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aristobrat said:
I buy my computers with my American Express card. They (like many others) double the manufacturers warranty for free.

I have troubles "not upgrading" to a new system every two years anyways, so I can't justify the price of a 3-year extended warranty.
Isn't that hassle though, should something go wrong? The reason I get cover from the manufacturer is for the seamless repair/replacement/CS integration that keeps everything nice and simple.

And hey, you can always sell on/transfer your AppleCare to wherever your two-year-old system ends up.
 
miniConvert said:
1. I bought AppleCare. Computers break, and Apple's innovative form factors probably don't make life any easier on the components. I buy a three year warranty with all my computing equipment, if it is available, from the manufacturer. It's an absolute must.

2. The iMac design is quite compact, but not exactly ultra compact. It's using a mobile CPU and mid-range graphics so I can't see any blatent cause of problems coming from heat. There's no guarantee you wont get a dudd though, my first Mac mini (Intel Core Duo) was dead, second one is awesome.

I think most people with the iMac heat problems are G5 iMac owners and those are not mobile CPUs. I'd say heat is a big issue in those models.
 
R.Youden said:
I don’t want to annoy anyone here but the Apple fan boys are back.

If you buy an Apple product and it is faulty then it IS Apples fault. If you go along with your argument then only software problems are actual faults that Apple are responsible for. Apple will not make any hardware. People should wake up and get their head out of the sand. Apple do make crap every now and again, they do make mistakes and a sign of a good company is how they deal with the users complaints. I had a problem with my iPod and people on here said that I was being too picky because my phone interfered with my click wheel. That is Apples fault for choosing a supplier who had not done proper R & D.

You should deal with Dull, from DOA to mysterious motherboard issues to you name it. Below Walmart quality garbage from overseas sweatshops.
 
miniConvert said:
Isn't that hassle though, should something go wrong? The reason I get cover from the manufacturer is for the seamless repair/replacement/CS integration that keeps everything nice and simple.

And hey, you can always sell on/transfer your AppleCare to wherever your two-year-old system ends up.
Between the choices of:
1. pay $300+ for an manufacturers extended warranty that I'm almost guaranteed to not use
2. pay nothing for a credit card extended warranty and deal with some hassle in the unlikey event I have to use it

2's always been my choice.

Had no idea that you could move AppleCare from one machine to another. That'll factor positively into me getting it on my next machine. 🙂
 
the Quote

well, as promised, i went to Apple to have my computer looked at...

and as predicted, it's a HD failure. not a complete failure they say... but since i've had to reinstall the OS 3 times in a year, they say i should replace it. for what price?

320.00 for the 60GB
360.00 for the 80GB
and 400.00 for the 100GB.
plus 76.00 for the work...

since when did HD's cost that much?? anyway, i've opted to go and buy one myself and have it installed. i'll have to look up on some websites that should me how to do that, and what to do.
i'm not about to drop 400.00 on repairs unless it's absolutely necessary...
😕
 
Photorun said:
You should deal with Dull, from DOA to mysterious motherboard issues to you name it. Below Walmart quality garbage from overseas sweatshops.

You forgot that to mention the next business day, on-site, laptop support and replacement and the 3 years comprehensive insurance offered as standard.

I for one will be first in the queue when Apple can offer that sort service.
 
Photorun said:
You should deal with Dull, from DOA to mysterious motherboard issues to you name it. Below Walmart quality garbage from overseas sweatshops.

Except you forgot to mention that Apple's hardware is assembled in the same overseas location, and we'll just assume the "sweatshop" qualifier as a given..
 
Demon said:
well, as promised, i went to Apple to have my computer looked at...

and as predicted, it's a HD failure. not a complete failure they say... but since i've had to reinstall the OS 3 times in a year, they say i should replace it. for what price?

320.00 for the 60GB
360.00 for the 80GB
and 400.00 for the 100GB.
plus 76.00 for the work...

since when did HD's cost that much?? anyway, i've opted to go and buy one myself and have it installed. i'll have to look up on some websites that should me how to do that, and what to do.
i'm not about to drop 400.00 on repairs unless it's absolutely necessary...
😕

Tell me about it - Apple want £250+costs for a broken latch! I mean, the only non-electronic part on the entire computer and it costs HOW MUCH?!?! 😱 😱 😱
 
AlmostThere said:
Tell me about it - Apple want £250+costs for a broken latch! I mean, the only non-electronic part on the entire computer and it costs HOW MUCH?!?! 😱 😱 😱

To put it into perspective that's almost $700 Aussie dollars, wow, a little latch costing almost as much as a MacMini? With the costs of the hard drive, CPU... you name it.. included?! 😱
 
Well, that's what I said. Except but it's not just a latch, they need to replace half the laptop case. What bright spark came up with that idea?

A rich one, no doubt 😉
 
sad but true... sad but true.

where else is Apple going to get their money's worth if it's not when you're down and in need?

anyway, i posted a new thread on hard disk FAQ's.
do you guys know much about it?
desparately needing to replace it...

what's the links... let's see... (i love the TAB function in safari)
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/197281/

thanks again everyone.
 
Hmm, interesting.

Funny thing... after reading my original messages in 2005. i've actually replaced my hard disk on that failing computer... and it's worked perfectly ever since!
in fact... i'm using it to write this message right this moment. still going strong. funny how a single screw can mess up the entire computer that badly. Now i know Apple can make some pretty bad mistakes in manufacturing too. hopefully the new Macbooks are better, they sure look nicer.

i'll be replacing this old work horse when the speed bump comes out. 🙂
 
I've kept all my Macs (about 8 or 9 of them)for 4 to 5 years and used them extensively in studio and office environment. I can think of only 3 times I had to reinstall my OS, other than upgrading or changing things myself. Mind you, I have always had top of the line desktops, if that makes a difference.

