When buying a new mac many people are faced with the hard truth. Macs aren’t cheap, nor are repairs. As you tell the sales person what you would like, or you click the add to cart button on the website, you are promptly presented with a choice, AppleCare. AppleCare is Apple’s extended warranty program. All new and refurbished macs come with 90 days of complimentary telephone support and 1 year of repairs. If you run in to an issue after that 1 year, and you are not a member of AppleCare, you will get some pretty big bills to fix your mac. Or, you could buy AppleCare, for a few hundred bucks (based one what type of mac you bought, and where you live), Apple will take care of all the faulty parts, problems and such to your mac. Of coarse if you drop it or have water damage or that kind of problem, they aren’t going to fix it.
So the question remains, “Should you buy AppleCare?”. In this post I am going to tell you my opinion, get some other users opinions, and tell you what they have done for me.
Pros
AppleCare is great for those that have the few extra hundred dollars and don’t want to worry about coughing up tons of money to fix their macs. You also recieve 3 years of telephone support, which means if you need help with your mac at any time, AppleCare Telephone Support can help you. They are pretty nice to deal with (generally, I’m sure you can find some bad cases if you search hard enough, but they are pretty nice). You can also reserve a spot at Apple’s Genus Bar located in their retail stores. They will help you with your problems, and if there is a serious one, they will even do the repairs for you, AppleCare covers the labour and the parts.
Cons
Straight up, AppleCare costs money, and quite a bit of it. With the Macbook/iBook AppleCare coming in at $249 USD, MacBook Pro AppleCare costing $349 USD, Mac Mini costing $149, iMac costing $169 and AppleCare for the big Mac Pro costing $249, its going to set you back quite a bit. I have also heard stories of bad service or really slow repairs, or even extended problems with the solutions. Generally the repairs aren’t fast, but luckily I have purchased Pro Care, which I will review in another post. As well, if you void your warranty for your mac, then your purchase of AppleCare has bee wasted. They also charge you the exact same thing as normal if you cause damage to your mac, on purpose or by accident.
I also find that the hold times for the telephone support is quite long, and with more complicated problems, it is very difficult to communicate the problem over the phone to the AppleCare representative.
User Quotes on AppleCare
I have decided that no blog post is complete without some feedback on the subject at hand. I have gotten a few users responses to AppleCare and posted them below, as well if you post a comment I will most likely add it below. Thank to all the users who gave me their input.
“… If you’re getting a laptop, it’s a no-brainer. Laptops have a tendency to mess up, and getting Applecare will save you a lot of time and money. Desktops don’t necessarily require Applecare, as they are bigger, and not moved around as much. Also, I usually wait until the end of the standard one-year warranty before I dish out the money for Applecare, because if you void your warranty in the first year (by dropping or denting your laptop or iPod), the Applecare would have been no use to you. So my philosophy is to wait for a year, evaluate if you think you’ll need it, and then search on ebay for the best deal”
“… Apple products rarely break for me other than laptops which Applecare is pretty much a necessity… “
“While Apple offers solid customer service, upwards of $200 for a 2-year extension on top of the product itself is a bit much”
“… AppleCare is a must have for anyone who buys an Apple product …”
My Story on AppleCare
I have to say, AppleCare has been pretty useful for me. On 4 macs that are in my household, 4 have AppleCare, 3 have used it, (so far). Lets start with my first mac, the iMac G5. This was the first iMac to have a built in iSight, and front row. I never opened it, and I ordered my extra ram with the computer, directly from Apple, preinstalled. Sounds like there should not be any big problems? Wrong, after 1 year and a few month, the logic board and screen begin to die. I don’t recall the exact numbers, but the ‘AppleCare Genius’ at the Apple Store told me it would have been close to $1200 at the time, luckily I had AppleCare. The repair when completely smoothly, and 4 or 5 days latter I had my wonderful iMac back.
