New Mac owner. Applecare Question

Hi everyone,

I am a new to Mac. I bought a 13" MacBook Pro two weeks ago and feel very good about my purchase. Well built. Quality OS. I'm looking forward to many years of less computer maintenance.

I have searched the forums and found some topics on this subject, but I haven't found enough advice;

Is Applecare worth it?

I did not buy the extended warranty through Best Buy and intended to buy a SquareTrade warranty until I learned it is not offered in Canada outside of ebay purchases.

So... Should I buy Applecare on my new Mac?

Thank you!

imo i would and i did.. to much money to not and apple care is a pretty small investment.. but look other places that just apple to buy it.. like amazon..

Your Mac comes with AppleCare free for the first year. Once you approach the end of that first year, depending on what sort of a year you've had, you can decide if you want to extend AppleCare for another 2 years..

I got my 27" iMac a year+ ago and have had absolutely no issues with it, but once year was nearly up (1 day left) I opted to purchase AppleCare for 2 more years JUST in case something were to go wrong with the screen or something.

So basically I wouldn't sweat it for the first year and seriously think about purchasing AppleCare towards the end of your first year..

Regards

Raz0rEdge said:

Your Mac comes with AppleCare free for the first year. Once you approach the end of that first year, depending on what sort of a year you've had, you can decide if you want to extend AppleCare for another 2 years..

I got my 27" iMac a year+ ago and have had absolutely no issues with it, but once year was nearly up (1 day left) I opted to purchase AppleCare for 2 more years JUST in case something were to go wrong with the screen or something.

So basically I wouldn't sweat it for the first year and seriously think about purchasing AppleCare towards the end of your first year..

Regards

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Though I'm by no means an expert, I used to manage a fleet of 30+ of macs for our Church and my experience was this: For laptops, Applecare is great insurance and has a higher likelihood that it will be used at some point in the three years. For iMacs, I can only think of two times that we did or could have used Applecare over the course of 7-8 years and numerous machines. One was a Superdrive gone bad and the other was a screen problem on the old UFO style iMac.

Overall, I would say that of our portables, maybe 1/3 was sent in over the course of three years. For desktops, maybe 1/10.

IF you're going to get Applecare, it make more sense on a portable than a desktop, IMO.

How much you rely on your Mac is also an issue to consider. I always buy AppleCare as I use my iMac for freelance work day in, day out. I could not be without it for any length of time. However, I also have a MacBook Pro, and I don't have AC for that because it's a secondary machine.

indychris said:

Though I'm by no means an expert, I used to manage a fleet of 30+ of macs for our Church and my experience was this: For laptops, Applecare is great insurance and has a higher likelihood that it will be used at some point in the three years. For iMacs, I can only think of two times that we did or could have used Applecare over the course of 7-8 years and numerous machines. One was a Superdrive gone bad and the other was a screen problem on the old UFO style iMac.

Overall, I would say that of our portables, maybe 1/3 was sent in over the course of three years. For desktops, maybe 1/10.

IF you're going to get Applecare, it make more sense on a portable than a desktop, IMO.

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I would agree with that..being mobile, things like the HD are more prone to issues than a stationary desktop..

But since you get one year AppleCare for free..there's no need to rush in immediately after the purchase..

Regards

Keep in mind Apple Care is like a warranty. It does not cover damage to the laptop from dropping it, spilling coffee into it or it getting stolen.

Do you understand what 'One on One' is?

Others say only answer the question do not post additional stuff. Maybe I should not say anything?

One thing that was not mentioned: Your original one year warranty is not the same as Apple care in that it only comes with 90 day free telephone support. Apple care which extends the warranty to three years comes with a full three years of telephone support. Big difference. So it is wise to purchase Apple care now rather than wait for the one year.

Since I'm new to Mac's I opted for Apple Care to provide phone support should it be needed. I've used phone support once and was throughly impressed with quick service and a tech located in the USA and spoke and understood the same language as myself. I also purchased One to One and have attended three classes with a fourth scheduled. I looked at Apple Care and One to One as a way to enhance and make more enjoyable my MBP. So far I've not been disappointed.
Bill

Get it it has helped a lot and I am getting my hd replaced for the 2nd time now along with the mag safe adapter.

Thanks for all of the responses.