However, I'm typing this on my new 24" iMac (my first iMac) and I'm liking that too!

Usually, any issues I have had are related to peripherals or third party hardware, harddrives, etc.
 
I buy my computers with my American Express card. They (like many others) double the manufacturers warranty for free.

I have troubles "not upgrading" to a new system every two years anyways, so I can't justify the price of a 3-year extended warranty.

AMEX is incredible for that, and they price match out to 30 days too. If you buy a Mac and the price drops within 30 days, they'll credit you the difference.
 
My Apple Repair History-

MacBook

July 2nd 2007, My black MacBook arrives, Not 3 months later my internal software starts showing evidence of it being corrupt, (Spotlight in top right corner just disappeared on its own). For the next year it had on and off issues with Address Book, iPhoto, and Mail. So then I take it to Apple and they replace the HD (free under AppleCare). Not 4-6 months later the MacBook starts freezing up while under minimum stress. I took it back to AppleCare and they did diagnostics on it for a week, then they sent it out to one of their depots where they did physical diagnostics and software diagnostics, discovering a faulty cooling system causing the computer to over heat and freeze. So Apple's depot replaced the cooling system and sent it back to the Apple store so Apple could run tests on it again and then I was called to go pick it up. Every thing worked fine for about 4 months. Then while I was recording in GarageBand once I hit "stop recording" I got a window notification saying that my "disk was too slow to write", I called Apple Tech Support and they had me remove the plist and whatnot, so then the woman on the phone asked me to record again. I said I would be back in like 5 minutes. After I did that it said the disk was to slow to read. So she had me remove some other stuff and it worked. Then a similar problem arose with iMovie called them again basically did a repeat of what I just listed above. One of the weirdest problems I encountered with my MacBook was that my iPhone wouldn't sync properly with iTunes, it wasn't unlocked or hacked in anyway, I took both the iPhone and MacBook to the Apple store and one genius looked at it and then he said to another genius "Take a look at this?!" Well in the end I had discovered an undocumented glitch with the iPhone/iTunes so they ran tests and did who knows what and eventually fixed them. The last problem that I have encountered was that my MacBook was running EXTREMELY slow while just browsing the internet or by just doing one job at at time. Called Apple they had me remove the battery and do a few restarts and hold down the shift key. Okay problem solved... For now.

160 GB iPod Classic

After working for my dad for a while, I decided to upgrade my iPod from a non-color 20 GB to a 160 GB iPod Classic. I purchased the iPod sometime near the end of November 2007 and by late December I had a problem with it where it went "Click, click click click BLACK SCREEN." From that point on it wouldn't start up nor would it do anything else. I took it to the Apple store and asked them what was up and the genius put it up to his ear turned it on and then said immediately "Dead HD, Do you want to make an exchange?" I asked- "Could I pay the difference and upgrade to an iPhone?" "Hold on." -Genius He goes behind closed doors to talk with a manager and well he came out smiling. "Sure you can pay us $50.00 and we will give you an iPhone."

So I have had my fair share of problems with Apple, but they have (so far) always pulled through, although if anything else starts happening with my MacBook I am doing to talk with them about upgrading to a MacBook Pro because no one told me that what I would be using my computer for would be too much for a MacBook to handle and I absolutely NEED a FireWire port for my Audio interfaces.

Hang in there man, Apple isn't crappy. No machine is perfect. 😉

:apple:
 
I was just thinking about this the other day.

Every single person I know who has bought a mac recently (4 or so) had to return it the week it was purchased. And these are not stupid people.

When they work, there is no better machine. But for a system that is supposed to be more software/hardware integrated, I've sure seen a lot of lemons.

What is the deal?
 
I was just thinking about this the other day.

Every single person I know who has bought a mac recently (4 or so) had to return it the week it was purchased. And these are not stupid people.

When they work, there is no better machine. But for a system that is supposed to be more software/hardware integrated, I've sure seen a lot of lemons.

What is the deal?

People are expecting Macintosh to be flawless in a flawed world. Everything in this world is flawed so I try to look at the positive and not focus on the negative. 🙂
 
I only know big-box macs and for them the quality has gone up! Way up! Not down.

PowerMacG5.jpg

Nice!

apple-powermac-quicksilver-733.jpg

Plastic...

img00085640819.jpg

Always broke...

m_6500.jpg

The Cats know!



I dunno about the "home" and laptop models they sell but the laptops feel very VERY well made when I toss them around in the shops. Compared to Sony or Dell there's quite a big difference. That said I've read about Apple messing up some design specs on a few of the laptop models that cause them to overheat and stuff. I dunno which models tho. 😛
 
"Sure you can pay us $50.00 and we will give you an iPhone."
:apple:

That's a really awesome deal. my iPod 3G died, i brought it to the Apple shop and the genius said "wow, i haven't seen a 3G in such good shape! but we can't fix it. It will cost more to fix than to buy a new one." So i ended up buying the iPod video, working fine after 2 years.

my dad's desktop, Dual G4 tower silver doors, has a faulty DVD rom. No longer able to read DVD's, only CD's. how odd. might get that exchanged so i can install OS 10.5 on it. still a decent computer which my grandma has started using....(she's nearly 90 and loves iChat)

About the AMEX thing. anyone know if they really extend the warranty for free?? so would i have to buy the 3 year Apple Care if i have AMEX? 😕

Interesting how many people replied to this feed, even after 4 years... we either have far too much time on our hands or we are mac addicts 🙂 (i think the latter)
 
Good to hear about your PowerBook; mine's still going strong four years down the line, original HDD, recall replaced battery, etc 🙂
 
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