to applecare or not to applecare

[ayres]

yes that is the question, isn't it?!

i previously purchased applecare for a macbook and an imac. i cannot imagine not having applecare for a notebook - especially if it is on-the-go with me often. but how about an imac?

i ask because i'm about to purchase a new imac, and i'm now really doubtful.

so what have you done? all stories and justifications welcomed!

how many here have skipped the applecare and instead insured your computer? any caveats when pursuing this course?

 

[GGJstudios]

AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac or Apple Display
AppleCare Protection Plan

If you want more information, here are just a few of many threads on this topic, found by searching the forum with MRoogle:

Is AppleCare Worth It?
Is AppleCare Plan worth it?
applecare worth it?
Is AppleCare worth it?
Is AppleCare Worth It?
Is AppleCare worth it??
Applecare? is it worth it?
Is Applecare worth getting???
Is Applecare worth it for MBP?
Is AppleCare worth it?
Applecare - if ever you thought it wasn't worth it
Is AppleCare or extra warranty really worth buying?
Applecare for MBP is $349. Is it really worth it?

 

[JasonR]

You have a year to decide.

 

[Brooklands]

I bought my iMac in October, and I plan to wait until late summer or early autumn to decide on my options...

 

[MacHamster68]

if you have enough cash leftover and you dont know what to do with it , then buy a Mac without apple care

 

[SubaruNation555]

I purchased my MBP with an American Express card which doubled Apple's warranty to two years so I skipped AppleCare. I would have essentially been paying $235 (student price) for just one more year of coverage. I decided it wasn't worth it in that case.

If I hadn't had the additional coverage from the credit card I would have definitely gotten AppleCare. It pays for itself with almost any repair.

As others have said, you have up to a year from your purchase date to decide.

 

[Corruptitudes]

I bought a 2008 Imac. I saved up and spent my money on it. I went 11 months with no applecare. During the last month, I got a little extra cash, and decided to buy applecare. I called Apple, and set it up, I had 3 days left to activate it.

Fast forward to August of this year. I don't have any money, and my Imac's GPU died. Drove 1200 miles to the nearest applestore to get it fixed. They kept it a week and and said they got it fixed. Took it home, played on it for 3 days. Gpu fails again. This time call applecare as I refuse to drive another 1200 miles, they agree to send a tech to my location. He comes out and replaces the motherboard and gpu. Fixed the problem. But new problem arises, fans are screaming all the time. I wake it up from sleep and they are running at 3600 rpms.

I call applecare again, and talked with the tech, he wanted to replace the motherboard again, as he thought we got a faulty motherboard replacement. Tech came out, replaced motherboard. Afterwards, same problem. Called Applecare again, tech agreed to replace the machine. Im typing this on a 2010 I5.

Sure you may say that It was just my machine. But in retrospect, I got a brand new machine almost top of the line for what 150 bux I spent on applecare? So worth it, and I got 2 years of use out of the previous machine...I will definately be buying applecare on my I5, as I just dont think these things are built to last....

 

[richpjr]

I bought a 2008 Imac. I saved up and spent my money on it. I went 11 months with no applecare. During the last month, I got a little extra cash, and decided to buy applecare. I called Apple, and set it up, I had 3 days left to activate it.

Fast forward to August of this year. I don't have any money, and my Imac's GPU died. Drove 1200 miles to the nearest applestore to get it fixed. They kept it a week and and said they got it fixed. Took it home, played on it for 3 days. Gpu fails again. This time call applecare as I refuse to drive another 1200 miles, they agree to send a tech to my location. He comes out and replaces the motherboard and gpu. Fixed the problem. But new problem arises, fans are screaming all the time. I wake it up from sleep and they are running at 3600 rpms.

I call applecare again, and talked with the tech, he wanted to replace the motherboard again, as he thought we got a faulty motherboard replacement. Tech came out, replaced motherboard. Afterwards, same problem. Called Applecare again, tech agreed to replace the machine. Im typing this on a 2010 I5.

Sure you may say that It was just my machine. But in retrospect, I got a brand new machine almost top of the line for what 150 bux I spent on applecare? So worth it, and I got 2 years of use out of the previous machine...I will definately be buying applecare on my I5, as I just dont think these things are built to last....

You live 1200 miles from an Apple store? Yikes!

