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Do most people get AppleCare with their MBP or MB?

K

ks-man

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 25, 2007
742
15
The question is pretty self-explanatory, but I'm trying to decide if I need to pay $350 for 3 years of AppleCare. I'm fine with a 1yr warranty but I'm concerned about only have 90 days of free tech support.

Do most people now feel that getting AppleCare is a requirement when buying a new Mac?

Thanks.
 
ks-man said:
The question is pretty self-explanatory, but I'm trying to decide if I need to pay $350 for 3 years of AppleCare. I'm fine with a 1yr warranty but I'm concerned about only have 90 days of free tech support.

Do most people now feel that getting AppleCare is a requirement when buying a new Mac?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Always. Its peace of mind.
 
I didn't. I'd only recommend getting Applecare if you felt you wouldn't be able to afford a new computer from the amount of cash you could save between now and a year, when the regular warranty runs out, plus the amount you could get back from selling the computer itself.
 
Well, considering that you can buy it anytime within your first year of ownership and you'd have to pay a fair amount of money for any kind of repair that might be required within that 3 year period, it is probably worth it. If you ever have a problem with the LCD, it would cost hundreds to fix.

The $350 would be like a cheap repair bill, but it would cover the costs of all repairs needed on your macbook/macbook pro over the next 3 years, not to mention increase the re-sale value of your mac if you decide to sell it before AppleCare is up.
 
I didn't get it when I bought my MB, however you can purchase it anytime before your 1 year warranty runs out. That's what I'll probably do.
 
If you have a problem in the first year that will probably be covered under warranty, but you are outside of the 90 day customer support window, do you have to pay for support at the Apple Store and then it would be refunded to you if it has a problem? If so how much do they charge for support?

Also is it for sure that you can purchase AppleCare up to the end of your 1 year warranty?
 
ks-man said:
If you have a problem in the first year that will probably be covered under warranty, but you are outside of the 90 day customer support window, do you have to pay for support at the Apple Store and then it would be refunded to you if it has a problem? If so how much do they charge for support?

Also is it for sure that you can purchase AppleCare up to the end of your 1 year warranty?
Click to expand...

According to the Apple Store sales person who sold me my MB you can purchase Apple Care anytime within your 1st year and 2 years of warranty and phone support will be added on. As of how much it costs for support when you are outside of the first 90 days, I have no idea.
 
ks-man said:
Also is it for sure that you can purchase AppleCare up to the end of your 1 year warranty?
Click to expand...

No matter when you purchase it in the first year, you don't get more than 3 years of warranty, dated from the day you bought the computer.
 
I should add this too. If you want to find it cheaper than what Apple Charges, check out eBay. There are plenty of Apple Care auctions on there. Just search for MacBook apple care.
 
Everyone has a different take on this issue. I decided to purchase it with my 12" PowerBook G4 and I am glad I did because it has paid for itself several times over. Some will argue that it is a waste of money and Apple makes a lot of people who buy Apple Care. Sure they do, but in my case it has really come in handy.

I am currently in the same position. I have a new MacBook Pro and didn't buy Apple Care on the spot. I will probably buy it this summer though. I like the peace of mind.

On another note the salesperson at the store who sold me my computer kept insisting that the extended warranty was an additional three years from whenever I got the warranty not three years total. Pretty misleading mistake on her part. She really pushed for me to get Apple Care on the spot and if I didn't know that you had a year to purchase it then I probably would have. Very misleading but I guess you have to be an educated consumer.

If you do get it be sure to check out some online retailers or reputable eBay sellers as it is usually cheaper.
 
ks-man said:
The question is pretty self-explanatory, but I'm trying to decide if I need to pay $350 for 3 years of AppleCare. I'm fine with a 1yr warranty but I'm concerned about only have 90 days of free tech support.

