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Mac Pro - always get warranty!

S

smogsy

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 8, 2008
592
2
My Mac Pro had Video glitches & freezing picture also mentioned loud PSU

Took it into Apple on Sunday at 11:00am

they done 24 hour Stress testing

Got a call on Tuesday about 18:00 saying it was ready.

They have replaced the HD4870 with a new one

they replaced the PSU with a new one

They Replaced the whole Case (they said it vibrated to much)

all in all im happy, it was only 5 months old after all.

however the cost without warrenty would of been awful

The Bill:
4870 - £279
PSU - £158
CASE - £124
Labour - £76
Total - £639

if you buy a Mac Pro Get Warrenty this is a warning to you all
 
surely, if this was visible within 5 months, then the standard warranty was pretty much OK?
 
true but if it happens again outside the year its pretty much paid for itself 3 - 4 times over.
 
I've personally never bought AppleCare and been lucky enough not to have regretted that decision. I've always repaired my own gear since I used to work at an Apple service center at my university, so I've never incurred labor costs.

Looking at parts, though: In the case of my white MacBook, the only component that would've cost more than the AppleCare was the display, and the probability of that failing due to natural defect (not physical damage) is practically nil. Even the logic board is cheaper than the AppleCare.

On a previous PowerBook G4 I replaced the hard drive twice and the AirPort card once. Still much cheaper than AppleCare.

If you're capable of doing repairs yourself, as I am, I don't see how getting AppleCare is worth it unless you're really worried about spending money on an expensive part beyond one year.
 
Looking at parts, though: In the case of my white MacBook, the only component that would've cost more than the AppleCare was the display, and the probability of that failing due to natural defect (not physical damage) is practically nil. Even the logic board is cheaper than the AppleCare.
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I don't know where you're getting your hookup for parts, but the typical cost of a replacement logic board on a modern Apple notebook ranges between $400-700 ($700-800 for a Mac Pro logic board), which is more than the cost of an AppleCare warranty. You also can't assume that every Apple owner is skilled enough to perform labor of that magnitude. If you're an average joe consumer, you'd be paying $100+ per hour for labor in addition to parts.

Buying any extended warranty is a gamble, sure, but some people have better luck than others.
 
CaptainChunk said:
I don't know where you're getting your hookup for parts, but the typical cost of a replacement logic board on a modern Apple notebook ranges between $400-700, which is more than the cost of an AppleCare warranty.
Click to expand...
I almost always buy refurb where I can. Logic boards are out there if you know where to look for them.

You also can't assume that every Apple owner is skilled enough to perform labor of that magnitude. If you're an average joe consumer, you'd be paying $100+ per hour for labor in addition to parts.
Click to expand...
Yes, that's why I specified that this only applies if you can do repairs yourself. Thanks to iFixIt and other sites, lots of people can now if they have some technical proficiency. I still recommend warranties to my friends, though.
 
Apple care is definitely worth it in my opinion. I'm no dummy with technical things and used to build my own PC boxes, but as someone said already here, getting the parts can be difficult and expensive enough (I don't know where to look)....Never mind the risk of making things worse.

I guess I'd think differently if I repaired Macs for a living. Meanwhile Applecare has paid for itself on every Mac I've bought, which is nothing really to shout about and doesn't speak well of Apple's QC.
 
Just talked to someone (as I just ordered a 2.93 MP) & he suggested procare. $99 a year with a lot more perks. I'll probably opt for that near the end of my warranty. I think it's only available at an Apple store.
 
CCK said:
Just talked to someone (as I just ordered a 2.93 MP) & he suggested procare. $99 a year with a lot more perks. I'll probably opt for that near the end of my warranty. I think it's only available at an Apple store.
Click to expand...

ProCare is not a warranty. It just allows you to make Genius Bar reservations in advance and includes a few other in-store perks. Your warranty will still expire at the end of your first year of ownership, even with ProCare.
 
phairphan said:
ProCare is not a warranty. It just allows you to make Genius Bar reservations in advance and includes a few other in-store perks. Your warranty will still expire at the end of your first year of ownership, even with ProCare.
Click to expand...

So I take it your saying that the procare is on top of the Applecare.