Next came the Intel chip in January 2006, and shortly after, the MacBook. We bought one in late September, and from the start it did not work too well, most likely being a first generation product. After having multiple components replaced, and continuing to have kernal panics and other weird errors, Apple replaced the MacBook with a middle of the line white MacBook, complete with SuperDrive, 120 GB Hard Drive and 1 GB of Ram. I was overjoyed, AppleCare paid off yet again. Coming up to this September, I bought a 17″ MacBook Pro with one of the new High Resolution Displays. It has also had kernal panics and other weird errors since I bought it. At this time Apple has ordering in a new AirPort Card, new Bluetooth card, new Logic Board, and a new Display.
Conclusions
Though I have calculated that I have almost spent $1000 on AppleCare, it has saved me a lot in repairs and even gotten our household a new MacBook. I highly suggest it to all mac users, no matter which mac you are buying, or your technical experience. Some users have told me in the past that they like to do their “Maintenance” (or fixing their mac when it breaks) by them selves. I like the reassurance of having AppleCare though. That no matter the issue, Apple will assist me in fixing it.
For all of the reasons above, I highly suggest to buy AppleCare if you can afford it at all when buying a new mac.
Please Digg
And If you liked this article, pease check out my other articles, http://edit.xtreem.iappblog.com
Nowhere in this article was resale value mentioned. When buying a two-year-old used computer, which one would you pay more for? The one with absolutely no warranty coverage whatsoever, or the one that still has a year of AppleCare left? If you’re planning on selling your Mac after two years, the AppleCare could easily pay for itself, even if you never had to get a repair (as long as you don’t void your warranty through liquid spill or impact damage).
You say NOTHING about consumer protection laws.
In some countries, for instance in the Europen Union, consumer protection laws ALREADY force manufacterors to provide more than a year’s warranty but Apple STILL keeps on forcing you to buy AppleCare in those countries.
I live in the Netherlands and NEVER buy AppleCare or indeed any other extended warranty from any company, simpoly because laws say that consumer devices must have a reasonable life expectancy and the shop that sells the item to you is forced to deliver goods with reasonable quality.
Eg. when a computer dies after 1 year and 1 day, the seller cannot deny free servicing in EU countries.
Most electronics companies and stores still keep on pushing customers to buy extended warranties though, which is why consumer organisations have been warning about this for years.
I have always gotten AppleCare-but this time, I have found it to be less than what it has been in the past. I had to make several calls, and then transfer from Thailand to a Supervisor in America before I got the answers I was needing. The sad part was the problem was quite simple to resolve (download software), but the techs were fairly clueless. I don’t regret purchasing Applecare for the sake of insurance, but for answers to Airport complications or hardware compatibility issues- the Thailand techs can drive you crazy.
Martin has a great point for those who live in the EU where consumer laws seem fairer, here in Australia, there are also standard in place for goods, like an after warranty grace period, this however can be tedious and time consuming to enforce.
I have known Apple to reinstate warranties on system a few weeks out (depending on the issue) and have seen other companies flat out refuse service on systems 1 day after the warranty expires.
So its a matter of writing a letter, or speaking to the supervisor, hoping that you catch one on a good day, because until we all have fairer consumer laws & standards we are at the mercy of businesses who would rather sell you a new system then argue coverage of an older one.
I must say that i think its great that apple allow you 1 year to purchase the applecare, as long as your unit is under warranty you can register an APP, most require the extra $300-500 at the time of purchase, and on a $3,000 notebook, who has a spare $500 laying around?
I got to say, do apples break a lot? I built my own PC and I have had no problems nor any parts failing on me. I have also owned a few Dell computers and I never had to send them in for warranty and they are close to 7 years old. They have been moved and used heavily and never any software or hardware issues. I have never owned a mac so I’m not sure, Do they break a lot or is it common?
Buy it. You won’t regret it. Here’s a tip, though. Get it on eBay. You will save a TON of cash this way. I’ve paid half price for my Applecare on literally every Mac I’ve owned. Just be sure you buy it shrink wrapped, because once it’s registered it’s useless (unless you registered it, obviously).
I’ve been working and using Macs and making calls to Apple care for 15 or so years. I really only recall the last 5-10 well enough, but I’ve noticed call-in service declining in quality. I’d never not get applecare, but still, it’s becoming increasingly annoying to call in and deal with ‘techs’ who don’t read case history information before getting back into a repeat occurrence.
