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Is Applecare worth it?

D

Dunmail

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 27, 2009
224
4
Skipton, UK
I'm not a fan of extended warranties (as much for the miss-selling of them as anything) and have avoided them for my PCs and not had reason to regret it.

So is Applecare worth it or should I save my cash?

I'm getting an iMac BTW

Dunmail
 
Quality of Macs has fallen down so I think it's worth it if you're not planning to buy new computer every few years. At least you'll sleep your nights well.
 
It may be worth it to wait til your year is almost up. I gotta phone call from Apple about a month or so after my one year expired on one machine and he sold it to me for $30 less than the original (i think they wanted $169 in the store).

Is it worth it? I have found that in the last, I dunno, 20 years of owning macs that the small price to have phone help has been worth it to me. For the record, I have not had to use it for hardware problems or returns (knock on aluminum).
 
It's a bit of a dilemma. I say that because a friend of mine got his Mac fixed for free by Apple even though it was way out of warranty. The rational from Apple was because it was a manufacturing defect that never should have happened.

But nevertheless, it's probably still worth buying Applecare, if at least for peace of mind. For sure it should be from eBay at more than 50% off (I don't know how those eBay sellers can do it or where they get it), or Education discount. I probably wouldn't pay list price and would then rather take the risk.
 
txnoob said:
It's even more worth it if you can find a reputable seller on Ebay. Got AppleCare for my mini for over 50% off retail. However if you are eligible for education discounts, that reduces the price direct from apple.
Click to expand...

How do you know that you are buying a valid copy of AppleCare? Do you just go by the reputation of the seller and their rating?:confused:
 
I got it just because the imac is all in one. If the screen goes 18months after purchase you are done.


Mark.
 
It's not that is Applecare worth it - it's can you afford to have something fixed after Applecare expires...

With a logic board replacement costing almost more that the computer spending a few hundred dollars now might save you in the long run.
 
Only if it breaks.

My new G4 mini died after about 24 months of use (and I dumped a $50-$75 in parts trying to fix it) and was slightly ticked at losing $600 on a lemon.

My two intel mini's (one refurb, one new from a scam dealer) have eBay Applecare ($50 and $75) just to make sure they live to 3 years uneventfully.
 
Generally speaking, yes. Apple really should give 3 year warranty out of the box. It would make the already great products stand out from the crowd. Laptops and other all-in-ones would be safer buys with better warranty, currently only the pro desktop is "built like a tank"
 
JFreak said:
Generally speaking, yes. Apple really should give 3 year warranty out of the box. It would make the already great products stand out from the crowd. Laptops and other all-in-ones would be safer buys with better warranty, currently only the pro desktop is "built like a tank"
Click to expand...

I wouldn't even exclude the PowerMac/Mac Pro. Portables, Mac Mini and iMac are more common, but most people still run into various problems with the "tank" and share the same failures as the "affordable" models: PSU failure (most common from the calls I get), logic board (HDD bays). Mac Pro isn't priced like the consumer models, but they do share the flaws and are common.
 
rich.smith said:
Do you have any hard data to back up this claim?
Click to expand...

Can't find the article, but it's been discussed in a lot of tech blogs that Apple's failure rate is pretty bad, so yeah, I think quality has dropped a bit. I'm one of millions of users so it doesn't mean much but it definitely doesn't help apples failure rate that I had to go through 3 MacBook Pro's in less than 2 weeks before landing one that works with no problems/defects.
 
If you buy a Mac through the Education store you get 3 years parts and service warranty included in the price. However, can anyone explain wether, apart from the phone support, how this cover is different to purchased Applecare - do you get a better quality of aftercare if you purchase Applecare or is it pointless purchasing (unless you really require phone support) as the 3 year warranty is already included in the Education price.
 
Can I buy apple repair parts if it breaks?

I'm trying to decide on purchasing applecare too. To decide I'd like to know if service parts readily available for macs? I have no problem opening the thing up and would actually enjoy fixing it myself, but only if all the parts are available. Does Apple sell parts to consumers other than the obvious things like batteries, hard drives, and RAM?

