Who has it? Who has utilized it? Who regrets getting it? Thinking about going and picking up a MBP tonight, and I’m wondering about the applecare option. I think of myself as a tech-savvy person, as I have dealt with PC’s for the past decade plus. I’m just wondering if applecare is worth it though. I rarely hear about hardware failures within the first few years on a Mac (or PC for that matter), and it doesn’t cover accidental damage as far as I can tell. Also, I faith in my skills to problem shoot to some extent due to working with my own PC’s and trouble shooting them. Is apple care for me?
I bought a G4 iBook in 2005 that is still going strong with its OEM parts. even used that for scratch live for a few years.
In 2009, I bought a 24" iMac and had no problems with it.
Last year, I bought my 3rd apple computer, a 13" MBP and I’ve had no problems with it.
I have all my information backed up on several different drives. So, if the worst case scenario does come up, I won’t sweat it. But, I have enough confidence in my gear that I don’t worry too much.
i wouldn’t bother they aren’t the best for iphones i doubt they would be for macs. I’ve had my mbp for over a year now and used best buys warranty actually instead of the applecare. But i’ve seen no issues arise at all since owning this beast haha.
Appears as if you can buy it anytime in the first year. I’m holding off on buying it for now. It’s just like any other extended warranty, rarely used and companies make a ton of cash but if on the 5th day of the 13th month your shit breaks you’ll be happy you bought it.
I bought it when I got my MB in 2006. And I used it twice, once for the area surrounding the keyboard that cracked, and again for the AC adapter (where the cord actually broke).
While many reply posts are true in saying you’ll likely never use it, I was glad I bought mine. Neither one of my issues had anything to do with the workings inside my computer.
I bought it when I picked up my MBP. Two months later my hard drive failed completely, took it in to the “genius bar” (Which is a stupid name because some of those fools are dumb as hell) and they had it replaced within three days. Luckily had a back up and was back up and running in no time. I don’t regret it, it was 300 dollars in parts and labor for free.
Honestly when buying things to use for DJing - especially apple computers - I would definitely go to Best Buy or any other place that covers accidental damage. I’m not worried about my computer crapping out or having internal problems. I am worried about the drunk chick who is about to spill her drink all over my laptop.
I got 3rd party warranty, (ie store warranty). Cost me about 8% of the price of my MBP. I had to use it once to fix a problem with the trackpad not working. So I guess I made use of it.
Its insurance. If you need it you’re glad to have payed for it. If you never get to use it, then you think its a waste of money. The whole system is designed so that overall you lose out and they make a profit.
I buy it on big ticket items because I’m not a habitual saver and therefore, don’t always have money for repairs.
No. That’s why I bought mine from Best Buy. Best Buy’s coverage does do that. I used to use Square Trade for my old cell phone and they are very very good as well, however for things such as Laptops with my hard drive and what not in there I would rather have a physical location to go to and figure out what the best solution for my problem is.
10 out of 10 times I will always buy the full protection from Best Buy for my electronics. Granted I believe for my laptop it was about $450 for 3 year protection which is quite a bit of money, but it is worth every penny.
[quote]However does applecare cover accidental damage i.e someone spilling a drink??
[/quote]
Not a chance .. some household insurance policy’s will however cover laptops (and other equipment) for accidental damage WHILE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE.
I had my mate’s insurance company pay out the cost of a new Alu Macbook pro when he dropped his Powerbook G4 12’ and the heat sink was completely bent up and fried his logic board.
Reason: Cost of original ($1800) Vs cost of equivalent replacement ($1300) Vs cost of Repair (new case / new logic board / new optical drive) $900+.
He had to pay an excess charge of $200ish and could have gone for the white macbook at the time but he’s a flash b@$tard
Check and see if your already covered before shelling out on extended warranties, you might need to specify you have a laptop to the company.
[quote]Oh cool that would of changed my mind we dont have any Best Buy’s over this side of the pound
[/quote]
Guessing your from the Lil’ green Isle too ? … If so the policy was with Hibernian (others do it too though)
I decided not to get it. I couldn’t take advantage of the accidental coverage that Best Buy offers because I had to buy at the Apple store. I wasn’t forced to, but I got a discount of around $200 because my company has an EPP with Apple.
The way I see it… If you are going to spend X amount on a product, and the optional warranty is ~10% of the price of the product (and you expect to own and use said product for the term of the warranty), then it would be an okay choice to purchase the warranty.
That being said, there have been plenty of horror stories about BB’s extended coverage not covering certain issues for fairly weak (or often no) reasons… I have heard nothing but good things about apple care though (in that, they don’t try to weasel out of the warranty)…
It’s one of those things that, price notwithstanding you’d rather have it and not need it than not have it and need it.
All that said, I did NOT opt for apple care for my '08 iMac… Mainly because a) see above ($199 apple care vs $1299 iMac) and b) it is a desktop machine… it just sits on my desk out of harms way… Whereas you are constantly moving a notebook around…
A client of mine spent $5,000 on a tricked out Mac Pro… He asked about apple care… I just asked, $250 for a fairly hassle free 3 years of protection and support (apple care does include full 3 years of phone support) for a $5,000 purchase? Sometimes the answer is a no-brainer
it’s worth it if you ask me. i don’t think i’ve been overly hard on my mbp, but i still had to get a handful of things replaced that were luckily covered under warranty. off the top of my head i know i’ve gone through 2 logic boards and a hard drive. pretty sure there was some other stuff that was replaced at some point as well. shit just goes haywire for no reason sometimes, so it’s good to have some insurance for when/if it does.
When I took my old laptop in (pre Macbook Pro - so around late october 2010) a lady in front of me in line at Geek Squad had RAN OVER HER laptop and the dude behind the counter was more than happy to replace it because she had that coverage.
As for the dude who was talking about the $200 off from his company for buying from Apple - I believe Best Buy would’ve matched that, however i’m not sure.
I am speaking from experience as I have a 2 year old Samsung 52" HDTV in my room, and that I did not buy the protection plan on it, and it’s started acting up heavily - it’s going to cost me anywhere from $300 - $700 to fix. I wish I had bought the plan on that so right now I would not have been in this situation.
I will ALWAYS buy the protection. Always. 10 / 10 times. I will also always recommend buying it.