 

[Peter.Howard]

If you can afford it, buy the AppleCare for the peace of mind it provides, it serves the life of the product for you.

I don't know if it is called AppleCare on the Iphone4, but I took out the two year plan, just for that peace of mind incase something goes wrong.

 

[Skybar]

You live 1200 miles from an Apple store? Yikes!

Dude, there isn't even a single one in my country. We only have resellers. I'm really glad every Apple product I own have never failed.. yet..

 

[rkaufmann87]

AppleCare is so inexpensive for an iMac it's almost a no brainer to get it, retail it's $169 here in the US, I just did a quick search and it's available for $119 from B&H Photo! That's about $40 year! One repair and it's more than paid for itself. While many of you may not ever use the telephone support that is where I got the most value from my AppleCare. Sometimes I simply couldn't figure something out (or was too lazy) and every time I called (probably about 15-20 over 3 years) I was helped to a satisfactory conclusion.

Do yourself a favor, for a small cost get a lot of piece of mind.

BTW if you sell your computer those covered by AppleCare tend to bring more money from what I've seen on Ebay.

 

[SaSaSushi]

I just bought Applecare from Amazon USA for $125 for my late-2009 i7 iMac with a week to spare ont he one year warranty. I've purchased it for every iMac I've owned save my first (20" Core Duo 2006). On that first machine the logic board failed 6 weeks past the end of the one year limited warranty. I ended up $550 out of pocket to replace it.

I've not only purchased it for every machine since but used it. I had the LCD panel replaced on a 24" iMac with a bad inverter and had a crashed HD replaced on another. I don't live near an Apple Store so the repair center in Tokyo sends a courier to my home with all the packing materials. I just hand over the machine and they generally have it back to me within 2 days. Of course, all parts, labor and shipping are free.

And, as mentioned by the previous poster, if you end up selling a Mac while it's still in Applecare coverage it also increases the resale value.

I know this has been beaten to death in dozens of threads in here. It's definitely worth the purchase in my opinion.

 

[tc3jg]

I bought a 2008 Imac. I saved up and spent my money on it. I went 11 months with no applecare. During the last month, I got a little extra cash, and decided to buy applecare. I called Apple, and set it up, I had 3 days left to activate it.

Fast forward to August of this year. I don't have any money, and my Imac's GPU died. Drove 1200 miles to the nearest applestore to get it fixed. They kept it a week and and said they got it fixed. Took it home, played on it for 3 days. Gpu fails again. This time call applecare as I refuse to drive another 1200 miles, they agree to send a tech to my location. He comes out and replaces the motherboard and gpu. Fixed the problem. But new problem arises, fans are screaming all the time. I wake it up from sleep and they are running at 3600 rpms.

I call applecare again, and talked with the tech, he wanted to replace the motherboard again, as he thought we got a faulty motherboard replacement. Tech came out, replaced motherboard. Afterwards, same problem. Called Applecare again, tech agreed to replace the machine. Im typing this on a 2010 I5.

Sure you may say that It was just my machine. But in retrospect, I got a brand new machine almost top of the line for what 150 bux I spent on applecare? So worth it, and I got 2 years of use out of the previous machine...I will definately be buying applecare on my I5, as I just dont think these things are built to last....

Had the same situation with the first macbooks that came out....

I will never leave home with out applecare....usually buy mine within six months of the computer purchase

 

[Golfwolf]

I purchased my iMac in early October and do plan on buying Applecare before 1 year is up. If something goes wrong with the machine then the coverage will definitely worth it, seems like cheap insurance to me.

 

[300D]

yes that is the question, isn't it?!

Laptop, definitely yes. For a desktop, its useless.

If something goes wrong with the machine then the coverage will definitely worth it, seems like cheap insurance to me.

Thats the entire game of insurance and unfortunately the customer always loses.
If the machines are reliable enough to last that long, why doesn't Apple just add $100 to the purchase price and bump the warranty length?

 

[easepease]

its so cheap for an imac... relatively at least.

I just had my screen repaired under warranty, would have cost me $820 parts and labor for JUST the screen! With how many issues these iMacs can have, I'd say its WORTH it, but I'd wait at least 6 months than get it, why give them the money earlier than you have to!

 

[lcseds]

Laptop, definitely yes. For a desktop, its useless.

