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Ask HN: Mac users, do you get AppleCare for your Macs?

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Re: Ask HN: Mac users, do you get AppleCare for your Macs?

#31

Post by chaosmachine »

stretchwithme wrote: post #24
stretchwithme wrote: post #21

absolutely. And it has paid off royally. I've gotten my power plug thingy replaced twice and my hard drive replaced once and they also replaced the cracked keyboard surround thingy. Not a bad return for $250. 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 d…

mine has a problem with a plug that costs $80 to replace. and it happened twice and may even happen once more before apple care expires in 2 months

The mag-safe connector? Mine is going bad. Intermittent LED, and the cord is starting to fray at the connector. I had to tape it up.

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.

bad: http://imgur.com/TmRbu.jpg

good: http://imgur.com/9ciyo.jpg

Re: Ask HN: Mac users, do you get AppleCare for your Macs?

#32

Post by jakemcgraw »

Absolutely, here's my story: Macbook always had some minor overheating issues, it would act erratically or shutdown, I think this only happened two or three times in three years. I took it in to the Apple Store once, they returned it two days later and said there were no issues. Flash forward to a week after the Apple Care Warranty expires, full on overheating issues, keyboard stopped working, Finder was running incredibly slow, to the point where all the animations where in slowmo. I bring the laptop in, even though the warranty was over a week expired and Apple was legally in the clear to charge me ~$800 for replacement, they replace the entire innards of the laptop and overnight it back to my apt the next day. I have never been more impressed with customer service like that before.

Re: Ask HN: Mac users, do you get AppleCare for your Macs?

#33

Post by zacharypinter »

gte910h wrote: post #28
zacharypinter wrote: post #19

No. 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 thos…

I agree with you on all other warranties. I've seen Applecare, especially for students, turn out very well though.

Warranties seem to have a lot of parallels with gambling. People love to tell the stories about how they bought a $2000 television and the warranty saved them when it broke 1 year later. However, they rarely mention all the warranties they purchased and never used.

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.

Re: Ask HN: Mac users, do you get AppleCare for your Macs?

#34

Post by dsspence »

I've had the Mac Genius replace my first generation Intel Macbook Pro battery for free, 3 years later without Applecare. However, I also have this video problem that could have been solved had I purchased Applecare: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1697470&#3...

Re: Ask HN: Mac users, do you get AppleCare for your Macs?

#35

Post by s_m »

I got AppleCare on my 1st-gen MacBook Pro for peace of mind. Although I haven't really needed it since I bought it, I don't regret buying it: I didn't have a lot of money at the time, and if something had happened to the MBP I couldn't have afforded to replace it.

Re: Ask HN: Mac users, do you get AppleCare for your Macs?

#36

Post by ten7 »

Yes, totally get the AppleCare -- I've had to replace a main board in a PowerBook one too many times, and the total cost (without Applecare) would have been more than just buying a new one.

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-...)

Re: Ask HN: Mac users, do you get AppleCare for your Macs?

#37

Post by ericd »

arihant wrote: post #27

Yes. Got fan replaced twice, battery once, keyboard components once because of weird sound. Also, I check it in every month for general cleaning and service. 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, t…

Still doesn't necessarily make sense economically... most of those things are a cinch to replace yourself with a $10 electronics screwdriver set from Radioshack.

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.

Re: Ask HN: Mac users, do you get AppleCare for your Macs?

#38

Post by ten7 »

ten7 wrote: post #36

Yes, totally get the AppleCare -- I've had to replace a main board in a PowerBook one too many times, and the total cost (without Applecare) would have been more than just buying a new one. 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 tot…

One more thing, don't buy the AppleCare from Apple: there is actually a company in CA that sells the real deal AppleCare for less than Apple does by miles. See here: http://www.lacomputercompany.com/cgi-bin/rpcart/featured.cgi... (they are an actual company that I've bought all my AppleCare from and it works)

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.

Re: Ask HN: Mac users, do you get AppleCare for your Macs?

#39

Post by jeremymcanally »

zacharypinter wrote: post #33
gte910h wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you on all other warranties. I've seen Applecare, especially for students, turn out very well though.

Warranties seem to have a lot of parallels with gambling. People love to tell the stories about how they bought a $2000 television and the warranty saved them when it broke 1 year later. However, they rarely mention all the warranties they purchased and never used. 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 seriousl…

Maybe I'm cynical, but paying $80 for 3 years of coverage is a no-brainer for me.

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.

Re: Ask HN: Mac users, do you get AppleCare for your Macs?

#40

Post by ericd »

stcredzero wrote: post #9
brk wrote: post #3

I do, yes. I have used it a couple of times, it's worth it (to me) to have the simple peace of mind.

I used to be one of those who didn't. Now it is my policy to get AppleCare and a case for everything I buy from Apple. Why? Because items from Apple protected with a case and still under warranty have much higher resale value.

Ditto on the case. I once tried to sell a Powerbook G4 that had a big dent on one of the corners, when the going rate on Craigslist was ~$500. I couldn't find a buyer for more than 300.

The MBP that replaced it has lived its entire life in a case.

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