I normally don't buy extended warranties. I'm of the opinion if a device is going to fail within it's useful life, it will fail early while under the original warranty. I've had good luck with that.

But, being a pricer laptop... portable... etc. this one has me considering it.

I appreciate any more opinions.

PS: Have I said this yet... The quality of this machine is AWESOME!! It's looking like I'll never buy a Windows machine again (except for my kids who are harder on things than me).

I'm apparently in the minority, but I don't get those protection services. Apple Care, if I'm not mistaken, is in excess of $200....and probably even close to $300. I've found that Apple products are so well made that you probably won't have any problems. If you do have problems, the likelihood that fixing that problem costs over $200 is slim.

I would simply pocket the money, then if something goes wrong use it to pay for the tech support or reparation.

When I got my MBP 4 years ago I did get the apple care (this was before I adopted my new mindset). While I did call Apple a couple of times, it was far from $200 worth of calls. Companies offer these warranties/care plans because it makes money for them. If, on average, the customer saved money by purchasing it then the company would actually lose money with the program and ultimately end the program.

but some time things can go wrong but your better of going with extra support with whoever you bought it off as that usually cover water damege

I've found that Apple products are so well made that you probably won't have any problems. If you do have problems, the likelihood that fixing that problem costs over $200 is slim.

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You roll the dice; sometimes you come out ahead while other times you don't. But your statement above is misleading. Most repairs done on a modern notebook computer will easily exceed $200. Apple computers are certainly well built; there's no denying that. However, when they do fail the cost of repair is usually in excess of $200 and probably in excess of $500.
(Logic board replacement.)

chscag said:

You roll the dice; sometimes you come out ahead while other times you don't. But your statement above is misleading. Most repairs done on a modern notebook computer will easily exceed $200. Apple computers are certainly well built; there's no denying that. However, when they do fail the cost of repair is usually in excess of $200 and probably in excess of $500.
(Logic board replacement.)

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That's true...but you're also talking about the rare incidence of faulty hardware. Of course I don't know what the actual stats are, but I'd be willing to bet that over 90% of computer owners don't have any hardware malfunctions in the first few years of the computer's life. If people need to contact customer service during the first two or three years I imagine it's more for software support, which isn't very expensive.

I would really like to see a study on something like this because I'm doing nothing but speculating based on my experience and the experiences of my friends. To my knowledge, I've never known of a friend who needed an expensive reparation in the first few years of a computer.

For some people the extra $250 up front is worth it to have the extra peace of mind for the next 3 years. I, however, being math-minded don't think that way. I figured the companies have high paid actuaries who determine the best price for these products that would ensure the companies don't lose money on these deals. If that's true, then than means on average the customer loses money on the deal.

As I stated above, it's a roll of the dice. Of course browsing through these forums you'll see lots of posts regarding repairs, bad logic boards, displays, etc. I'm quite sure that's not the norm.

I'm also not a big fan of extended warranties and usually don't buy them. However, when purchasing a new Honda auto for my daughter, I somehow let the salesman talk me into an extended warranty. (around $700 extra) Two years after I bought the car and when the normal warranty was up, the transmission failed. Cost of repair by Honda = $3000. I saved $2300.

I know.... that's not the norm and I just got lucky. ;D

Square Trade has $299 repair and accidental damage coverage for my 13" MacBook (includes liquid damage and drop damage). I wish I could get that coverage in Canada.

I'm more worried about the accidental stuff than the hardware fail once I get past 1yr.

A few things to point out:

1. If you have a MBA - I would seriously consider having Applecare as all of the repairs to this unit will be costly.

2. Squaretrade is not a warranty. Its insurance. Your are insured up to the purchase value and for no more. So, lets say you bought that unit for $1299. If your first repair is, $500 then you have only $799 of coverage left. Use it all up and you dont have a warranty. Dont forget about the deductible either (for ADD claims). I believe that Squaretrade tends to pay out rather than fix...and while that is ok, you will have to buy the warranty again with the replacement. Applecare, on the other hand, covers all issues for the entire 3 years.

3. The big attraction of the Squaretrade warranty is the Accidential Damage coverage, and this can be advantageous for mobile units. In retrospect, I have owned many laptops over the years as well as iPhones and an iPad. I have never had any form of accidental damage to any of these units. I am too careful. So for me ADD Insurance seems wasteful and I have stopped buying it.