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To AppleCare or not to AppleCare...that is the ?

N

n8236

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 1, 2006
1,065
32
Tomorrow is my last day to purchase AppleCare for my latest generation Macbook Pro and I'm pondering if I should buy it to bump up the possible higher selling price of my machine.

If you were a buyer in the market for a used Macbook Pro, how much more would you pay for it to have AppleCare? Or would you just purchase it w/o?
 
Totally worth it. It has saved my rear-end countless times, twice with a MBP and once with a Mac Pro.

Get it from eBay, you can get it for ~$150. Sometimes get lucky for $110.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Think I checked it a couple weeks back and they're not as cheap as I expected. The MBP 15" ones go for almost retail.
 
If you decide to get Apple Care, you should act fast, and probably get it via the Apple Store, as it takes a bit time to process and tie the Apple Care to your Mac. Apple has a history of either granting Apple Care registered shortly after the one-year warranty has run out, but also of not granting it.


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Applecare for MBP is $349. Is it really worth it?
 
For resale purposes only I think it's not worth it... applecare won't increase the resale value by more than it costs

However:
1. If you plan to keep the laptop for another year or two, you will know that you are covered for any hardware defects
2. If you plan to sell eventually, this more or less guarantees that you will have something to sell (unless its stolen or otherwise damaged)
 
Totally worth it if you have a valid student ID. Educational price is cheaper than employee discount pricing. *You can sign up for a class at a CC to get that discount :) and two years of warranty is also another good reason. **I got about $200 dollars worth of stuff fixed for my three years. Not a huge bang, but it's a peace of mind thing.
 
thundersteele said:
For resale purposes only I think it's not worth it... applecare won't increase the resale value by more than it costs
Click to expand...

Actually when selling a machine on the used market it's a huge plus, as the buyer has the warm and fuzzy that although they're buying a used machine it's a used machine with a warranty. I've sold numerous machines that even though only 60-90 days remaining on Applecare the buyers stated that it was a deciding factor that they weren't buying a dud, and if so could get it fixed.
 
I always buy it, as just one screen issue pays for it. Had slight and weird bleeding issue on last screen (looked like a water stain that was creeping across the screen as the pixels became blurry). It was not a large area, maybe a third the diameter of a dime, but Apple genius replaced it without hesitation as he said it was not normal. Had other things replaced and 7 days before extended AC ran out, they said enough was enough and replaced with a brand new just released model.

So for the price of AC, I got everything maintained for 3 years and then got a free upgrade at the end of 3 years (do you think I bought AC this time as well....heck yeah I did).

My results aren't typical but I know that my machine will be taken care of for the entire 3 years with AC.
 
If I were looking for a used model I would be more interested in a Mac with warranty rather than one without warranty.
 
squeakr said:
I always buy it, as just one screen issue pays for it. Had slight and weird bleeding issue on last screen (looked like a water stain that was creeping across the screen as the pixels became blurry). It was not a large area, maybe a third the diameter of a dime, but Apple genius replaced it without hesitation as he said it was not normal. Had other things replaced and 7 days before extended AC ran out, they said enough was enough and replaced with a brand new just released model.

So for the price of AC, I got everything maintained for 3 years and then got a free upgrade at the end of 3 years (do you think I bought AC this time as well....heck yeah I did).

My results aren't typical but I know that my machine will be taken care of for the entire 3 years with AC.
Click to expand...

Whaaaat? they gave you a new one? Looks like I'm buying Apple Care ASAP.
 
bdodds1985 said:
Whaaaat? they gave you a new one? Looks like I'm buying Apple Care ASAP.
Click to expand...

Yes, I got a brand new one swapped out in the store. As I stated my results are not typical, but an issue developed that they couldn't figure out how to fix (some just said it was not an issue) but it could easily be reproduced for them to see, so they swapped out to a brand new one (as the 2008's were no longer available to replace it).
 
Go for it.
Applecare offers peace of mind for another 2 years and given the handling and wear and tear a laptop takes its a safe bet
 
You won't get what you paid for the Applecare in a resale. If you could get 900$ for the unit without AC and you paid 249/349 for the AC you'd be lucky to get 1100/1200$ for the unit. Would it make it more sellable, probably but not for the total cost you invested into AC.
 
Always worth the purchase price if you ask me. Sold an old 2008mbp for 275 over what others were going for at the time, applecare made the sale much smoother....