If not, what is a good source for repair parts.

I own a macbook pro.
 
spcdust said:
If you buy a Mac through the Education store you get 3 years parts and service warranty included in the price. However, can anyone explain wether, apart from the phone support, how this cover is different to purchased Applecare - do you get a better quality of aftercare if you purchase Applecare or is it pointless purchasing (unless you really require phone support) as the 3 year warranty is already included in the Education price.
Click to expand...

That is UK-only, mind you.
 
I like that you can buy Applecare well after buying the product itself, and in some cases even after the warranty expires.

I had an older 20GB iPod that stopped working outside of the warranty, but the good over-zealous applecare reps called me a few times to offer it to me still, which I bought and used to repair the broken iPod that would have gone unfixed.

Last October I bought my 8 Core MP and will definitely buy Applecare later this summer before it expires. I plan to keep this thing around for 3-5 years after, I'll take any warranty I can get just in case.

I already utilized my warranty on the bad ATI card that came with my system.
 
Grimace said:
That is UK-only, mind you.
Click to expand...

I was looking all over the place for this, and yes, apparently it's a UK only thing. :( Looks like I still need Applecare... The ebay seller seems to receive quite good feedback from buyers.
 
GamaFu said:
I was looking all over the place for this, and yes, apparently it's a UK only thing. :( Looks like I still need Applecare... The ebay seller seems to receive quite good feedback from buyers.
Click to expand...

I called Apple after my purchase and confirmed it's legit. I wouldn't hesitate to buy.
 
I bought my Applecare for my MB from this seller and they are selling the iMac Applecare for $77. You'd have to be nuts not to buy it this cheap. It tremendously improves resale value down the road should you ever decide to sell and is great for peace of mind.
 
Agreeing with you completely on how they are miss sold, as i used to work for comet and, i never really used to offer it on pissy little things but on decent machines i would.

Especially this apple care, not especially for the hardware but mainly for the telephone support line. You ring up and instantly you get answered (well at least the 4 last times i have, the only 4 times i ever have infact) and they are very good and you can actually understand then (ie call centre is not in india *cough DELL*). I have actually had a fault with one of my macs, my iMac and that was simply the hard drive. probably some rubbish maxtor hdd that they used, i have never liked maxtor - every single one has broken on me
 
brop52 said:
I bought my Applecare for my MB from this seller and they are selling the iMac Applecare for $77. You'd have to be nuts not to buy it this cheap. It tremendously improves resale value down the road should you ever decide to sell and is great for peace of mind.
Click to expand...

For the Mac Mini, I opted for this seller, who for $65 ships the Applecare product in its original sealed box (there are only 2 left at the moment). It comes with a diagnostic tools CD and documentation, as well as the registration code.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mac-Mini-Applec...yZ111418QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
 
A few things to keep in mind about AppleCare and all other extended warranties:

1 - They are very profitable for the sellers. Meaning, that on average the sellers will pay out far less in claims than they collect in premiums. Considered purely on an economic basis, extended warranties are a bad deal. They will be a bad deal until someone decides to sell them at a loss. IOW, always.

2 - When someone quotes some astronomical price tag for a repair, especially one covered by AppleCare, consider that the price quoted is from Apple. This is important for two reasons. First, Apple is incentivized to quote huge repair costs which they "covered" because of your wise purchase of AppleCare. Second, service from Apple is always going to be the most expensive way to have a Mac repaired. Independent computer repair shops charge half or less than Apple does for the same repair.

3 - In the unlikely event that your $1,500 Mac craps out three years after purchase, how much would you logically invest in repair, if it wasn't insured? Would it not have something to do with what the computer was worth at that point, or how much it would cost to replace? Would you normally choose to sink $1,000 into repairing a computer that might not be worth even half that much? AppleCare alters this economic calculation, because in effect, you've paid in advance.

Bottom Line: Insuring against losses that you could easily afford to pay yourself if they occurred is a waste of money. Always has been, always will be.
 
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