Does it make sense to get AppleCare now or wait until I get close to the one year point? Also, do most people recommend getting it? I bought an i5 iMac about a month ago. I haven't had any problems. I usually don't buy extended warranties on anything, since it usually doesn't pay and it is better to just stash that money you would have spent away in an emergency fund. However, I have been seriously considering it for the iMac since it is not as easy to service as a regular desktop.
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Should I get AppleCare now?
- Thread starter JayInNJ
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It doesn't matter when you buy it, you have until one year after your purchase date. It's unclear what the logic board problems are like on the new iMac's but the old ones made me think that buying Apple Care was a good idea. Generally, iThink that if you plan on keeping your computer for two years or longer it's a good investment in the end.
I'd recommend getting it from a third party like Amazon or L.A. Computer if you do.
I'd recommend getting it from a third party like Amazon or L.A. Computer if you do.
I'd say wait a little while, until we see what kinds of (new) problems start occurring with the new iMacs.
Just a thought.
Just a thought.
Apple Care in general makes no sense I will explain why.
If you bought your computer with a decent credit card chances are the manufactures warranty was doubled and if you used a premium card like the Amex Centurion or Amex Accolade(issued by BOA) or Amex Chairman(Issued by Smith Barney) then your warranty was tripled.
Most of the credit card companies in general choose not to fix items and just issue your account a credit for the full purchase price minus sales tax unless the repair is fairly cheap.
So you are basically getting for free a better warranty than Apple Care as Apple care is repair in general almost always. Even if you don't have a premium credit credit card like the 3 listed above your warranty will be doubled and chances are in 2 years you would want a new computer anyways.
I personally filed a claim with amex back on my old Imac 24' 2.26 dou in april cause of dead pixels. Amex had me goto to the Apple store get a quote on replacing the screen which Apple store quoted $1100. I faxed Amex the quote and Amex told me to donate the computer to a local elementary school and once I get that recipe to fax it to them and they would credit my account $1999.99 full original purchase price within 72 hours of the recipe. And they credited my account the next day and I went to Apple Store and bought a new Imac 24" 3.06 for the cost of the sales tax.
Apple would not have repaired my screen over some dead pixels even if I had Apple Care nor would have upgraded me from 18 months old computer to the current model.
If you bought your computer with a decent credit card chances are the manufactures warranty was doubled and if you used a premium card like the Amex Centurion or Amex Accolade(issued by BOA) or Amex Chairman(Issued by Smith Barney) then your warranty was tripled.
Most of the credit card companies in general choose not to fix items and just issue your account a credit for the full purchase price minus sales tax unless the repair is fairly cheap.
So you are basically getting for free a better warranty than Apple Care as Apple care is repair in general almost always. Even if you don't have a premium credit credit card like the 3 listed above your warranty will be doubled and chances are in 2 years you would want a new computer anyways.
I personally filed a claim with amex back on my old Imac 24' 2.26 dou in april cause of dead pixels. Amex had me goto to the Apple store get a quote on replacing the screen which Apple store quoted $1100. I faxed Amex the quote and Amex told me to donate the computer to a local elementary school and once I get that recipe to fax it to them and they would credit my account $1999.99 full original purchase price within 72 hours of the recipe. And they credited my account the next day and I went to Apple Store and bought a new Imac 24" 3.06 for the cost of the sales tax.
Apple would not have repaired my screen over some dead pixels even if I had Apple Care nor would have upgraded me from 18 months old computer to the current model.
Apple Care in general makes no sense I will explain why.
If you bought your computer with a decent credit card chances are the manufactures warranty was doubled and if you used a premium card like the Amex Centurion or Amex Accolade(issued by BOA) or Amex Chairman(Issued by Smith Barney) then your warranty was tripled.
That is cool. I think I will be checking the fine print on my credit card this very minute. thanks Dolmar
I never purchase the extended warranty on any of the toys I have as I have a good understanding of the Failure vs time "bathtub" curve for electronics. Others here dissagree and make stronge arguments as to why. I have been pondering my actions on this very point so this was very helpfull.
That is cool. I think I will be checking the fine print on my credit card this very minute. thanks Dolmar
This is interesting, never heard of it before. Gonna check my fine print too
This is interesting, never heard of it before. Gonna check my fine print too
Most of the prime borrowers card double the manufactures warranty ie all the Amex Charge cards ie Green, Personal, Gold and Platinum and even most of the Amex credit cards do like no annual fee blue from Amex doubles the warranty. Bank of America, Chase and Citibank on some cards offer a program called "Extended Warranty Manager" which says The terms of the original manufacturers' U.S. warranties (of one year or less) may be extended up to one additional year on most items purchased on your card." I noticed it tends to only be offered on a few gold cards but most Platinum Visa/MC, Signature Visa and World Mastercard credit cards offer this program. I did not see any sub-prime, regular or student credits cards listed on their web pages with that program.