I bought a Macbook Pro online (2nd gen) and after roughly 90days the Hard Drive Went Out.
Instead of taking it to the apple store, I took it to “The Mac Store” which is some local shop, it cost me 190$ to expedite them to replace the hard drive. Applecare did it’s part, they shipped the disk within 2-3days. However it still took almost a week for me to get my Macbook Pro Back.
I even had a small dent in it, I kinda expected them to make the dent go away. Nope, they just replaced the hard drive.
Apple Care saved me some time because of Apple Care I didn’t have to buy a new disk. However If I had to buy a new disk it would have taken me less time to get it done.
Lesson learned… Apple Care is nice, going to a place that will fix you in under 48hours is better. I might as well have shipped the unit to Apple themselves if I knew it was going to take a week.
There is one more aspect that is not mentioned: business users. The company I work for has purchased quite a few Macs - towers and laptops (15″ MacBookPro) for our Video Production devision and I found AppleCare indispensable when it comes to managing hardware in volume.
I have had several problems with laptops due to constant travel (failing hard drives, card slots, and even motherboards) and all problems have been painlessly eliminated by Apple personnel: either at the retail Apple store or over the phone.
I must admit that due to bulk purchases, we did receive some fractional discount on AppleCare but I would recommend it none the less. Think of it as a three year investment, which for MacBook Pro is just under $10 a month.
I think, it is totally worth it to skip a lunch once a month
As an Apple Retail Employee…
I get nothing out of the deal when a customer buys Applecare, we just flat out don’t work on a commission.
The reason I recommend it to every customer with a computer purchase is that, quite frankly I don’t want to hear about you bitching at us a year later if your logic board dies and you have to pay $1000 to get it fixed. Much cheaper to have phone support from home, and unlimited parts and labor. You will simply be happier if you purchase AppleCare with your computer. Figure out the cost per day. Very inexpensive for the peace of mind.
ProCare is good, pricey, but it is worth it for a Tune-Up, and Complete setup (file transfer from old machine, email setup, etc), speedy repairs and what not. Can have it cover 3 machines.
.Mac, I cannot live without, I have been a paid member for 4 years. You may think we’re selling you shit you don’t need, trust me, it is a godsend for me (online backups, online storage like a flash drive, webpages, photogalleries, and integration with many programs). 69.95 instead of 99.95 when you buy a computer. Try it, you’ll see.
One to One, the best service we offer, up to 52 hours of training, question/answers, project assistance, $99. 52 hours, $99, you do the math.
Importance of services in my opinion as an Apple Employee for MOST people (note that this is strictly opinion and not scientific)
Applecare = 10/10
One to One = 9/10
.Mac = 8/10
Procare = 7/10
I bought a 12″ Powerbook with no Apple Care 2 years ago and it just died on me. The Apple Hardware Test on the CD said the video RAM had a problem.
Since the video RAM is on the logic board, I would need to replace the whole board. An Apple certified shop quoted $1200, with a trade-in for my old board. If I lucked out, I could get one on ebay for $800 and do it myself.
Needless to say, I won’t be buying a Mac again. I’m not sure how they get away with such a solid reputation when their products are so flakey.
Enh… I’m not sold on it, even for a laptop, although there’s been some great advice in this article and comments.
Here’s my thinking:
You get Year_1 of care free under warranty.
Most Mastercards and Visas provide an additional year of warranty (more later) so Year_2 is frequently also covered. In my case it is.
Outside of the convenience factors, all of the real value of AppleCare comes in Year_3. Is $250 (maybe less) worth a year of coverage on a two year old system? Maybe not. It’s already 12~25% of the cost of the system that could replace it. Also, given the nature of electronics, devices typically have electrical failures during the early life of the product, when they’re covered by warranties. (The exception is hard drives which can fail anytime they want.) After that “burn in” period, they’ll typically last long after you want to replace them. If you do have to replace a component such as a hard drive, the cost is very likely less than the cost of AppleCare.