That's a foolish statement on an iMac forum. It's well worth the cost seeing how Apple makes no components easily accessible for service. A simple hard drive replacement would cover the cost of Applecare. Not to mention the cost of an LCD replacement because of lines, yellowing, backlight issues, etc.

The iMac IS a laptop (component wise), just a bigger version.

 

[SaSaSushi]

Thats the entire game of insurance and unfortunately the customer always loses.

Again, this has been beaten to death in these forums, but the cost of Applecare is not a gamble by any means. Even if you don't end up using it, you're paying a very small premium for peace of mind as well as additional resale value over the course of coverage should you decide to sell.

As for your "always" theory, I saved over $1000 in repairs for an LCD and HDD replacement in Applecare service on my last iMac alone. I also got a great deal for it when I auctioned it off with 6 months of service left to get a new machine. I know because similar machines being sold at the same time without coverage didn't fare as well.

The one time I did "lose" was when I didn't buy the coverage as I explained in my post above.

Anyway, no one's got a gun to your head to buy Applecare. It's only for those who find it of value. Count me among their number.

 

[bossxii]

Laptop, definitely yes. For a desktop, its useless.


Thats the entire game of insurance and unfortunately the customer always loses.If the machines are reliable enough to last that long, why doesn't Apple just add $100 to the purchase price and bump the warranty length?

Always? Really? So when I purchased a motorcycle in 2006, had full coverege insurance for about 470 bucks a year. April 2008, car pulls out in front of me, lay the bike down and my wife and I take a dump at 35 mph... car flee's the scene.

$8,300 to repair the bike, 100 deductible.
$12,000+ give or take in medical bills (broken wrist, shoulder/arm on the wife)
$37,000+ settlement via the "Uninsured Motorist Clause" on our own policy.

Just over $1,000 in insurance premiums... nets me just over $57k

If that is how the "big bad insurance compaines" always win.

Count me in.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Always? Really? So when I purchased a motorcycle in 2006, had full coverege insurance for about 470 bucks a year. April 2008, car pulls out in front of me, lay the bike down and my wife and I take a dump at 35 mph... car flee's the scene.

$8,300 to repair the bike, 100 deductible.
$12,000+ give or take in medical bills (broken wrist, shoulder/arm on the wife)
$37,000+ settlement via the "Uninsured Motorist Clause" on our own policy.

Just over $1,000 in insurance premiums... nets me just over $57k

If that is how the "big bad insurance compaines" always win.

Count me in.

Really, you had to go through all that to net $57K. Is your wife happy what she had to go through so you could net that $57K? You didn't turn $1K into a net of $57K, you had to crash your motorcycle, suffer some serious pain and rehab (miss some work? income? burn some vacation time?), etc to end up with that $57K.

I can buy a life insurance policy for just under $1 million for less than $1K. But I doubt I'll be very happy about netting that $999K on it when I'm dead. If I don't die, the insurance company wins. What a great business!

Insurance is generally a rip off... except in select cases (maybe like yours, where you actually get to make a claim that nets you more than you've paid in). Unless this happened the very first time you purchased insurance, it was NOT just $1K but all the $1Ks you've paid in premiums over time up to the point at which you were paid this claim.

Odds are high that if any insurance buyer takes a look at their house and/or wealth, and then compares it to their insurance company's house (those multi-story buildings that typically dominate the skylines of every city & town) and their (corporate) wealth, it will be easy to see who is the big winner in that comparison.

Congratulations on your win(?). I hope your wife agrees the pain she went through was worth that net prize.

Now pay your new premiums, probably higher now and forever because you made a recent claim, though the accident was not your fault.

As to Applecare, count my vote with those that say wait until close the anniversary and then decide. Applecare is a bit different than insurance in one key way: at least for the first year you can buy this insurance AFTER something goes wrong. No need spending the money until just before the anniversary as the result of spending it is exactly the same. Near your anniversary time, you'll need to make the call on whether to buy a couple more years of (good) support or gamble that your Mac doesn't have problems during the remaining time. With technology- even Apple technology- a flip of the coin might be as good a way to decide as anything else.

 

[hippo206]

Well it seems like so many are for Applecare, so I wanted to share my experience.

3.5 years ago, I purchased eight 17 MBP and ~10 or so 24 inch imac for my company (estimates, as I have forgotten the exact #). If I remember correctly, Applecare would have costed in the neighborhood of 5000 USD. All of those products would now be out of warrenty, and none of them we have ever had to get serviced.

