Advice From A Genius: Should You Buy AppleCare?

AppleCare is pointless for European customers since our consumer rights cover manufacturing flaws for reasonable amount of time (minimum of two years for computers here in Finland). Find out your rights before buying AppleCare, you might be abe to get the same coverage without it.

I always buy AppleCare for desktop Macs.

My policy has always been basically the opposite. I've bought AppleCare for notebooks but never for desktops. My reasoning is that laptops get much more wear and tear through the course of normal use, so hardware is more likely to fail over the course of 3 years. For a desktop, if hardware hasn't failed early on, it's not terribly likely to fail between years 1 and 3. If a desktop ever needed major repairs in year 1, I'd consider adding AppleCare before the standard warranty ran out.

So far that policy has paid off in every case, with 5 different Macs. The two notebooks (iBook G3 and CoreDuo MacBook) had numerous problems requiring repair throughout the 3 years. Both died completely around year 4.5, so a 5-year warranty would have been even better. Of the desktops, I have a 1996 Power Mac 7600 that still gets booted into OS 8.6 once or twice a year, a 2002 QuickSilver Power Mac G4 that runs Leopard just fine, and a 2007/08 era Mac mini (refurb in 08) that's going strong with Lion now. In the last case, it's kind of annoying because I'd really kind of like a better machine to run Lion, but can't really justify it! :rolleyes:

Warranties are pure profit for companies. I completely agree with the comment around NOT buying AppleCare for iPhones and iPods. Think about it for the iPhone. You get subsidized upgrade pricing every 18 months. The initial warranty lasts for the first 12. Therefore you're adding 90 dollars of cost by purchasing AppleCare to cover 6 Extra months? Not to smart.

Not mentioned much in the article, but mentioned by some posters- for me, Applecare Phone Tech Support has paid for the contract so many times over I can't even count it.

Of course, it needs to be said that as of one year ago I had never owned a computer!:o

For the tech-savvy, phone tech support may not be much of a selling point. But for the technologically unsophisticated, extending free tech support from 90 days to three years is essential. If I remember correctly, after 90 days (without Applecare), each tech support call costs $50.00!! It doesn't take many calls to pay for the contract. And if you need as much help as I did (and do), the cost would be prohibitive.:eek: without Applecare.

And,of course, this does not even take repairs into account.

Given my technoboobicity (technoboobness?) -Applecare is a necessity. :p

I agree with the former genius' assertions on every level except for one: the overall VALUE of Applecare. While it indeed is a fantastic program that provides numerous benefits (I myself have had a 2008 white Macbook replaced with a 2010 MacBook pro due to malfunctions), the question that needs to be asked is whether there is any other warranty program that meets or even exceeds the price to coverage ration of AppleCare. To this end, the answer is simple: Squaretrade. This third-party warranty giant provides the same level of coverage that Apple provides against manufacturer's defects while also warranting against accidental damage. Apple may do a good job of protecting your MacBook, iMac, iPod touch, and iPhone against their own mistakes (which are few and far between), but they offer the consumer nothing in the way of protection against the bumps, bruises, and splashes of real life. If there is anything that could be construed as a consumer-facing mistake in Apple's business model, I believe that this indeed qualifies as one of their biggest.

For a pittance more than you would pay for AppleCare, you can get the peace of mind you want from Squaretrade. Their "online only"
interface may leave Apple owners longing for the face-to-face store interaction, but I believe that the practical will not notice the absence of blue-t-shirts and glass and maple surroundings for long. As someone who has experienced the ills and frills of both companies, I highly recommend them for the very reasons that this former genius has pointed out above.

I myself strongly recommend Apple Care. This is simply the best support I have ever encountered and that's from personal experience: I bought the first generation 11" MBA within days of its release, with Apple Care on top. Three months later I slipped on ice on a walkway and pretty much crushed the device - screen ruined, trackpad shattered, serious dents all around the case. This is not covered by Apple's warranty, but upon asking at the genious bar how much repair would cost me (without even asking if it was covered by Apple Care) I was told that considering that I have owned several Apple Products before and that I had purchased Apple Care for this device, they would make a one time exception and fix it "on the house". Now I have heard stories similar to this before, but a $900 repair (they have exchanged: Bottom case, keyboard, screen, trackpad, top case, flash storage), within a week and with no charge at all: I know it's "just" a computer / a computer manufacturer we're talking about, but still tear up today thinking about this incident. So yeah - this one definitely paid for itself. Multiple times. Try that with pretty much any other company..

hey, who gave me -1? let's be real here, this isn't so much news as it is just asking a guy what he thinks about warranties. i can do the same thing..

get apple care if you own an apple, if you want.

see?

I own quite a few apples, but somehow they always end up in my stomach.

I also worked as a technician in the Apple store and worked in training as well. I can say that one "hidden" benefit of Applecare is that is gives the Genius working with you more leverage to choose in your favor. Apple is first and foremost in the "people" business, making products for people, enriching lives of people and genuinely wanting to help - people. If you have a straight-up, warranty voided broken Apple device - and are still within your Applecare - it essentially goes to act like a "good faith" gesture that I've seen honored by LOTS of technicians to replace a device otherwise not covered. I would recommend it for a phone, ipod touch (classics and below will generally not break in the two year time frame anyways), or ipad - Apple TV can probably be skipped.

Also, their phone support is also beneficial for those with advanced abilities as well. I have called several times about advanced issues like enabling PHP to a custom document folder on my mac. Not that I'm trying to tech-wash, but if you have an advanced question, it's just a matter of escalation - someone CAN answer the question.

But remember, sometimes Techs and Applecare staff are NEW to their job, be wary, ask questions and recognize it is a PERSON talking to you as well, capable of mistakes, lack of learning or other.

I, too, was a Mac Genius for a time (many years ago). He is factually correct on all items. I still buy AppleCare for all Macs and iPhones (not always for iPods or AppleTV).

Apple is pretty liberal about AppleCare coverage and refunds. Some PC companies will sell them to you but you are 100% not allowed a refund (HP, notably). While Apple doesn't cover accidental damage, I think they are still the best at handling repairs in days rather than weeks. As for the genius bar, that's totally dependent on the store.

As a long-time Apple user, and Apple Certified Macintosh Technician, I ALWAYS recommend AppleCare for any Apple Device. I have it on my iPhone, and it easily pays for itself simply by getting the earbuds replaced, or to get the phone replaced because the screen goes crazy, or the SIM slot stops working.

TEG

If you're going to use the earbuds that ship with your iDevice it might be worth getting AppleCare, but my ears would disown me if I put those earbuds in them!