In my case, I had a laptop motherboard go out early in the second year. I filed a claim with Mastercard and they reimbursed me the $350 Apple had quoted me for repair. You do need to be diligent about recordkeeping, though. MC/Visa will want copies of the original invoice, the now-old billing statement with the item on it, and a written estimate of repair cost (Apple will provide if you can get to an Apple store.) I’m sure they count on you not getting everything together, but I’ve never been refused a claim.
I work with plenty of both, and Apples are actually much more reliable than PC’s. More fun too.
It’s a crap-shoot either way. I guess it also depends on your ability to come up with a repair cost if needed. If you’re usually broke, maybe you’re better off spending it up front on AppleCare. Good luck either way!
I can help but for the Applecare, I’m too paranoid. Great post!
Because I didn’t purchase Apple Care on my $1299 Ibook, the total cost of the computer to me after paying all the repairs it has needed out of pocket is somewhere close to $2400.
Next time I purchase a Mac, (which will hopefully be soon!) there is no DOUBT in my mind as to whether or not Apple Care is worth it.
The article makes it sound like genius bar appointments are only for people with AppleCare. Not true. Anyone, out of warranty or not, can make a genius bar appointment at any time. The warranty only pays for parts replacement.
Also, another thing not mentioned is the student discount prices on applecare. 66 bucks off macbook, 50 bucks off imac, 110 off macbook pro.
Also, Apple parts aren’t any flakier or less reliable than any other manufacturer. WIth about 1 out of every 10 personal computers being a mac nowadays youre bound to hear the vocal minority who are dissatisfied with the products or services.
Also, the math on One-to-Ones is about 1.80 an hour, given you use it every week for the whole year. Slave labor, I tell you!
Folks, do you wonder why Steve Jobs is filthy rich? Not that I think someone who has a great product dosen’t deserve to be rewarded. Let’s be real here, if a Mac was such a great product, and is going to last would the warranty COST AS MUCH AS IT DOES????
Who is responsible for the terrible use of the English language used in this “Blog?” I believe that he misspelled 5+ words in the closing section alone. You are an F-Student in spelling, and your “Blog” was a complete waste of my time. If I wanted to contemplate the value of whether or not to choose AppleCare, I would have done so in the 4 seconds that it takes a logical human-being to decide whether or not something contains a benefit or “value” to them. I am bored from reading your article, and your spelling has made me less intelligent.
The only thing that Dell has over Apple is their extended coverage. It’s a no questions asked, repair or replace coverage. You can spill, drop and break - they fix it.
Applecare is only good if it’s an inherent flaw or a failed HD.
Does anyone find it suspicious that the author has mentioned 3 macs he’s bought, 3 of which have had serious failures in the first couple of months? That suggests you shouldn’t be buying Apple computers to begin with…
I’ve been contemplating switching to Apple. It looks like a good move on the surface (so does buying a car at a used-car lot…) but this is the latest in a series of serious problems I’ve heard about. Can anyone confirm that it is NOT typical for every Mac you buy to have a serious failure, requiring replacement parts, mere weeks after purchase?
Like most everything else in life, Apple Care ain’t what it used to be. It saved me some $$$ with my last iBook…they replaced the hard drive and the logic board under warranty. But…they sent it to some place in Tennessee where they scratched the heck out of the case! If you do send your Mac in for repair, I’d suggest doing it through an Apple Store where they can document the condition your Mac is in. Then, if it comes back scratched up, you’ll have some recourse. There’s a place called “TechRestore” (google it) which repairs Mac laptops and does wonderful work…fast, competent, reasonably priced. I don’t think Apple Care is really worth it for what essentially amounts to one extra year over the two many credit card companies give you.
Neither this article nor the comments address some important points to consider.
• You don’t have to have an Apple store or reseller fix your Mac for the hyper-inflated rates they charge. You can have a standard PC repair facility which is capable of servicing Macs do the job much more cheaply, often at a fraction of the price for parts in particular as Apple charges double in some cases compared to other service providers.
