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gjm87

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 17, 2014
127
27
I will be getting my i7 iMac 5k next week and wanted to know if I should purchase apple care or square trade for it. I am a student so I can get apple care at a discounted rate, but square trade can give me the extra year.

Any thoughts?
 
I have used both and both are excellent. I like apple care for my apple devices because I have an apple store close by. I can make an appointment and drop it off. With Square Trade you have to mail it in although they supposedly will reimburse you for a repair made at an apple store. I have never tried it.

Under Apple Care, I have had an iPhone repair that took an hour. and A laptop repair that took four days.

Under Square Trade, I have had an Acer laptop repaired that took four days. I had to mail it to a repair depot.

My preference is to use apple care for apple devices and square trade for all my other stuff. If you go with Square Trade be sure to look for a discount coupon. They have them all the time.
 
I've only ever used SquareTrade. It's particularly convenient if you didn't live around the corner from an Apple store. And even if you do, all you have to do is email/call for pre-authorization and they take care of any expenses you may incur when you get to the Apple store.
 
I've only ever used SquareTrade. It's particularly convenient if you didn't live around the corner from an Apple store. And even if you do, all you have to do is email/call for pre-authorization and they take care of any expenses you may incur when you get to the Apple store.

Even though it is more expensive I get a whole extra year with square trade. Do they reimburse for gas if I have to travel to an Apple Store.
 
Even though it is more expensive I get a whole extra year with square trade. Do they reimburse for gas if I have to travel to an Apple Store.

No. That's on you. My nearest Apple store is two states away. Think of it as the luxury tax we pay on buying high end goods from Apple to start with.
 
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