AppleCare - accidental damage?

Hi, I'll be buying my first Apple product - a Macbook (Air or Pro-not sure yet which). I need to know if buying the AppleCare would help me if I accidentally damage the product such as by spilling something into it or drop it accidentally. Should I go ahead and buy AppleCare? Usually I don't ever have any issues with accidents around my computers but I always have a cup (with lid) near my computer on my desk (I use a 17" PC laptop currently) but I've never spilled it. But knowing my luck - it could happen. So would I be protected?

If it does cover accidents does it provide 100% coverage for cost or is it like health insurance where you pay a certain percent of the cost of fixing it?

Oh this one's easy: no, it will not cover accidents.

Yes, you should buy AppleCare anyway. You have until the 364th day after purchase to buy it. I generally recommend people buy it on the 89th day (the day before the telephone support expires) if you don't want to buy it on the day of purchase (since you're spending a fair bit of money, perfectly understandable). But if you want to play the "hold-off" game there are two rules you have to remember:

1. Don't forget to REGISTER your new Mac or iOS device IMMEDIATELY upon purchase. Very, very important, because if there's a dispute on this Apple will "fall back" to the date of manufacture -- which could be weeks or ever MONTHS before you bought the thing.

2. Don't forget about those hard deadlines (89th day to maintain phone support, 364th day to buy AppleCare). Apple WILL NOT sell you Applecare after that second deadline passes.

Ok, thank you, chas_m. I usually never buy warranties for my products but since this is such a large purchase I figure I should buy it.

Now, if I purchase the macbook at apple.com (I plan on upgrading at least the RAM...) would it be safer to have it shipped to the local Apple store versus my home? Chances are I would be home at the time of the delivery, and I live in a better neighborhood and have never had a package stolen from my porch. But would it be safer to have it shipped to the store since there might be less handling of the product and dropping, slamming, etc done by the shipping company? OR do I need to order online if I plan on upping the RAM? Do they have them available at the Apple store with upgraded ram? oh so many questions. I'm sorry but I've never bought a custom computer before...

No worries.

With some Mac models, the RAM is easily upgradeable (and cheaper to upgrade) from third parties. Depending on which MacBook you're getting, that may not be the case so if it's the Retina model you will want to order the maximum RAM you can when you order it.

If you like, Apple can have your machine sent to a local Apple Store for pickup in most cases. If there's one near you, that's certainly an option that will tempt you into buying some accessories while you're there ... well played, Apple, well played!

To be honest, I have no idea which MB I should get. I definitely WANT the Retina MBP but do I NEED it? No. Hmm. Currently all I do is surf the web and play the odd flash-based web game but I'm starting college soon and might need something more powerful. I'm not sure yet. I do know that later in my degree program I'll need Dreamweaver and Photoshop. I'm not sure if Dreamweaver is even available for Mac but I do have a Windows DVD should I need to run Windows. I do know I'll need MS Office. Would the 2012 Air be able to handle those programs? I'm assuming it would since I ran Photoshop years ago on a basic laptop. It was slow but it ran.

I'm not sure yet if I'm going to go into programming or not. I probably should. I'm currently signed up to start my associates in Web Design but might switch to something else such as programming or networking. Anyway.. Would the Air be fine for my needs as a growing student? lol I love how slim it is but the Pro is much thinner than what I'm using... My current laptop is 2.3ghz, 320 gb hdd, 4gb ram, Windows 7.

What is your take on it?

How do I register my new mac? Was that part of the start up process? (can't remember if I did it then or not).

Dreamweaver and Photoshop are both available for Mac.I have not used it in quite some time but here are the current system requirements Adobe Dreamweaver CS6 - Tech specs

Adobe Creative Suite 6 Master Collection - Tech specs

@Dragoro Normally registration is completed as part of the setup process but you could choose to defer it. To find oout where toy stand warranty wise try feeding the serial number into this page. The result will tell you if there is a warranty on file and I think how much time is left.

Thank you! Slydude!

You're welcome HTH