MP 7,1 AppleCare+

[Average Pro]

So, after 3 years of Apple Care, I get an offer to purchase AppleCare+.

I successfully purchased AppleCare+ for the Mac Pro (2019) and XDR Display. This was not easy. I ran into an initial error message followed by Apple Reps saying the XDR Display did not qualify. In addition, I ran into billing issues where Apple said the credit card charge was declined. It took several days, but thankfully it's done.

 

[avro707]

So, after 3 years of Apple Care, I get an offer to purchase AppleCare+.

I successfully purchased AppleCare+ for the Mac Pro (2019) and XDR Display. This was not easy. I ran into an initial error message followed by Apple Reps saying the XDR Display did not qualify. In addition, I ran into billing issues where Apple said the credit card charge was declined. It took several days, but thankfully it's done.

Yes, I had AppleCare+ payment issues when I had to do that for my 7,1 when I got it new. It took time but eventually all good. I had to work with them on the phone to sort it out.

 

[Average Pro]

I just realized that what I purchased is an extension of AppleCare+. In short, AppleCare+ (in the U.S.) is when you purchase a 2-year additional warranty, beyond the 1-year which automatically comes with the product.

I purchased a 4th year of AppleCare+ which I am so grateful Apple offered this.

Is there a way to change the Title of this Thread to AppleCare++?

 

[MisterAndrew]

AC+ is a great value for the 7,1 (and 6,1 if you still have one with it). They raised the price for AC+ quite a bit for the M2 Mac Pro, which is odd because the 7,1 was much more expensive on the high-end. A downside with the extension is that it cannot be transferred to a new owner like the original 3 year plan, but that doesn't matter of course if you plan to keep the computer.

The biggest downside is that if something goes wrong with the 7,1 where it requires multiple fixes for the same thing Apple will replace it with an M2 Mac Pro. It's also plausible they might do this depending how much particular components cost to replace. For example, the cost of an M2 Mac Pro may be less expensive than a high-end 7,1 GPU or a bunch of 7,1 RAM for Apple. Therefore, it may be that the M2 Mac Pro solely exists for warranty replacements. This makes sense when you consider the losses for 6,1 repairs were pretty high as it was overall unreliable, and then became higher when they replaced quite a few 6,1s with 7,1s. To reduce this type of loss they made a less costly Mac Pro that also requires less repairs (fewer expensive components), and also with the higher price of AC+ less people will buy it for the new machine which further reduces future loss.

However, it's a double-edged sword. The loss prevention strategy they took for the Mac Pro is a losing strategy from a profitability perspective because they ended up making a machine almost nobody wants to buy.

 

[mattspace]

Certainly in Australia Applecare+ is effectively just an accidental damage insurance policy, as pretty much everything Apple sells has statutory warranties longer than Apple's manufacturer warranty plus Applecare+ - eg a high end Macbook Pro has a statutory warranty of around 4 years.

I enquired about extending the Appecare+ on my 7,1 once it runs out in early 2025, and the person I spoke to mentioned it was only available as a monthly plan for the extension. Though, when you speak to a first level person at Apple, usually whatever they tell you is wrong.

Thankfully under Australian law you'd most likely have recourse to demand a refund rather than replacement, if Apple wanted to replace a 7,1 with an M2 model, on the basis that it would not be an equivalent based on your requirements.

 

[Average Pro]

Fortunately, I have not run into any problems with my Apple computers which required getting a part replaced. I purchased the AppleCare+ (+) because of the 24-hour technical support. This is invaluable to me. I easily exceed the amount I pay for the service.

Please note that the current AppleCare+ had to run out before I could purchase it on an annual basis. I will continue paying the annual fee until the time comes to replace the computer.

And...the price for the AppleCare+ (+) for the XDR monitor was almost twice as much as the MacPro. Strangely the MacPro costs more than the XDR.