Also I personally have never filed a claim on with on any of my Visa/MC before as I normally use my Amex charge card for big ticket purchases but I have filed 3 claims with Amex and they repaired 1 item which was a speaker that broke which cost $120 to repair which I paid $1k for and credited my account for a TV and a computer as both of those repairs were over 50% of the purchase price. So not sure what the cut off is for replacement vs repair but even if they choose to repair your item then you are no worse off over buying Apple Care anyways as that is repair only in general. You saved your self the cost of the Apple Care.
Also the info above is for US based credit cards, No idea if they offer these program overseas or not.
If you have a Costco membership, I highly recommend getting their AmEx which does not carry any additional fees on top of the Costco membership. You get a doubled (up to 1 year) warranty period along with 90 days of theft and accidental damage coverage.
I have made all of my big purchases with it. The only reason I would consider AppleCare is if I wanted the 3rd year of coverage. If you have both the AmEx and AppleCare, you'll get AmEx to cover the 4th year. (AppleCare = 3 years, AmEx = 1 year extension)
I have made all of my big purchases with it. The only reason I would consider AppleCare is if I wanted the 3rd year of coverage. If you have both the AmEx and AppleCare, you'll get AmEx to cover the 4th year. (AppleCare = 3 years, AmEx = 1 year extension)
Hate to break it to you but according to Amex web page your understanding of the program is completely wrong. You can call up 800-225-3750 to verify the info posted on the page to file to a claim if you log into American Express is correct. I quoted it for you below. So by buying Apple Care you basically void American Express coverages but end up with 3 years of repair coverage over 2 years of possible replacement/repair coverage @ a cost of approximately $150 for that additional 3rd year.
"Extend Your Warranty - Extended Warranty will extend the terms of the original U.S. manufacturer's warranty for up to one additional year on eligible purchases with warranties of 5 years or less, when the purchase is charged to the Card.1"
Then the 1 at the bottom says "One additional year of coverage by American Express can not be combined with any other extended warranties offered by insurance companie's, reseller's or manufacture's. Coverage is only valid for up to 1 additional year immediately following the expiration of the original U.S. manufacturer's warranty".
But good luck on trying to file a claim on the 4th year via American Express as I have a felling you got no chance in hell getting paid on that claim ever.
I second that. I heard about Amex doing this. I called citi platinum and They said they would do one additional year to the ORIGINAL warranty. Not the extended. I then looked into Amex and I could find nothing on them adding a year to the extended period.
If I'm wrong please tell me which Amex card I need. I'll get it. I just don't think there is one.
I'm in the US by the way
I do...
Yep, I recommend it. I don't see how it makes any difference when you get it - it expires 3 years after your iMac's date of purchase regardless of when you buy the AppleCare. I bought it with the purchase of my iMac (2007) and it will expire in August of 2010. If anything happened to it after that, I would have to weigh my options, with a 3 year old 'puter. Technology marches on and the beautiful aluminum 24" monster I bought 3 years ago is just a has-been now.
What I'm saying is, I'll likely keep this iMac until it fizzles, or until I can't stand it any more and get a new one. Apple Care is cheap at the price IMHO.
Rich
Yep, I recommend it. I don't see how it makes any difference when you get it - it expires 3 years after your iMac's date of purchase regardless of when you buy the AppleCare. I bought it with the purchase of my iMac (2007) and it will expire in August of 2010. If anything happened to it after that, I would have to weigh my options, with a 3 year old 'puter. Technology marches on and the beautiful aluminum 24" monster I bought 3 years ago is just a has-been now
.What I'm saying is, I'll likely keep this iMac until it fizzles, or until I can't stand it any more and get a new one. Apple Care is cheap at the price IMHO.
Rich
Get it within 90 days, that way you have uninterrupted phone support if you need it.
Also, always get it with an iMac. The repair cost on my white one was more than new ones (it was under warranty till this September, hence I have a new iMac again )
Also, always get it with an iMac. The repair cost on my white one was more than new ones (it was under warranty till this September, hence I have a new iMac again )
That is exactly what I will be doing. As soon as I get an i7 that works flawlessly and doesn't have any issues, I will order AC with my educational discount which makes it a no-brainer for me. I am happy I waited. If this next iMac is finally perfect, it will be almost a month since the first purchase. So if I had bought AC with the original iMac, while I could have transfered it to the new one, I would have lost a month of its use right?
Yeah, its based on the original machine. After all when they replaced the guts of mine they should have extended the warranty a few more months, let alone the two plus weeks it took to have it fixed.