Do most people now feel that getting AppleCare is a requirement when buying a new Mac?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
I've never (15 or so Mac years) bought it, but I might, depending on how things go in the next year. LAComputer had it as of 12/7 for $235 for the MBP. If I decide to buy, I'll do it before the 1-year warranty is up.
 
i didn't im out of warranty and regretting it, but EU Laws state that there should be a minimum of a 2 year warranty on a laptop, but im trying to get my MacBook replaced... then i might buy it.

Paul
 
heatmiser said:
I didn't. I'd only recommend getting Applecare if you felt you wouldn't be able to afford a new computer from the amount of cash you could save between now and a year, when the regular warranty runs out, plus the amount you could get back from selling the computer itself.
Click to expand...

Indeed. Insurance (which is what an extended warranty essentially is) is meant to cover losses one wouldn't be able to readily replace.

Now, all that aside, OP, check your credit card company's policy. Many offer free extended warranty services. :)
 
After hearing that you can purchase it up to the end of 1 year my guess is I will probably hold off on getting it. If I have some problems in the first year and am outside of 90 days I would probably go ahead and buy it (since problems in the first year could be signs of things to come and then I don't need to pay for customer support).

I usually figure a 2 year lifespan for a computer (I'd like it to still work, but I'm willing to replace it after that amount of time). If for 1 year it has been working with no/minimal problems then I would probably gamble on the second year and have it be warranty free.

For me it comes down to I would be buying the extended warranty b/c of wanting more customer support rather than extending the warranty to 3 years. That sounds like a bad reason to spend $350 for AppleCare from the start.
 
Another way to look at it, is price compared to total price of your Mac. I bought a MBP with a few upgrades (I did not upgrade the RAM, I know better ;) ). The price of MBP is already hefty, that a few more bucks (I had it reduced through Student Discount) it really wasn't that much. If I were paying $300+ on something that was $1k or so...well, thats almost a third of the cost of the Mac.

Also, I bought an ACD at the same time which b/c of that was also covered in a single Apple Care, which is basically cutting the price by half (figuratively, its now covering two items).

All in all, I think if you're investing in a Mac, which we all know is a little more expensive than alot of what you can find out there (no matter whether its because of OSX or not) its a good peace of mind [as stated earlier].

Note: Your Mac should last you longer than 2 years, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised!
 
I didn't, but only because I bought it with my dad's American Express, which doubles the warranty. I figure one extra year of protection isn't worth ($280+tax, student discount included).
 
ks-man said:
The question is pretty self-explanatory, but I'm trying to decide if I need to pay $350 for 3 years of AppleCare. I'm fine with a 1yr warranty but I'm concerned about only have 90 days of free tech support.

Do most people now feel that getting AppleCare is a requirement when buying a new Mac?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
I thought AppleCare was an OK idea for my MacBook Pro, but not at $350. I bought it on ebay for $200.

Decided to skip Applecare for my Mac Pro.
 
I think the closer a system is to Rev. A, and the more portable it is, the better it is to get AC.

It sort of broke even on my Rev. A PowerMac G5.

It has done nothing for me on my final-rev 12" PB.

It got my Rev A MBP replaced with a new SR one a few months ago.

Overall, I'm ahead by a fair amount, but YMMV.
 
I didn't get Apple Care, because it's too expensive. I got the middle MacBook model for 1250 eur and the Apple Care package was 320 eur (about 470 dollars), that's a quarter of the entire price - way too much if you ask me.

I think Apple could offer better prices in this field. I just checked Lenovo and Dell extended warranties for expensive laptop models, Dell (XPS) charges about 250 dollars for 3 years and with lenovo (T61) you can even get 4 years of warranty for 230 dollars. If you compare this with the 350 dollars for the MBP Apple Care, you have a clear winner.
 
I bought apple care and I am glad I did.

Just after the 1 year warranty, my battery and my power adapter died. Got both replaced quickly through my university computerstore (under applecare).

Battery = 129.00
Adapter = 79.00

= 208.

I also got Apple Care through Edu Apple store = 240.

240 - 208 = $32 from AppleCare paying itself off. :) And a battery and adapter are both common things that fail amongst MBP and MBs.
 
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