Apple Care on MBA 11 inch, is it even needed?

[MrXiro]

Of all the Macs I've owned the only thing that's ever failed on me is the Superdrive (on 2 machines) and most lately the battery on my MBP... because I never let it cycle. I learned my lesson now. Anyway... what reason would i need to get Applecare? Batteries still aren't covered right?

What can go wrong at this point? And wouldn't it just be more simple to just pay for the repair later on?

If my measly 64gb SSD craps out it'd actually be cheaper for me to buy another one... or (hopefully) the prices will drop in the next year or 2 and I can get one of the many available replacement SSD mSATA stick replacements for cheap.

 

[nebulos]

and if the RAM goes bad?

or anything else besides the SSD?

... i'm not saying you should get it or not, but i don't know how much different it is than any other mac. in fact, i feel like the soldered RAM is one big drawback to the Air; bad RAM is usually a cheap, easy fix.

 

[MultiFinder17]

Honestly, any portable device should probably have some kind of warranty on it. Anything that moves around a lot has a much higher probability of being broken at some point in its life. The biggest things that have the possibility of breaking or wearing out on the Air are the battery, the hinges, and the trackpad. Just my $0.02

 

[MrXiro]

Honestly, any portable device should probably have some kind of warranty on it. Anything that moves around a lot has a much higher probability of being broken at some point in its life. The biggest things that have the possibility of breaking or wearing out on the Air are the battery, the hinges, and the trackpad. Just my $0.02

The hinge might be covered... but I don't think the battery or if I crack the glass track pad is covered right? Applecare only covers "wear and tear" and manufacturer's defects.

I've never heard of RAM going bad... but I guess that is a possibility... And that would entail a logic board change right? I do recall there is a flat rate for repairs... no matter what is wrong if you don't have Applecare. For my MBP it was $310 (they swapped out my logic board for the 9400m flicker issue and my Superdrive crapped out for 1 flat fee) is it the same for the MBA?

 

[Moccasin]

Is there any evidence/pattern yet on what are the common failures on the 2010 MBA? Its been in circulation now for 6 months but presumably shares many components with its older siblings.

I know the hinge was a weakness in older models but has anyone been tracking common issues on this forum? I don't get a sense of anything serious happening but clearly its still early days.

 

[J&JPolangin]

...with the whole thing being practically fused together, I'd get it = with any luck the applecare would net you the latest, greatest when it did break in ~3 years...

 

[MrXiro]

...with the whole thing being practically fused together, I'd get it = with any luck the applecare would net you the latest, greatest when it did break in ~3 years...

I don't see it breaking,that's the problem... with it being a "light use" computer, any breakage would be within the first year I think.

 

[wpotere]

I don't see it breaking... that's the problem... with it being a "light use" computer... any breakage would be within the first year I think.

Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it won't! My wife's MBA blew the hinges out in year three. They covered the repair... Then her display started getting stuck pixels and they covered that as well. It was well worth it to me.

 

[Trinite]

Hi,

Just a clarification question: how does the timing with Apple Care work? I've heard that you can buy it at the end of your first year, when the regular one-year warranty is about to run out. Is that true - and would that mean you can, essentially, get an extra year of AC? I'm a bit confused....

Thanks for any help!

 

[MrXiro]

No, Applecare "extends" your warranty to 3 years.

So essentially you are buying 2 more years no matter when you buy it. You just have until the last day of your standard warranty date to add it on.

 

[saintforlife]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

How much does Apple Care cost for the 13" Air? Also can you get it at a discounted price somewhere other than Apple?

 

[MrXiro]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

How much does Apple Care cost for the 13" Air? Also can you get it at a discounted price somewhere other than Apple?

http://www.amazon.com/AppleCare-Pro...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1306521918&sr=1-1

That's probably the only place I'd trust to buy it discounted. Don't buy off ebay... scammers sell you an applecare code without the box and then they return it to the apple store and void your warranty after you've applied it.

 

[altecXP]

RAM
Hinge
Logic board
SSD
A/C port
Any of the side ports
LCD
Keyboard
Wifi
bluetooth

All of those could fail.

 

[Trinite]

No, Applecare "extends" your warranty to 3 years.

So essentially you are buying 2 more years no matter when you buy it. You just have until the last day of your standard warranty date to add it on.

Thanks! That's much clearer....

Does anyone know how this works in Europe? From what I've heard, in the EU there's a mandatory 2-year warranty with most electronics (incl. computers). Would that mean that with Applecare you only get one extra year? Or two - and thus four total? That's hard to believe, but only one seems like a rip-off....

I've also heard that there have been some struggles over Apple's willingness to comply with these EU regulations. But I don't know anything more than that.

Anyone with European Applecare experience out there?

 

[MrXiro]

RAM
Hinge
Logic board
SSD
A/C port
Any of the side ports
LCD
Keyboard
Wifi
bluetooth

All of those could fail.

Yes I understand any of those COULD fail... but what are is the likelihood of it in the next 3 years? Those seem like the parts least likely to break... well except Wifi... I have somehow killed a Wifi card before.