As for me personally, I have owned 2x 17 inch MBP, 2x 15 inch MBP, 24 imac, 2x 27 imac, 6 iphones, 2 ipads (what is that... another 4-5k of Applecare??) and never had a issue that wasn't either covered for free w/o Applecare or so inexpensive that it didn't justify Applecare in the first place. The only issue I have every experience that costed me a full replacement price so far is my airport extreme.

Some of the products I mentioned would still be covered under applecare if I had it, so its hard to tell, but many of the laptops, which are the most expensive to cover, would not be at this point.

So just in personal and business related savings, for the price of Applecare I can now go buy a really nice used car, or another 5 or so MBP's.

I know someone will come on and say all 100 apple products they have ever bought ended up cashing in on Applecare, but I wanted to share my RL story. For me, there hasn't been any extended warrenty that I have ever purchased that ended up benefiting me in the least.

Always? Really? So when I purchased a motorcycle in 2006, had full coverege insurance for about 470 bucks a year. April 2008, car pulls out in front of me, lay the bike down and my wife and I take a dump at 35 mph... car flee's the scene.

$8,300 to repair the bike, 100 deductible.
$12,000+ give or take in medical bills (broken wrist, shoulder/arm on the wife)
$37,000+ settlement via the "Uninsured Motorist Clause" on our own policy.

Just over $1,000 in insurance premiums... nets me just over $57k

If that is how the "big bad insurance compaines" always win.

Count me in.

What kind of bike did/do you have that the insurance company decided to authorize 8,300 in repairs?

 

[GGJstudios]

What kind of bike did/do you have that the insurance company decided to authorize 8,300 in repairs?

There are plenty of bikes that would justify that expense, including most Harleys. I have close to 40K in mine.

 

[hippo206]

There are plenty of bikes that would justify that expense, including most Harleys. I have close to 40K in mine.

Hmm... i would have to disagree with "plenty". If I had to guess, < 5% of bikes on the road could warrent a 9k repair bill, and that is not to say that they will even authorize it. My sister-in-law entire family is in private claims, and bikes are handled very differently than cars.

 

[bossxii]

Really, you had to go through all that to net $57K. Is your wife happy what she had to go through so you could net that $57K? You didn't turn $1K into a net of $57K, you had to crash your motorcycle, suffer some serious pain and rehab (miss some work? income? burn some vacation time?), etc to end up with that $57K.

I can buy a life insurance policy for just under $1 million for less than $1K. But I doubt I'll be very happy about netting that $999K on it when I'm dead. If I don't die, the insurance company wins. What a great business!

Insurance is generally a rip off... except in select cases (maybe like yours, where you actually get to make a claim that nets you more than you've paid in). Unless this happened the very first time you purchased insurance, it was NOT just $1K but all the $1Ks you've paid in premiums over time up to the point at which you were paid this claim.

Odds are high that if any insurance buyer takes a look at their house and/or wealth, and then compares it to their insurance company's house (those multi-story buildings that typically dominate the skylines of every city & town) and their (corporate) wealth, it will be easy to see who is the big winner in that comparison.

Congratulations on your win(?). I hope your wife agrees the pain she went through was worth that net prize.

Now pay your new premiums, probably higher now and forever because you made a recent claim, though the accident was not your fault.

As to Applecare, count my vote with those that say wait until close the anniversary and then decide. Applecare is a bit different than insurance in one key way: at least for the first year you can buy this insurance AFTER something goes wrong. No need spending the money until just before the anniversary as the result of spending it is exactly the same. Near your anniversary time, you'll need to make the call on whether to buy a couple more years of (good) support or gamble that your Mac doesn't have problems during the remaining time. With technology- even Apple technology- a flip of the coin might be as good a way to decide as anything else.

You missed the point. It wasn't our intent to ever have an issue, but when it did happen, the insurance was there, and saved us a ton of money.

**snip**


What kind of bike did/do you have that the insurance company decided to authorize 8,300 in repairs?

Harley VRod, with custom bags, pipes, seats etc... The bike was only 4 months old as I had traded in another bike. The frame was not bent, nor were the forks. The cost was for mostly accessories, labor etc..

 

[hippo206]

Ahh I see.

I am glad that they covered it.