Thanks, He made it sound like it was a stand alone care, & the sales person at Apple couldn't give me any information about it.
 
Correct, you would still need to get AppleCare to extend your warrant to three years. I think ProCare is only worth it for a small subset of Apple users: people who know very, very little about computers and need help transferring files to their new Mac or people who are self-employed or small business owners who rely on their computers for their livelihoods and need the priority service and rapid repairs. This is what you get with ProCare.
 
The important thing to remember about extended warranties is that companies make money on them, which means that the average person is not able to take advantage of them. In fact, most people get absolutely nothing for them other than some peace of mind.

It's pretty well established that extended warranties are a poor investment. (If you don't believe me, do some research; there are plenty of studies that show this.) Most electronics will either fail very early (while under manufacturer's warranty) or will be good for years. Yes, it's certainly possible to have a failure shortly after the warranty expires, but it is not common.

Extended warranties are only worth the money if you actually get to use them, and most people don't (if more people did, they would cost more). They are a low percentage gamble.

And don't forget that the guy who started this thread didn't use an extended warranty, he used the original manufacturer's warranty. Yes, if those problems had happened a year later, an extended warranty would have been real handy. However, odds are the problem was either going to happen early (like it did) or not for many years (when the extended warranty wouldn't be valid).
 
I'm wondering if there's any point in buying Applecare- couldn't you get a replacement for faulty goods several years after purchase under the consumer protection legislation such as the UK's Sale of Goods Act? Anyone got any experience in getting a refund/replacement for out-of-warranty Apple gear under this law?
 
mchalebk said:
The important thing to remember about extended warranties is that companies make money on them, which means that the average person is not able to take advantage of them. In fact, most people get absolutely nothing for them other than some peace of mind.

It's pretty well established that extended warranties are a poor investment. (If you don't believe me, do some research; there are plenty of studies that show this.) Most electronics will either fail very early (while under manufacturer's warranty) or will be good for years. Yes, it's certainly possible to have a failure shortly after the warranty expires, but it is not common.

Extended warranties are only worth the money if you actually get to use them, and most people don't (if more people did, they would cost more). They are a low percentage gamble.

And don't forget that the guy who started this thread didn't use an extended warranty, he used the original manufacturer's warranty. Yes, if those problems had happened a year later, an extended warranty would have been real handy. However, odds are the problem was either going to happen early (like it did) or not for many years (when the extended warranty wouldn't be valid).
Click to expand...

I generally agree that most extended warranties are a waste of money. There are other factors to consider. I recently bought a $3000 refrigerator and the warranty was only $50 a year for three more years. I got it because it was relatively cheap compared to the purchase price of the item, and the mechanical complexity of such a device ups the chances of something going wrong, often with very costly repair bills.

But yes, most solid-state applicances these days need no extended warranty whatsoever. There is one exception though..

LAPTOP COMPUTERS!!

They are among the most hard-used and breakage prone items on the market today. I had a 15 inch MBP and it's logic board took a dump on me a couple years after I got it. My repair bill? There wasn't one. Applecare paid for itself. And frankly it paid for itself three times over, meaning I could get it for two more computers and break even IF I had no further problems.

But there is one more thing that Applecare buys you. Unlimited expert support for those three years. So while waiting for your computer to take a dump (but not hoping it will), you can get all the advise you could ever use for no extra cost from your own home phone. Try getting that from most electronics manufacturers!

You consider it a gamble, I consider it insurance. And you don't buy insurance because you think you WILL use it, you buy it because IF you need it can save you financial hardship or even destruction.

Yes it's less likely that the Mac Pro user will use it. But if you are a jet-setter or creative artist that carries his/her macbook everywhere you go, you'd be well advised to spend the extra money and KNOW that if your machine suddenly does not turn on one day, at least it won't cost you a dime to get it fixed. It's the cost of doing business.
 
I get extended warranty's on everything. This is because history has shown that I, bar none, seem to get the runt of the litter when purchasing stuff.

Mac Pro has needed to be fixed 3 times, iMac twice. Fridge (which should run forever without any problems), once. Blue Sky computer monitors, twice, Sony Rear projection tv, 3 times. Some ridiculously expensive hospital grade air purifier thing for my kid - I haven't been able to keep count. The list goes on. Extended warranty is my friend.
 