 

[leftywamumonkey]

and if the RAM goes bad?

or anything else besides the SSD?

... i'm not saying you should get it or not, but i don't know how much different it is than any other mac. in fact, i feel like the soldered RAM is one big drawback to the Air; bad RAM is usually a cheap, easy fix.

Yea, bad ram = whole new logic board.

 

[bowlerman625]

Yep

 

[altecXP]

Yes I understand any of those COULD fail... but what are is the likelihood of it in the next 3 years? Those seem like the parts least likely to break... well except Wifi... I have somehow killed a Wifi card before.

THe point is it CAN happen, thats why there are extended warranties.

 

[wpotere]

Clearly you don't understand why you buy it. It isn't because you don't think that it will, it is bought just in case it does. We all hope that we don't have to use it but if it does fail, it will cost you a good chunk of change to repair and it will likely be more than the cost of the AC. Both of our macbooks have been in for repair over the years and without Apple Care we would have paid for it all or bought new machines.

Murphy's Law will prevail! You may save, you may not, time will tell.

 

[nebulos]

Yes I understand any of those COULD fail... but what are is the likelihood of it in the next 3 years? Those seem like the parts least likely to break... well except Wifi... I have somehow killed a Wifi card before.

we accomplished two observations here:

the air has no superdrive to fail, but has soldered ram, which if faulty, would require serious work to replace (logic board?). okay.

aside from that, the Air is no different than any other Mac portable and this is the same old Applecare question that has been discussed a billion times in the forums. so what's the point of this thread?

originally, it seemed like a genuine question, but now it seems like you're just waiting for someone to tell you you don't need it. people are taking the time to try to help you. you don't have to agree with them, but i don't know how much you're actually considering what's being offered. if you don't intend to have an open mind, or do your research, why waste people's time and effort?

p.s. you don't need it!

 

[ntrigue]

I wait no matter what until 11 months goes by then I sell or buy AppleCare.

 

[MrXiro]

we accomplished two observations here:

the air has no superdrive to fail, but has soldered ram, which if faulty, would require serious work to replace (logic board?). okay.

aside from that, the Air is no different than any other Mac portable and this is the same old Applecare question that has been discussed a billion times in the forums. so what's the point of this thread?

originally, it seemed like a genuine question, but now it seems like you're just waiting for someone to tell you you don't need it. people are taking the time to try to help you. you don't have to agree with them, but i don't know how much you're actually considering what's being offered. if you don't intend to have an open mind, or do your research, why waste people's time and effort?

p.s. you don't need it!

Actually I'm just making conversation and arguments based on my past experiences.
I'm asking for what other problems anyone else has ever had. I prefer hearing real stories over hypothetical ones.

I've done my research... owned many computers actually. Never bought Applecare but I have bought various extended warranties. This is my first Macbook Air, I'd like to hear some real life horror stories of what has happened to people's computers.

How is it wasting people's time? You can choose to come to this thread to discuss... or you can not... if the title doesn't interest you don't click on it. You came in because you wanted to see what it was about. If you don't care you wasted all of 30 seconds reading my response and you click back.

Simple as that..

And aren't forums mostly for time killing anyway? If you were super busy you wouldn't be on here looking at my question or reading my responses.

 

[MrXiro]

I wait no matter what until 11 months goes by then I sell or buy AppleCare.

Yeah I think I might do that... actually I might even sell it before the one year is up.

The other choice is Square Trade... but I actually enjoy going to the genius bar.

 

[nebulos]

Actually I'm just making conversation and arguments based on my past experiences.
I'm asking for what other problems anyone else has ever had. I prefer hearing real stories over hypothetical ones.

I've done my research... owned many computers actually. Never bought Applecare but I have bought various extended warranties. This is my first Macbook Air, I'd like to hear some real life horror stories of what has happened to people's computers.

How is it wasting people's time? You can choose to come to this thread to discuss... or you can not... if the title doesn't interest you don't click on it. You came in because you wanted to see what it was about. If you don't care you wasted all of 30 seconds reading my response and you click back.

Simple as that..

And aren't forums mostly for time killing anyway? If you were super busy you wouldn't be on here looking at my question or reading my responses.

i just had bad RAM replaced on a 2009 mac mini.

sure, i am just wasting time right now on the forum, but duplicate threads are annoying. this started out specific to the air, but then you just went off on some crazy, general crystal balling, essentially ignoring everything that was offered.

and sure, just like you are free to post either way, i am free to complain.

you may like to think everyone on here is 'speculating' very 'theoretical' potential failures, because you probably don't want to shell out $200 after getting such a good deal on it from Amazon, but the fact is computers fail. i don't know where you got the idea these things don't happen in the first three years. it's a simple matter of researching the question. in fact, people were trying to help you do that, but you didnt seem very interested after all.

 

[firewood]

Extended warranties are quite profitable for most businesses, including Apple. That makes Applecare a bad bet for the average buyer unless the product turns out to be far less reliable than typical for most Apple products (e.g. PowerBook Duos and 5300's). But I haven't seen any rumors of MacBook Airs dying in any significantly greater numbers than any other recent MacBook or PowerBook.