. If applecare were any good I wouldn't have a business dedicated to what they ignore.

The only time they have been useful in my experience is with batteries and optical drives. But the cost of batteries and optical drives is less than the cost of applecare. Funny how that works?

I've gotten them to cover a cracked screen before. If you can get it mailed in you have better chances. It's not guaranteed but if you work your way up hopefully someone will have sympathy for you and help you