Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Your opinions on apple protect plan for $193.00

A

Alag28

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 23, 2006
388
18
when i was buying my macbook the sales lady obv recommended me the protect plan for 3 years for 193 tax included (6%) i bought it but then when i got home i made a commitment to myself that im going to take good care of this machine and live off the 1 yr warranty. then maybe ill consider getting the protect plan before my 1 yr ends. therefore i returned it and got my 193 bucks back. (to buy my books for college..GREAT!)

do u think the protect plan is worth it for about 200 bucks on macbooks?
 
Personally, I think it is worth it. I bought it for my iBook and I have no regrets. Notebooks are more prone to failure due to the smaller components and the fact that they're always being moved around.

As you know, you are covered for the first year anyways, so there's no rush to buy it now.
 
For $200 I would do it. For $250 no. I didn't buy the apple care for my macbook.
 
You may wish to search for the many, many threads on AppleCare. One pops up almost weekly it seems. Probably every possible opinion on its value, pro and con, has already been said.
 
Alag28 said:
when i was buying my macbook the sales lady obv recommended me the protect plan for 3 years for 193 tax included (6%) i bought it but then when i got home i made a commitment to myself that im going to take good care of this machine and live off the 1 yr warranty. then maybe ill consider getting the protect plan before my 1 yr ends. therefore i returned it and got my 193 bucks back. (to buy my books for college..GREAT!)

do u think the protect plan is worth it for about 200 bucks on macbooks?
Click to expand...

Yeah, search. I would definitely recommend it for laptops, if something goes wrong there's basically no stress on your part, Apple will do eveything.
 
Yes, but it for the peace of mind. IMO anybody with a laptop should get applecare, especially with all the problems that have been popping up with the macbooks. you have a year to raise the money, just sock away like $20 a month for ten months, and then you can get it :D
 
Is it possible to buy say..a Macbook Pro. Decline the applecare, then 3 or 4 months down the road pick the applecare up for the SAME laptop you recently purchased?? Or, do you have to buy it at the same time you buy the computer?
 
JMies419 said:
Is it possible to buy say..a Macbook Pro. Decline the applecare, then 3 or 4 months down the road pick the applecare up for the SAME laptop you recently purchased?? Or, do you have to buy it at the same time you buy the computer?
Click to expand...

You can buy it at any time, as you long as you register the machine with the AppleCare by the time your one-year warranty runs out. However, the standard free phone support runs out after 90 days, so if you call them after 90 days and the problem turns out not to be covered by warranty, they'll charge you for the support. You can always wait until you have a problem (if you do have one) and then by the AppleCare and register it before contacting Apple to make sure your phone support is covered...it'll delay fixing your problem for a bit, but that's about the only downside to not purchasing it within the first 90 days.
 
Steve Jobless said:
is it possible to buy apple care with an edu discount AFTER the computer is purchased?
Click to expand...

yea..ANYTHING made by apple is eligible for edu discount. correct me if im wrong but yea..
 
i buy applecare for anything over $200.

my theory is simple: it's like insurance. would you buy insurance for your house, your car etc...? also, the cost of replacement parts might very well be alot more than $193. unless you're loaded and don't have to worry about cash inflow.

the 2 times i've needed to use applecare were fantastic. i had new parts at my door within 3 DAYS of my initial call/web request.

to me, it's great peace of mind knowing that I have a solution should anything happen.
 
AppleCare is great and definitely worth it..........
but not at the time you purchase your computer.

I always wait until I've had the machine for awhile to determine if I will purchase. That way I know if I like the machine enough to keep it for 3 years or if I plan on selling it and upgrading before the 1 year warranty is up.
 
Jovian9 said:
AppleCare is great and definitely worth it..........
Click to expand...

Are you sure? I've owned a large number of Apple products over the years. I didn't buy AppleCare on a single one of them, which is a darned good thing, since I would have collected zero dollars in benefits for the thousands I'd have spent in premiums.

Keep in mind, AppleCare doesn't even kick in until the second year. By the end of the third year, the product you've got covered is worth perhaps half of what you paid for it. Now, the AppleCare premium is something close to 50% of the replacement cost of the product. Not a good deal.
 
IJ Reilly said:
Are you sure? I've owned a large number of Apple products over the years. I didn't buy AppleCare on a single one of them, which is a darned good thing, since I would have collected zero dollars in benefits for the thousands I'd have spent in premiums.

Keep in mind, AppleCare doesn't even kick in until the second year. By the end of the third year, the product you've got covered is worth perhaps half of what you paid for it. Now, the AppleCare premium is something close to 50% of the replacement cost of the product. Not a good deal.
Click to expand...

This is a great point - three years down the road, while repairs will remain expensive, the cost to replace your broken system with a comparable system is MUCH lower!

Desktops, I wouldn't recommend Applecare. Laptops - maybe...especially with a student discount. Displays? Definitely - a 2000 dollar 30" display could use a 100 dollar protection plan.
 
I'm getting a Mac Pro from B&H Photo in NY,NY (who claim to be the largest Apple dealer on the eastern seaboard) and I'm not getting Applecare at this time.

If I was getting an iMac or a laptop, then I'd go for Applecare. For a desktop like the Mac Pro that is so modular, it seems I can trouble shoot much easier. This is my first Mac and I normally build Windows and some Linux based machines from the ground up. If you're comfortable with the hardware, then you could defer the Applecare until the end of one year or when needed.
 
2 points from my experience

1. Yes, you can buy Applecare anytime before the first year runs out. In fact, if you buy from Apple you will start getting calls the last month of the first year, trying to sell it to you.

2. In Oct 2003 I bought a 12"PB for my daughter and got the Applecare. In Nov 2003, it got dropped during travel and a dent was put in the (very soft) aluminum case. In Dec 2005 the HD failed. Applecare declined to cover the repair citing the dent (from 2 yrs before, but how could I proove that?). Because of the dent the machine is listed as out of warranty (and I guess it has been since it got dropped so I paid for a warranty I could never collect on). Apple charged ~325 for the repair. CompUSA will replace a HD for $29 plus the cost of the HD ~120-150

Bottom Line: I would probably buy it again on a lap top, but hold off the purchase until the end of year 1.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back