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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?

#71

Post by ericd »

arihant wrote: post #51
ericd wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Those replacements would be around $315 compared to $249 I paid for it. Also, more things can break. It also saved time. 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 i…

Eh? $250 is a 20% premium on 1200. $10-15 per month is not insignificant for a service you are likely not to need.

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.

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

#72

Post by Psyonic »

kyro wrote: post #29

Usually, I don't. But my brother a year ago purchased a MacBook Pro, and, thanks to a somewhat paranoid mother, was pushed to purchase AppleCare. A year later, we were typing away at some cafe, and his screen turned white and the machine let out a long constant beep. We tried restarting, clearing various types of RAMs, etc, nothing worked. We took it in to the Apple store and they told us something had randomly given…

I was going to guess it was the logic board. The 2007/2008 MBP's are notorious for that. Same thing happened to me and my friend, but we both had to pay $330 to get it fixed.

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

#73

Post by DenisM »

Repair rate is ~17% over three years. MacBookPro cost is $2000. Apple Care is $350. Simple math: statistically you're better off replacing entire laptop each time something goes wrong and selling the old one for parts.

The only exception is if you got cashflow problems, then yes you have to pay extra for being poor.

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

#75

Post by adam-_- »

drewcrawford wrote: post #59
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…

As a student, re-buying a MacBook Pro would seriously hurt my financials.

As a student, I wish I had bought AppleCare. I can now only use my MacBook Pro hooked up to an external monitor :(!

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

#76

Post by arihant »

ericd wrote: post #71
arihant wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those replacements would be around $315 compared to $249 I paid for it. Also, more things can break. It also saved time. 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 i…

Eh? $250 is a 20% premium on 1200. $10-15 per month is not insignificant for a service you are likely not to need. 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…

You're right. In my case, my battery was defective, it just blanked out one fine morning. :)

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.

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

#77

Post by chris24 »

ugh wrote: post #44

Yes. I buy AppleCare on eBay (at the moment 130€ vs. 350€ from Apple for a MacBook Pro). It’s not a scam, it worked twice for me already. 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…

Thanks for the awesome suggestion. At that price, AppleCare seems like a no brainer.

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

#78

Post by bphogan »

tumult wrote: post #48
bphogan wrote: post #30

I'm not making this up. Intern of mine spilled 32oz of soda on his mbp. He dumped as much out of his keyboard as he could but it wouldn't come back on the next day. You're not hiding that from Apple. His machine was on year 3 and had a few screen issues too. He figured he'd send it in under applecare and see what they said. They fixed it. Replaced the keyboard, replaced the screen, replaced the trackpad. No questions…

Someone spilled wine on my 4-month-old, AppleCare-covered MacBook while it was being used for a live show. It stayed alive to the end of the show, then immediately died. Apple charged me $800 to have it fixed. I had to have it repaired twice again after that (both of those were free, since the previous two repairs had been wrong.) During and after that, the battery failed and needed replacement four times. The last t…

I figured that my story was the exception. But I just went in to get a new ipad replaced due to a bad rotation switch and I watched as they replaced a macbook that had water on it (they tested it and said they could tell) and they also replaced a little girl's ipod that she dropped in the bathtub.

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 :)

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