• If a Mac doesn’t fail in the first 90 days, it’s unlikely to fail in any serious way in the next year or two. If it doesn’t fail after the first year or two, it will be sufficiently devalued that your investment in AppleCare might be better put toward the purchase of a new model or a second-hand model of your failed unit.
• Telephone support is rarely useful to those who are moderately savvy about their computers. Most questions can be answered using on-line resources including various Mac user forums and Mac magazine forums. Searching for people who are having similar problems to yours often yields faster and clearer answers than jumping through tech support call sheet questions.
• If you aren’t squeamish, you can repair your own computer relatively easily and cheaply provided the motherboard hasn’t crapped out on you or a video problem hasn’t occurred in a unit with an integrated display. Instructions for such things are all over the Internet.
By and large, AppleCare isn’t going to be money well spent for most people. It’s an insurance policy, to be sure, but computers in general are not investments that need a high degree of protection as they lose their value rapidly and should be replaced rather than repaired past the 3-year mark. That’s not to say they aren’t useful past the the 3-year time period but rather that it becomes far more attractive to buy a new one than repair an old one past that point.
Unless you’ve got an expensive laptop model (MacBook Pro), it seems that it’s simply not worthwhile to purchase AppleCare.
That’s assuming your moderately savvy about PC’s.
Remember Apple targets a lot of people, not neccesarily cluey or techy people. What about people who love using their Apple for web surfing, or even building their own page, but wouldn’t have the faintest clue how to update a driver? Or a program? People who get scared when Firefox wants to auto-update? For these people the peace of mind in knowing they can call someone (even if it takes 30 minutes to get through) might be worth it.
And yes, looking up the answer online is always faster. But these types of people are usually scared of that too.
I love AppleCare. I support 500 PC’s and NONE of these have a warranty that compares. Don’t spill water on it, don’t abuse it and it’ll truly last you 3 years. I have 4 Apples, I’ve had ones with NO problems and I had a laptop that had several issues. Each issue I had was fixed immediately in the store and without talking to some guy in another country that answers the phone as “John Wayne” (I love Dell.)
I really push AppleCare for those folks that need to be able to call somebody for the general stuff. Dell, HP, Gateway and the like won’t help you setup mail, connect to the internet or get updates. AppleCare is patient, I had a guy that needed help loading X and he emailed me, called Apple and they led him through the steps before I could get to him.
My personal approach is:
Desktop, only if it’s super high-end or if you need the technician on the phones support for little stuff. So, I wouldn’t buy support for the MacMini for myself, but for my grandparents I would.
Laptops, ABSOLUTELY! There are very few problems that will result in a positive resolution without spending more money than the cost of the warranty on a laptop. It may be worth the gamble on a cheap MacBook, but the MacBook Pro makes the warranty absolutely a must! The work I had done to my 17″ 1Ghz PowerBook cost me $250 out of pocket as it was out of the 3-year warranty. Before it was out of the warranty I had the Superdrive replaced (this was the first laptop they offered with the Superdrive, in fact my laptop was in the very first release of the 17″ PowerBooks…cool as I was at NAB where they first displayed the new unit…and I had mine in my backpack there =-) )
AppleCare totally gives you your money worth. The catch is, will you need it? As any hardware, you don’t know until it’s too late…but, if you aren’t sure…then you need it. If you know you don’t…then you may not. Desktop units are easy to get parts for, where laptops are not that way. Good luck!
Let me see if I get this right…
To start, you paid a higher premium for a (supposedly) superior computer. Then something broke within 3 years. Instead of fixing the under-performed product for free, Apple told you that if you did not put out few hundred dollars more to guarantee the product they made, you would have to pay hundreds to thousand of dollars for the ridiculously over-priced repair fee (which, according to your own stories, sometime costing as much as the original purchase).
And how you react to all this? Instead of questioning why a higher premium product failed to outlast it life expectancy, you continue to buy from the same company that sold you the lemon, you continue to shell out extra $$$ to make sure the product will live at least as long as it should be expected, AND you would brag to others about the smart decision you have made to purchase the product and its insurance?!! From the way some of you sounded, the more frequently this has happened to you, the happier you seem to feel.