On the other hand, after 3 or 4 repairs on one machine usually results in a new replacement. Speaking from first hand experience applecare is 1000% worth it! I currently have a 4th replacement since my original 2006 mbp, only had to pay for applecare each time!... you do the math. :D...

Apple also refunds back all remaining applecare coverage when they replace your mbp in cash to apply towards your new applecare purchase which will be another 3 years of coverage.
 
I also think it's worth it. While I never had to use it with my 5 year old blackbook, I have had to use it with my iPhone. A couple of my coworkers have had to use theirs on their macbooks. One had to have the motherboard replaced (GPU failed) and another just had his whole keyboard/top-part-assembly of his macbook pro replaced (because of just one key).
 
I'd say NO.

...because if your hard drive crashes: you can update it.

If you need to update RAM, you can do it. With a screwdriver size #00.

If you shatter your screen, we can walk you through it.

YES you could be in a pickle if it breaks down in the middle of a term paper, but when do things ever break at the right times?

Save your money, and put it to the part that you need.

Be your own AppleCare. It gives you character. And nice to know how to fix some stuff you use everyday.
 
Be Careful With eBay...

There are a LOT of AppleCare scams on eBay.

The best prices are from sellers who e-mail the serial number. These sellers resell the same registration number to multiple buyers. Apple's online AppleCare registration system will accept multiple registrations of the same serial number. The buyer won't discover that he has been scammed until he tries to use the warranty. Apple's policy is that only the first registration is valid; subsequent registrations will not be honored by Apple.

By the time this happens it is usually too late to use eBay or PayPal to obtain a refund. The seller is often long-gone too...

There have also been reports of counterfeit AppleCare boxes on eBay. The boxes are very convincing except for one thing: they don't have serial numbers. D'Oh!

The best online prices for AppleCare can usually be found at the L.A. Computer Company and B&H Photo. Both are authorized Apple resellers. B&H regularly offers AppleCare at half price when purchased with a Mac. The L.A. Computer Co. usually charges the Apple education discount price or slightly less.
 
i remember, my 12" powerbook logic board died about 2 months BEFORE my applecare expired.

i was SO GLAD to have it, and would not have a mac without it.
try provantage, they usually have applecare cheaper than apple.
 
n8236 said:
Tomorrow is my last day to purchase AppleCare for my latest generation Macbook Pro and I'm pondering if I should buy it to bump up the possible higher selling price of my machine.

If you were a buyer in the market for a used Macbook Pro, how much more would you pay for it to have AppleCare? Or would you just purchase it w/o?
Click to expand...

In an investment point of view, you will NOT be able to recover the money you spend of applecare in terms of resale value. You won't be able to justify selling your computer with a higher price just because it has applecare. Your machine might be easier to sell (i.e., you can use applecare as a selling point). If I am in the market in used apple products and I see two identical computers online, I would most likely go with the one that has applecare but will not pay any more for it. After all, who knows if your apple care is legit and valid? More importantly, the user will not be able to confirm the validity of apple care unless the warranty is used.

Of course, if you plan to keep the machine for > 3 years, then it's worth every penny when you need to file a warranty claim.
 
Takashi said:
In an investment point of view, you will NOT be able to recover the money you spend of applecare in terms of resale value. You won't be able to justify selling your computer with a higher price just because it has applecare. Your machine might be easier to sell (i.e., you can use applecare as a selling point). If I am in the market in used apple products and I see two identical computers online, I would most likely go with the one that has applecare but will not pay any more for it. After all, who knows if your apple care is legit and valid? More importantly, the user will not be able to confirm the validity of apple care unless the warranty is used.

Of course, if you plan to keep the machine for > 3 years, then it's worth every penny when you need to file a warranty claim.
Click to expand...

This isn't true. You can verify if a system has valid AC through Apple's warranty checker via the serial number here. If the seller refuses to at least show you the page with a matching serial number then that raises other questions.

For the most part, on the resale market, AC is another depreciable asset. It WILL increase the price of a system, but it won't be for what you paid for it, it will obviously be less (of course based on the age of the system and time left on AC). The resale price will increase, and as stated the sellablity of it will also increase.
 
n8236 said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Think I checked it a couple weeks back and they're not as cheap as I expected. The MBP 15" ones go for almost retail.
Click to expand...

Get it from bhphotovideo.com

It'se cheaper there and I also have the 15".
 
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