Ask HN: Mac users, do you get AppleCare for your Macs?
If so, do you find that it's usually worth it or is it just peace of mind?
My thoughts are warranties/insurance are the following:
* If having to repurchase/cover the item would seriously hurt my financials, then I buy it (car insurance, rental insurance, etc are good examples).
* For everything else, I skip it.
I figure that by self-insuring, I come out ahead in the end. Sure, there's always some gadgets that fail past the end date of the manufacturers warranty. However, replacing those items tends to cost less than buying warranties for everything. Besides, if they fail past the manufacturer's warranty, there's usually some improved version of it I've been eying anyways.
That said, warranties are not always bad. In the specific case of students, I suspect the answer to "If having to repurchase/cover the item would seriously hurt my financials" is different for their situation than it is for mine. As such, it might make perfect sense for them to buy the warranty.
I mean, heck, my battery died after 2 years of usage and they replaced it for free. As a result, I've already "made" $20 off of it, and that's without any major repairs (which I've definitely had them do under AppleCare before).
Of course, my machine and maybe my TV ($50 for 3 years) are the only warranties I've purchased. I think I agree with your philosophy, but I don't think that's ever stopped me from buying a warranty on nearly anything.
I'm purchasing a 15" MBP (with education pricing) as soon as the back-to-school sale starts, and I'm pretty sure I'll get AppleCare.
Gateway warranties on the other hand, took my last laptop for 4 months to fix it.
I generally avoid warranties completely. I seriously hate being asked for certain things, especially purchasing DS games (I've had cartridges survive washer/dryer cycles and being run over by a truck).
I've owned around 10 Macs in the last 15 years. Foregoing AppleCare has "saved" me over $2000, and the damage that would have been covered had I bought it is less than $500.
For example, I recently bought a comprehensive SquareTrade warranty for my Roomba because they priced it as a "vacuum cleaner", when in fact I know that the Roomba (a) an immature technology compared to most vacuums and (b) more likely to fall or be knocked down the stairs. I did the math and decided the odds of this thing dying or being killed in the first three years were greater than the warranty/purchase price ratio.
They fixed it. Replaced the keyboard, replaced the screen, replaced the trackpad. No questions asked and he had it back in less than a week.
I buy AppleCare because of that.
To this day, the laptop does not work correctly, even though every individual component has been replaced at least once. Also, they made a typo when setting the serial number on the motherboard, which I had to tell Apple each time I had it serviced, since it didn't match the one on my AppleCare plan (replaced a B with an 8.)
Of course, the laptop had been working fine until a drunk hipster dumped box wine all over it. I wish the repairs had been perfect and free, but they weren't. I've gone through a lot of Apple products over the years, and this is the only one where I've had problems. All of the ones before and after have been fine, and this one had been fine until the wine.
Anyway, this is just an anecdote. Don't expect your own fuckups to be covered under AppleCare. It's an extended warranty, not insurance. If the parent is telling the truth, then he's an exception, not the rule.
I think it largely depends on who handles the call. I agree that it's not an insurance policy. I was just sharing my experience. I know from past experience that with my bad luck, they would never replace my macbook if I dumped stuff all over it :)
I probably wouldn’t buy it for Apple’s price, but considering my screen was replaced twice, my mainboard once, my battery three times and my keyboard once it would have been worth it even for 350€.
(Would be nice if someone could explain how those eBay sellers can sell AppleCare so cheaply. Buying it in the US would bring down the price only to a bit more than 260€. Even if they manage to get a educational discount the price only goes down to 180€.)
Also, you can gauge how your hardware is holding up against new technologies that have popped up since you bought it. Perhaps you want to ensure the machine lasts at least 2 more years... perhaps you have your eye on something a little shinier.
Personally, the peace of mind that things will be handled when something goes wrong is worth the extra $50 for two additional years. Thats just $2.50 a week, even if nothing were fixed.
When they fixed my hard drive, they installed the OS and I restored my data from time machine and I was back in business.
Figure out what your time is worth after taxes and then figure out how much time you would spend just trying to assess what the best course is to handle a problem. That cost is gone when you can just hand it to Apple and they return it to you whole.
Seems like a bad design. I notice they use a completely different mag-safe connector on the 24" cinema display and on the macbook air.
yeah, that new design looks a lot more robust
In my case they have covered the repair of an iMac that broke a few months after their 'warranty' of one year expired. One of my interns, however, was refused support in a similar situation with a faulty PowerBook screen. His uncle, a lawyer, wrote some angry letters to Apple on his behalf, but if I remember correctly they decided that it wasn't worth the costs of going to court.