UN-FREAKING-BELIEVABLE…
If you happen to be a Dutch citizen (it’s a small country in Europe ;), you don’t have to bother taking the extended warranty. Consumer laws stipulate products should function appropriately during their ‘expected lifetime’.
So if your Apple gives you a hard time after two years, you can force the shop where you bought the product (that’s right, the shop, not necessarily Apple) to pay for 3/5th (in case of an expected lifetime of 5 years, which seams reasonable to me) of the repaircost.
OK, they won’t give you happy-smiley-service and you often have to threaten, but hey that gives you the consumerist.com feeling.
Never having owned a Mac and reading the comments on this site makes me think the construction quality of their products is quite low. Most of you are asuring that the computer will have problems, a lot of you have had to replace logic boards in the first year. I work as IT support for an important law firm where I deal with a large number of computers and, even with some laptops aging past the 1 year mark, I am still to find one whith a problem (other than the rare HD boot sector corruption) not caused by the user (coffee death), and even that is quite uncommon. This is in a place where users will take their PCs home and on week-long business trips. We only use Dell, and, until now, I wasnt even to fond of their machines, but the image of Macs created in my mind after reading this article is not very positive.
I bought a MacBook Pro 2 months ago. I have to say that after reading this blog, I regret my purchase. I spent $2000 on a machine that falls in with a family of, according to this blog, three computers that broke within two years despite the premium in cost.
I’ve owned two laptops before this (a Dell that still works even though it’s from about 1996, with no tune-up work done to it at all) and an Averatec (off-brand that cost $900) that is 4 years old.
You’re telling me that my $2000 purchase is likely to screw me over unless I fork over /another/ $400 bucks? I think this will be the last Apple purchase I make.
I’ve been suggesting to my friends and family to just buy a Mac Mini for their next computer (they only need it for email and the like), and you’re telling me that these computers are likely to break soon?
What a ripoff!
One more thing. *knocks on wood* In my two decades or so of my familiy owning computers, we’ve never had one break. /Ever/.
Should I have stayed away from the Mac platform altogether? After reading one comment on this blog after another about how their Mac broke, is it that my family just treats their machinery properly, or is it that Macs genuinely suck?
Thinking Apple computers are shoddy is funny. No worse than any other system out there.
I see Tons of clones, HPs, Compaqs and moreso now Dells. I hardly see Apple computers in for questions or problems.
A friend of mine had his 17″ iMac screen have lines of stuck pixels appear about 2 months after the 1 year warranty expired.
Here in New Zealand (NZ) we also have similar consumer laws. Initially over several different phone calls Apple NZ, and the shop we bought it from, they both said it wasn’t covered, however after mentioning the consumer laws Apple NZ finally agreed to pay for a replacement screen. My friend has to pay for labour however, about an hours worth, which isn’t too bad.
Moral of the story is keep badgering Apple, even if they say it’s not covered. Also hang up and try again later, you might get a more co-operative person to deal with.
I’ve never paid for an extended warranty and, believe it or not, I’ve never, ever needed it.
Over the past 10 years that laptops have been on the mass market, I’ve owned my share. I started with Toshibas, of which I used 3 or 4 models for about 8 years, and moved to the Macbook Pro the first month they were released.
And when I bought that first-gen Macbook Pro, everybody cautioned me to buy Applecare. But I figured it THIS way:
Year 1: The Warranty is free, courtesy Apple.
Year 2: My Visa Platinum card included a purchase protection warranty that saved me a bundle with an old Toshiba, so it’ll do here too. This is also free, courtesy Visa.
Year 3: My Macbook Pro is only worth $1200 USD by this point. My 80GB hard drive is full and I need an upgrade already. The included 512MB RAM was useless from day one and I already put in 2 Gigs. Now I’m thinking… how much money am I really going to sink into this 1st-gen, quickly depreciating laptop when I can go right now and but a refurb unit with a better processor, more RAM, larger hard drive, and the new glossy screen sells for just $1499 - and it includes a full one year warranty.