In general I agree with the idea that electronics tend to fail early or not at all, especially if they're solid state.

Computers are an exception to the rule IMHO since things like GPU's tend to be on the bleeding edge when they're released and can be unreliable as well as generating a lot of heat. This wouldn't be too much of a big deal with PC's but Mac GPU's of course come with the Apple tax. Laptops are even more prone as has already been stated.

I've had a logic board replaced on my MBP which would have cost a lot of money if I hadn't had Applecare and I was outside the 1 year warranty so it was easily worth having.

Apple design things well and their software is superb, but their build quality can be dubious. I wouldn't bother with extended warranty for iPods and such, but Macs definitely....They're too expensive to risk not having it.
 
Got my Intel Mac Pro 2x xeon 2,66 dualcore 53xx 6gb one in 2006, and it still runs, still quiet, and still kicks the a* out of the imac from 2009 for example.

No warranty besides the default. I assumed that the myths spread by winboys to be true and it would die after 2 years, requiring another 2200 euro purchase to replace it with a newer model, but it's a true proper server, running 24/7 and had 0 failures as o [connection reset by peer]
 
One of the great things about living in Norway is that ANY company selling electrical items MUST guarantee them for 5 years. Apple don't like to publicize this fact. If you take your out of Apple warranty, but bought in Norway, broken Apple product to a Norwegian Apple dealer, they will try to tell you that you must pay full price. However, mention the law to them and that you will take your case to the Norwegian Consumer Protection Agency(who have hounded Apple for years) they will fix it. No questions asked.

The mobile phone manufacturers who mainly make phones to last no more than 2 years max, took this case to the Norwegian court and lost.

Apple must comply with this law if it wants to sell its products in Norway.
 
My warranty was about to expire on my MP. Never had a problem, so it was a touch choice. Ended up getting the warranty.

One repair now and it will pay for itself and I would rather lose 200 than lose out on the Mac Pro later. I rarely buy warranties as well.
 
Nordichund said:
One of the great things about living in Norway is that ANY company selling electrical items MUST guarantee them for 5 years. Apple don't like to publicize this fact. If you take your out of Apple warranty, but bought in Norway, broken Apple product to a Norwegian Apple dealer, they will try to tell you that you must pay full price. However, mention the law to them and that you will take your case to the Norwegian Consumer Protection Agency(who have hounded Apple for years) they will fix it. No questions asked.

The mobile phone manufacturers who mainly make phones to last no more than 2 years max, took this case to the Norwegian court and lost.

Apple must comply with this law if it wants to sell its products in Norway.
Click to expand...

Just came across this post and as there is no way to personally contact I thought I would send the message here.

Hi Nordichund,

I am based in Oslo and am in this situation. I am about to take my iMac in and am sure they will do what you say... but I am unsure of my rights (being English in Norway for these aspects is a disadvantage!).

Can you confirm this is really the situation? I have not met anybody yet who believes this is the case.

Cheers
 
Warranties are peace of mind or piece of ass?

I have mixed feelings on Apple Care, I used to buy it religiously with every Mac but never claimed on a Desktop one yet. I did get a HDD replaced in a G5 iMac but that failed inside 3 months so was covered by the 1 year free one.

So Apple were laughing all the way to the bank with my money every time.

The last Apple Care I bought was for a 15" MacBookPro that the GF's son took to Uni. Boy was I glad that had one. The logic board fried at the two and a half year mark. One frantic drive to the nearest Apple store (60 miles) and we had a working laptop again. The bill was over £700 including labour, Apple Care took it on the chin.
Just about recouped all the warranty spend in one go....

Food for thought.
 
With my case its a firewire port that I recently found isn't working with a rather expensive mixing desk and has probably never worked since I got it. However it is over 1 year since I bought the iMac. Not sure I can afford the kinda sums being touted here...
 
Nordichund said:
One of the great things about living in Norway is that ANY company selling electrical items MUST guarantee them for 5 years.
Click to expand...

Don't pretend you aren't paying for that. In Norway the base Mac Pro is about $3700, as compared to $2500 in the USA. That's 50% more.
 
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