Apple Care?

I'm contemplating the switch from PC and was wondering whether the applecare plan is really worth the money as I am a student who is always looking to save where I can. I'm looking at the 15 inch macbook pro and at the student rate, the applecare plan is still $239.

I ordinarily wouldn't fork out the extra cash, but experienced a lot of issues with my current PC including: tons of installation issues with vista, motherboard went within 5 months, 2 batteries, 4 a/c adapters, etc.

It would be great if you could share some opinions on the applecare coverage and service as well as any hardware problems you might have had that would warrant purchasing the plan. Thanks for the help in advance!!

First off, next time do a search on the forums, because this topic has been covered a zillion times.

IMO, I think AppleCare is definitely worth it. Mainly because the Combo drive died in my MBP right out of the initial 1 year warranty. I took it to the Apple Store and within 20 minutes of waiting, I walked out with a new drive in my MBP for free. Another thing to note, is that you don't have to purchase the AppleCare right away. You can buy it anytime within it's 1 year warranty. Once you let it get out of the 1 year warranty, tough luck.

In my case, I just got a new iMac and haven't purchased AppleCare yet for it. I plan on paying this off and saving a little while longer before getting AppleCare. I will probably buy it sometime next spring or summer.

If you buy using a credit card, check to see if your card issuer offers the "double the warranty" benefit. Some cards automatically double the manufacturer's warranty if you purchase with their card. This would give you 2 years parts & labor from Apple, with makes AppleCare far less necessary as it would add only one more year (assuming the P&L warranty is what you're really after -- the phone support is nice, but frankly this Forum will answer most of your questions).

I bought the AppleCare when I bought my first Macs (an iMac and an iBook) 4 years ago because I had never owned a Mac before and was a bit unsure. When I buy the next Mac (likely a new iMac before Xmas), I'll pass on the AppleCare this time.

Personally I keep or kept AppleCare on all my units.

It has paid for itself on some of them and having access to phone support for 3 years is great for a new user.

Also, if you sell the unit before the AppleCare runs out it is a good selling feature and worth it to me for the piece of mind from not worrying about a unit I sold goes bad.

BTW, AppleCare is available from a variety of sources, including eBay, for as much as 50% off so you could consider that when assessing it's value.

I've never really used AppleCare but I've bought it for all my machines....insurance, y'know?

This has been covered many times on the forum.
Please use the Search Feature to locate some past threads for opinions on the purchase of Apple Care.