You're right, I had misinterpreted it based on erroneous information given to me by a rep. However, how is the rest of the description of coverage completely wrong as you say?
Unless you're bad about actually adding it later if you want it, don't give Apple your money a year early!!
Wait until month 11 or something. No point to give them money early, and I haven't seen price jump in a long time on Applecare.
I also agree check prices at Amazon and the like.
Furthermore, educational gets substantial discount on Applecare, if you order at APple online store.
Wait until month 11 or something. No point to give them money early, and I haven't seen price jump in a long time on Applecare.
I also agree check prices at Amazon and the like.
Furthermore, educational gets substantial discount on Applecare, if you order at APple online store.
I say just get it now and get it over with. I bought it for my MBP and I haven't had to use it yet, and most likely never will in my remaining last year of protection. However, for the peace of mind, it is worth it to me. Mac repairs are $$$ if something goes wrong. Plus, Apple seems pretty generous when it comes to taking care of people with Apple Care. I know of several people who had problems and got their entire machine replaced several years into Apple Care. Sweet upgrade! Just do it!
If you live near an Apple Store, the phone support is quite useless (they can't do much on the phone anyways).
That said, you should see how well the computer works out the first year; if it's problem free, you probably don't need AppleCare and if any problems do arise it probably be small (like a failed fan or something) and it would have been just as cheap to fix yourself. The odds of the screen going out or motherboard having been stressed for a year is really uncommon [despite all the threads on it].
The advantage you get out of it depends on if you plan to sell your old stuff or you'll just keep adding up; if the former, the AppleCare will greatly increase resell value while with the latter, obviously AppleCare is waste of money.
I don't know about anyone else, but about 10 months into my year, Apple called me to remind me to get AppleCare.
Of course that was last year and since all the computer I've bought, I've gotten AppleCare with my machine [simply out of convenience].
That said, you should see how well the computer works out the first year; if it's problem free, you probably don't need AppleCare and if any problems do arise it probably be small (like a failed fan or something) and it would have been just as cheap to fix yourself. The odds of the screen going out or motherboard having been stressed for a year is really uncommon [despite all the threads on it].
The advantage you get out of it depends on if you plan to sell your old stuff or you'll just keep adding up; if the former, the AppleCare will greatly increase resell value while with the latter, obviously AppleCare is waste of money.
I don't know about anyone else, but about 10 months into my year, Apple called me to remind me to get AppleCare.
Of course that was last year and since all the computer I've bought, I've gotten AppleCare with my machine [simply out of convenience].
My general rule of thumb is to get it for portables (except iPods and the like) but to pass on it for desktops. Desktops simply to not incur the abuse that portables do, and the commensurate lower chances of failure make Apple Care less of a slam dunk. All-in-1 computers like the iMac do change that a little, and I know many more people getting extended warranties on All-in-1 just because there are built "more like a laptop".
As for waiting, if you're like me and wait, you'll just forget. If you have better discipline than me, and can remember at 11 months 29 days (or whatever) to go get it, then by all means wait. You might as well make the interest on the $250 USD (or whatever it is for your unit).
The only thing that might change it is if you are buying a mac mini and a monitor _at the same time_. If you purchase AppleCare immediately for the mini, it will cover the monitor also for the same price. I'm not sure that is the case if you wait. Myself, I wouldn't buy for a mini anyway, so it wouldn't really matter.
As for waiting, if you're like me and wait, you'll just forget. If you have better discipline than me, and can remember at 11 months 29 days (or whatever) to go get it, then by all means wait. You might as well make the interest on the $250 USD (or whatever it is for your unit).
The only thing that might change it is if you are buying a mac mini and a monitor _at the same time_. If you purchase AppleCare immediately for the mini, it will cover the monitor also for the same price. I'm not sure that is the case if you wait. Myself, I wouldn't buy for a mini anyway, so it wouldn't really matter.
Well it depends on how much you plan to stress your machine. E.g i've running mine for nearly 24/7/365 and long times with fairly high load as well. Heat increases the theoretical chance of failures. If you do the same i strongly recommand on getting apple care.
With interest rates the way they are now what would that be, like $2 over the course of a year at best?
One possible advantage of buying AppleCare right away is that they will not send anyone to your house for a repair unless you bought the AppleCare. Even if you are in the standard one year warranty period.
At least that's what the second level AppleCare guy told me today when troubleshooting an optical drive problem on my second i5. It won't mount a particular disk that mounts just fine on every other Mac I can get my hands on.
At least that's what the second level AppleCare guy told me today when troubleshooting an optical drive problem on my second i5. It won't mount a particular disk that mounts just fine on every other Mac I can get my hands on.