Is Applecare WORTH the $$$$$ ?

[sockeye]

I am heading to the apple store tomorrow to purchase my first Mac, the white macbook, 1 gig ram, 80 gig hd , superdrive, etc, I know they are going to push applecare on me ($249) Is it Realy worth it? normaly I never buy any type of extended warranty, and i never have any problems, I believe if it is going to have problems it will happen in the first 60 days so i should be okay,right?? I get the feeling from postings here that apple will not take care of you if you only have the standard warranty??? Do they play favorites if You are still in the standard warranty period and have applecare??

I read about all the problems people have here with their macs but how many here have had ZERO issues?

 

[KoDorSean]

do a search on this topic and you will find some great info.

here are a few

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56721

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51590

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56132

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52414

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50712

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45072

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41985

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40213

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37583

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36901

 

[sockeye]

Thanks kodorsean, I should be using advanced search! DUH!

Sounds like I have a year to decide anyway. Right?

 

[KoDorSean]

that should get you started.

 

[KoDorSean]

Thanks kodorsean, I should be using advanced search! DUH!

Sounds like I have a year to decide anyway. Right?

Yes you have a year to decide..

 

[sockeye]

Thanks, just read all the links and me thinks i will get AC before the year is up. (I will remind myself on ical) forgot about student discount! $184 better!

Is Buying MYSELF a mac on MOTHERS DAY WRONG???

(OK I'll cook breakfast honey!)

 

[Ninjab3ar]

Thanks, just read all the links and me thinks i will get AC before the year is up. (I will remind myself on ical) forgot about student discount! $184 better!

Is Buying MYSELF a mac on MOTHERS DAY WRONG???

(OK I'll cook breakfast honey!)

Not if you're a mother

 

[Kash]

Here's a hand for an Apple user with zero problems

 

[sockeye]

THEY DO EXIST!!!! Thanks for weighing in kash, I guess i am being a half empty person insted of half full........

 

[KoDorSean]

I guess for me it comes down to peace of mind.. If I am going to spend $1000+ on something I want to know if something goes wrong with it I am covered.. I have never heard of someone say "wow I am really glad I passed on applecare, that repair they did on my mac was really cheap".

 

[MacMania55]

I personally bought apple care with my ibook and i really didnt thinkn it was worth the money. When I purchased my current imac i didnt think twice about not getting the Apple Care. The people on the phone are very polite, but not very knowledgable. All they do is search for articles about your problem. I called them one time when first using my first mac, my ibook, because I didnt know how to right click. The guy actually had to look it up for half an hour. By the time he looked it up, I figured it out. If you want to buy it as a warranty go for it. I would't recommend buying it as a tech support aid.

 

[KoDorSean]

I personally bought apple care with my ibook and i really didnt thinkn it was worth the money. When I purchased my current imac i didnt think twice about not getting the Apple Care. The people on the phone are very polite, but not very knowledgable. All they do is search for articles about your problem. I called them one time when first using my first mac, my ibook, because I didnt know how to right click. The guy actually had to look it up for half an hour. By the time he looked it up, I figured it out. If you want to buy it as a warranty go for it. I would't recommend buying it as a tech support aid.

I agree about the tech support comment. would you feel the same way about applecare if after 13months for some freak reason your motherboard went out and you had to come up with $1000 out of pocket to fix it?

 

[MacHeadCase]

I guess for me it comes down to peace of mind.. If I am going to spend $1000+ on something I want to know if something goes wrong with it I am covered.. I have never heard of someone say "wow I am really glad I passed on applecare, that repair they did on my mac was really cheap".

That's how I see it as well. You never know what could go wrong. We always went for AppleCare with my G4 iMac, my partner's G4 iBook and my iMac G5. Nothing has happened to either of them but this for us is just a safety net. And god knows how much getting a computer repaired costs if it has to come out of your pocket! Yikes!

 

[skye]

if you bought a portable, i would get applecare being that you are just carrying the macbook around more often. things happen. if your computer was just sitting on a desk, it would be less crucial to have it covered.

 

[Brown Study]

I never bought the extended insurance policy for any Mac I've owned — all desktops. And I never needed it.

But if I ever bought a laptop, I'd get the insurance without a second thought.

 

[Sachsr1]

My personal feeling is get the warranty on anything that is all in one like a iMac, Macbook, or any thing else all-in-one like a home theater in a box. These things are usually expensive to fix, and hard to find parts for. Also anything with a built in LCD screen like a laptop or iMac is going to be expensive to fix if the screen went out. I bought a laptop for $1100 once and a few weeks later broke the screen it was $900 to replace the screen. I know the screen wouldn't have been covered, because I caused the damage, but if it had just died I would have more then made up the warranty cost. I would not get the service plan on the Mac pro, because it is so modular, and you replace most parts for less then the warranty price.

 

[KoDorSean]

That's how I see it as well. You never know what could go wrong. We always went for AppleCare with my G4 iMac, my partner's G4 iBook and my iMac G5. Nothing has happened to either of them but this for us is just a safety net. And god knows how much getting a computer repaired costs if it has to come out of your pocket! Yikes!

My father has a 1.67ghz PB like mine with 1gb of ram. One of his memory slots went out and the only way to fix it was replace the motherboard. it was $1000 after parts and labor.. he sure was glad he bought applecare. Sitting on a desk or not you never know when something will just stop working for no reason what so ever.

 

[sockeye]

Thanks, kodorsean!!

Thanks for the links, If not for your links i would not have found out that if i use my credit/debit from my bank it will extend the warranty for a additional 12 months. I may still purchase applecare, but it is still worth using my card to buy my macbook. ( which did not happen today because of all the mothers day festivities, at least I won't have the guilt when I buy it tommorrow!!)

 

[KoDorSean]

Thanks for the links, If not for your links i would not have found out that if i use my credit/debit from my bank it will extend the warranty for a additional 12 months. I may still purchase applecare, but it is still worth using my card to buy my macbook. ( which did not happen today because of all the mothers day festivities, at least I won't have the guilt when I buy it tommorrow!!)

what do you mean?

 

[Sandwichman]

Some credit cards extend warranty on items you buy with them.