And there’s the answer. I’ll buy a refurb model when my Macbook Pro dies. And I’ll be happy, too.
I’ve had two laptops and one iMac die in recent years, all from recurrent design flaws only one of which was acknowledged by Apple and even then only after a class action lawsuit was filed.
Get the Applecare. Just think of it in terms of Macs costing 10% more than the advertised price.
Couple of things need to be set straight here for the record:
1. Apples aren’t way more expensive anymore. A brand new macbook from Apple isn’t ‘overpriced’ they just don’t sell crappy bargain machines like Dell does. If you take the time to configure a Dell that is almost indentical in components to a Macbook you’ll find that the price difference is $50-100 (some components aren’t exactly equal). And thats not taking into account the need for Virus/Spyware/Etc protection you’d be stupid not to have to even take that Dell machine online (once you add in that stuff the Dell can be more expensive). The cheapest Apple laptop versus the cheapest Dell laptop isn’t really comparing apples and oranges, more like apples and last years dried out fruit.
2. Every company ships good and bad machines. It’s part of the manufacturing process. Machines pass QA that aren’t really working 100% properly. Even Dell ships plenty of machines that don’t perform like they should because of one problem or another. The stories you’re seeing here are some bad some good but mostly bad (broken machines). The people who have never purchased apple care and never had a machine that wasn’t perfect from Apple probably aren’t going to post on here. I have a 7+ year old iMac (an iMac DV SE) from Apple that runs OS X 10.4 and works like a champ, never had a single issue with it, still has it’s original HD.
tigerjuju: find me one computer manufacturer that sells machines way cheeper then Apple (Dell sure doesn’t) that offers a greater then 1 year warranty.
All that said AppleCare is still a really good idea in my opinion because even though it isn’t explicit like Dell’s Accidental Damage program Apple is usually good about fixing all but the most obvious signs of neglect. I know of several cases where Apple could have said ‘Sorry, No’ to someone and instead fixed the machine with almost no questions asked. $275 is not very much at all if you consider it’s less then 40 cents per day for peace of mind to know that if anything fails it will be fixed at no extra charge.
Bought a PowerBook 2.8 years ago. Screen started flickering, excessive heat, motion sensor failed and space bar stopped working. Luckily, I also bought Apple Care.
Can’t you also get a new laptop battery once it has run out. I’ve heard of this, let me know if I’m wrong.
Can you only buy applecare while it’s still within the first year of warranty? I.e. could you purchase it at anytime of the life of your mac?
I have been selling mac for a while now, in Apple Authorized resellers and in consumerstores.
I would never buy applecare on a new computer.
Only if in the first year the mac has some problems i would buy an applecare on it. Just make sure you buy the applecare within the first year.My imac g4 never went down, my mbp has no applecare and no problems so far, my g3 is still working and very happy my bf s mbp works just fine the imac 24″ does a great job no problems there.
But i know ppl who had problems and once a machine is gone into repairs, just buy applecare its a golden rule for me !
I had a imac G5 and the wheel on my mighty mouse went. So i called up apple care spoke to a very helpful assistant ad he went through some maintainance with me on the mouse. He also sent through a PDF file via email to me with care instructions which were very useful. However that did not fix the mouse so i call the same guy straight back he said and he sent me out a new mouse which i recieved with in two days. I put my old mouse back in the self addressed box and called UPS to come and pick it up. WONDERFUL all i had to do was pay for a phone and apple sorted everything else. Very happy.
I now have a macbook pro which when i bought over the phone they offered me apple care for £50 which i could not refuse after having such good customer service with them.
From my experience I have gotten a HDD and a iSight out of my Apple Care purchases. I currently am having some random shutdown problems with my iMac G5 and need to get it look at, but for now I have yet to justify my additional purchase.
I do agree that if you get a laptop, Apple Care is a must b/c those repairs can be expensive.
unfortunately, applecare is a must. we’ve had to ship back way too many laptops between 1 year and 3 years. after 3 years, if an apple product breaks, then you just need to throw it away. they are way too expensive to fix.
hey buddy such a good website but i am surprised that why i did’t know about your website i think u never post your stories on www.laadi.com my all friends use laadi.com to search for new and latest stories anyway good work Keep it up i will tell all my friends about this.