Fan, keyboard and logic board failures are very common with Macs. Just google and see. I'd suggest you get AppleCare. But don't buy it at the time of purchase, you can wait 11 months and buy, sometimes you might end up changing the machine in less than a year, then AppleCare would be worthless.
From iFixit.com, my model MBP: Fan - $50 Battery - $100. Keyboard - $85.
The logic board is probably a bit trickier, but I don't know how common those failures are (a Google search on any mass market device will show a lot of failures... .1% of a million is still 1000.)
For comparison, AppleCare on a MBP is currently $350, and covers an extra 2 years on the end of your complimentary 1 year.
EDIT: Looking at the absurd prices for replacement parts for a newer Unibody 17" (motherboard - $1000), I think it definitely makes sense there, unless you're the type to replace often.
If one has to do dollar-to-dollar comparison for $10/mo service, they aren't ready to buy a $1200 laptop.
Just because I can rip apart my laptop and can reapair it myself doesn't mean I shouldn't buy service which cover failure of it's components. That's like saying a doctor shouldn't buy medical insurance for his family.
Also, I was stating a case where 3 parts go bad on the laptop, which I think is pretty pessimistic - I've only had a fan go on my MBP, and that was under exceptional circumstances (my apartment was filled with very fine abrasive stone dust). It paid off for you, but as with all insurance plans, the odds were against it paying off for you, unless you are much riskier to insure than average.
Furthermore, I don't believe normal battery wear and tear is covered under applecare.
But I'd still press that some replacements for MacBooks are really out of proportion in terms of cost and one might regret not getting it. Namely - the logic board failures.
This could be an argument for Applecare, but it could also be an argument against buying a Mac.
However, several years ago, before Matasano, we bought Erin a G3 iBook which went on the fritz, and AppleCare got her machine not only replaced, but replaced with a G4. So, I've had good experiences with it.
Edit: Reading arihant's comment, I now remember that it was his logic board that gave out.
You should also get yourself an AmEx card and buy the hardware on it -- it extends the manufacturer's warranty (whether you get the AppleCare or not) by 1 year, i.e. with AppleCare you get 4 yrs total, without it you get 2 yrs total. And it doesn't cost anything extra. (Here'a a post I wrote about it a while ago: http://ten7i.com/content/how-buy-mac-pro-right-way-and-save-...)
You can also have the person in the Apple Store match the AppleCare price that they have if you're sceptical: I've done that without a problem as well.
The MBP that replaced it has lived its entire life in a case.
It's worth paying a little extra to help ensure my source of income doesn't go up in smoke (literally?).
If you're worried it'll die, and you won't be able to afford to replace it, scale back. you can add ram later, you can improve the hd later.
I think you'll get more peace of mind by doing some math. Computers are the tools i use for work, so i tend to buy new ones fairly frequently. The odds of me using any given computer for more that 2 years are pretty low. So, how much of a hardship would it be to replace that earlier?
If it's really a budget stretch, you might think about moving to the cheaper end of the spectrum. What if it gets stolen? applecare is no help.
Also, the first 30 days come with applecare. Usually if hardware is going to die, it'll die quick. Flexing the motherboard for years will kill a laptop eventually, but meh.
Not to mention the lost time. If you enjoy tinkering, though, I guess you might just handle the problem yourself.
* replacement logic board on a 15" PowerBook
* replacement top-housing and fan on a black MacBook
* replacement logic board on a 15" MacBook Pro
2 of the above cropped up after the initial warranty period and would no doubt have cost more than AppleCare. If it's a laptop and you intend to keep it well beyond a year, in my experience AppleCare is worth considering.
EDIT: Also had a power brick replaced on the 15" MacBook Pro due to a frayed cord outside warranty period.
This should be good enough for 2 years (1 Apple + 1 cc company). That's all you need anyways.
As about other stuff like tv, get third party warranty.
RevA Apple products are guaranteed to die right after year 1, in my (limited && anecdotal) experience. I had to take in my Rev A Macbook when they just switched to intel 5 times, got the bezel & mother board replaced. So, if you're getting an iPad now or new gen macbooks, then yes.
The only exception is if you got cashflow problems, then yes you have to pay extra for being poor.
If you still have your student ID, bring it along and get the educational discount on the Apple Care. 15" MBP Apple Care for $239 instead of $349 retail price.
Also if you buy with your American Express card, they cover up to an additional year of your original warranty.
My rationale is that laptops are more fragile than desktops so the extra protection is worth the expense. Its been 2 years now and I haven't needed it yet though :/
But afaik, you can purchase AppleCare anytime within the first year (and not just at the time of purchase).