Hi Moms, I have a new Mac computer and am wondering if I need to spend the extra $200 for Apple Care to cover any unforeseen issues in the months ahead. I purchased it with my last computer and never used the "free" support that comes with or had any issues. Since I'm familiar with Macs, I doubt I'll need technical support this time around, and feel like if I did need it, I could get it for less than the Apple Care price tag. But then if something drastically goes wrong, Apple Care covers some nice things... Would love to hear your thoughts if you're familiar with this topic and have insights. The computers are already so expensive I hate having to tack on this extra, but don't want to be caught without if it's really important to have. Kind of like health insurance...Thanks!
Call and ask if you can join up at any time. If the answer is yes, then don't join until you need to. Also, you should have free Apple Care for 3 months or so.
Yes it is worth it. No brainer for us. Epecially for the accidental coverage.
We have it on all our IPhones as well and have used it more than once.
We've used Apple computers for years for our little publishing business. We do have a great computer guy who comes out to do the very rare repair, but I don't think we've spend more than $200 total on any one computer, except maybe for one very old one that we added considerable memory to. That was manyyears ago, and I don't recall what it cost to do that.
I've been in computer resale for YEARS.
Look into 3rd party options for coverage, like Aon. It'll give you parts and labor coverage for a fraction of the price.
Vendors make all of their money on the warranty, banking that you'll never have to use it.
PS: for the poster below...you can't call to buy coverage if a unit is already defective. Just like insurance, if it's a pre-existing condition to the time of purchase, it's not covered.
Macbook air hard drive crashed after 1.5 years. $200 out of pocket. Now 3 months later the RAM needs replaced. $300 :( we chose not to fix this and are looking into options for a new laptop. Loved the MAC, but really disappointed with durability. We are very careful. When I looked online for troubleshooting seems like quite a few people have had similar complaints. In our case I wish we had applecare. Good luck.
If you wouldn't mind buying a brand new one in less than 3 years, then don't worry about it. If it will irk you to no end to HAVE to buy one in 2, then I'd consider it a wise investment.
Our first iMac was close to $2,000 (including the apps and printer AND applecare)... but when something went "oops" about 2 1/2 years into its life, (it suddenly failed to turn on for no apparent reason) I called them on the telephone (at like 9 pm on a Friday night) and they walked me through an attempt to fix a simple problem. It didn't work, so they made me an appt for the next day at the genius bar in a store nearby and I took it in the next day (on a Saturday around 2 pm). They saw me promptly in the store (which is saying something because they can be VERY busy without an actual appt) and did a quick look see--said it would require them keeping it as it wasn't a 2 minute fix. They called me on Sunday to say it was ready, good as new. No charge for ANYTHING. It was ALL covered under the applecare. Another 2 years or so went by, and it started sleeping on its own... my applecare was no longer in effect but I called to see what they said. I did take it in to see what they thought. They confirmed it was the motherboard, and I could either replace it (a good chunk of change, like $500) that would only have the motherboard under warranty for any future issues, or just buy a newer computer altogether ---which was really the best thing, bc even a bottom rung one was now WAY better than what I was then using b/c of the changes in technology during that period.
When I did, I replaced it with a new-to-me (refurbished) iMac, for slightly less than what I paid for my first one... with brand new warranties, and a whole lot "more" computer. That's what I'm on now. And yes I bought the applecare again with this one. It was worth it to me, for peace of mind. No problems with this one... but I still feel like it was money well spent.
My kids have ipods, and so does hubby... but I didn't get the applecare for them. They are way less expensive, so not as catastrophic if there was a problem.
hth
My macbook pro is like 5 years old and I've never had ANYTHING go wrong with it.. if you're clumsy I'd say get it, it covers the computer if you spill water or drop it but as far as factory stuff going wrong.. i've never seen it happen. My cd drive is broken only because I'm retarded and tried to force a CD in while there was already one loaded.. go figure.
I've never bought it for our Apple stuff. No regrets.
If it's something major, I'll just take it in to the Apple Store.