Here’s my little tale with AppleCare.. a month ago i dropped my 1st gen (purchased March 2006) MacBook Pro (Core Duo 2Ghz, 1gig ram, 100gig 7200rpm hdd) face flat on the screen. The screen was shot and needed replacement (NOT covered on AppleCare of course). 1400$ later it was fixed (they also changed the logic board because they fried it changing the screen.. that didn’t cost me a thing).. good thing this is a work laptop!! Two weeks later i get it back.. and 2 days after i got the MBP back.. screen goes blank and a burning smell comes out on one side. I bring it back.. this time it’s covered under AppleCare. They change the screen (again), the logic board (again) and the inverter board. A week or so after i get a call.. they changed all the parts but after testing the screen blew up AGAIN! The guy at the service depot says to call Apple and ask for a replacement laptop. I call and was denied… I call again the next day and this time i get approved for a replacement.
I’ll be getting a brand new MBP (Core 2 Duo 2.2, 2gig ram, 200gig 7200 rpm hdd) in a few weeks! PLUS getting a full refund on my AppleCare so i can buy AppleCare for the new MBP. So i’m happy that i got AppleCare in the first place. Not happy that i dropped the laptop in the first place tho and i’ve been without my laptop for more then 2 month once i get the new one!! Ouch.. sloooooow service Apple.. Dell would have fixed it waaaay faster. (I know cuz we have way more Dell laptops/desktops then Mac’s!)
Apple Care is a garden: Dig it!
http://www.markcichy.com/blog/?p=3
I have had a 12″ powerbook g4 now for over 3 years and have never had an issue with it, in this case i am glad i never bought apple care
It’s interesting how Apple increases the perceived value of AppleCare by claiming very high repair prices.
When my Mini’s hard drive died, I took it to the Genius Bar to verify that it was a hard disk issue and to get an estimate on what it’d cost to fix it. They ran the same disk utility I did from the system install disc and said they wouldn’t guarantee it but they believed it was a hard drive problem and repair would cost $380 if that was the problem.
If I had bought AppleCare, I’d be smiling and saying I’d spent my money well because I’d just saved myself $230 (assuming I paid $150 for extended AppleCare).
I hadn’t bought AppleCare, but I knew that $380 was an astronomical amount of money for a hard drive repair. I priced the precise same model, make and size of internal drive in my Mini on OtherWorld Computing and it cost $80 for me to buy it from them. Is Apple paying more for their components than I would? This seems very unlikely.
Replacing an internal hard drive on a Mini isn’t hard for an experienced person so a Genius should find it to be a snap. In fact, I’d be shocked if it took even an hour. That means Apple is claiming it costs $300 for labor and processing for this job?
It’s crystal clear Apple inflates repair costs to increase the perceived value of AppleCare. If you accept their estimates then you’re going to think it’s worthwhile. If you look at the real costs either from another repair service or at the basic replacement parts, you’ll see what a scam the situation is. It’s actually a pretty brilliant sales strategy. Boost the repair bills so that people are gouged on repair if they have to pay or are so fearful of the big price tags that they buy AppleCare which more often than not is more expensive than the actual cost of repair to Apple.
With my Mini, I ended up fixing it myself with a bigger, faster drive for $120 out of pocket. It’s about 6 months away from its third birthday and this is the only repair I’ve needed on it.
I’ve fixed several of my previous Macs before including replacing CD-ROM drives, hard drives, and adding in cards to replace dead ports (like USB ports that died and I just ignored them and stuck in a $30 PCI card to get the functionality back). I have never paid as much for repairs as I would have spent on AppleCare, let alone paid that much in a 3-year time period.
Before you buy AppleCare, even if you’re terrified of computers and fixing them, at least call around to non-Apple repair services in your area and compare their estimates for routine repairs (hard drive and DVD drivereplacements are the most likely) to Apples. If the numbers look similar, buy your AppleCare and be happy. If not, consider seriously what is going on.