Customer Reviews

AppleCare Protection Plan (Mac Pro) OLD VERSION

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

For someone who has ALWAYS rejected the notion of purchasing an 'extended warranty' on ANY product purchase as just another cynical method for American corporations to wring every possible cent they can from us as consumers, I must IN THIS CASE ONLY, urge anyone considering the purchase of an Apple laptop or one of Apple's overly priced Mac 'Pro' workstations purchase the Apple'Care' extended warranty. (I am NOT some 'Leftie' anti-corporation/conspiracy theory nut-case! I simply believe that if I purchase a brand new, EXPENSIVE piece of technology - be it a motorcar, a refrigerator, a digital SLR, a flat screen teevee OR an 'insanely kewl' Apple Product [god-Steve's own description of ALL his groovy Apple Products!] - then it is reasonable to expect these 'quality' products last longer than 60,000 miles or 1 year! Consider all the blah-blah about 'quality American products' we are berated with these days.)

Why Apple'Care'?
Consider this: I purchased a Mac 'Pro' quad-core workstation a couple of years ago. Within less than 9 months I began experiencing MULTIPLE hardware problems. Of course, when I took this gift from the gods back to an Apple Store - and by way of many, many lengthy conversations with 'product specialists' @ AppleCare - the 'geniuses' (at the Apple Store's 'Genius Bar'), and the technicians in the Apple Store who supposedly 'worked on' my Mac 'Pro' all advised me 'it's a software issue'. Yep. You betcha! And that most-likely 'it's a THIRD PARTY software issue'. You know, buggy code like that built into products dumped on the market by the likes of Adobe... (Say what?!)
The 'geniuses' solution to my (perceived) problems? 'Archive and Re-Install!' They could NEVER find 'a problem' running their tip top diagnostic software (ASD + they even 'beat it up' with an 'intense' chess game software title the 'geniuses' additionally-use when making an über effort to find the chink in either hardware or software and are unable to locate it by simply looping ASD for 24 hours or longer). If anyone has ever had to endure the gauntlet of 'Archive and Re-Install' you know that this option is the absolute LAST DITCH EFFORT one considers in order to make an OS play nicely once again with other software written SPECIFICALLY FOR that OS! (C'mon Apple! What's with all this smugness about how stable, how sophisticated, how kewl the Mac OS is?)

Well, long story short, I have the great fortune of being friends with a certified Apple technician; and unlike the 'geniuses' at the Apple Stores who just run software tests (because IT COULDN'T POSSIBLY BE A HARDWARE ISSUE - NOT a Mac!), my good friend is someone who will not accept ONLY the diagnosis of a software scan, no matter how many times you run it looking for a problem. Based upon my description of ongoing problems and with a series of screen captures I emailed him illustrating some of what I was experiencing, without even having the machine in front of him, based upon his years of experience working on Macs (and PC's) he advised me there were problems likely-with both the logic board AND the video card. (BOTH major hardware failures, both EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE elements for Apple to replace on their 'professional' top-of-the-line product, the Mac 'Pro'!)

*It took me an additional 9 months of wrestling with countless Apple representatives before the company (finally!) decided to replace the machine!* I will not bore you with the details. Suffice it to say, I have been a loyal Mac computer customer *over the past 20 years* and have decided I will NEVER purchase another Mac 'Pro' workstation! (These are Apple's 'professional' level 'workstations'. They are phenomenally overpriced for the quality of computing you get in my experience! When I originally bought mine, approximately two years ago now, I paid nearly $4000! However, because I STILL PREFER the Mac environment over the Windows OS I will likely purchase *an iMac* one day in the future and max it out w/RAM for the photo editing work I conduct every day. But never, ever again will I squander money on their so-called 'professional' equipment. And as a finer point, I own Apple computers ONLY. I will not purchase any of their other products, hardware OR software. Adobe does a much better job of designing creative applications, in my opinion.)

So, to come full circle, my advice to you, to 'get it' (AppleCare for one of Apple's workstations or laptops), is based upon the advice my Apple tech friend gave me early on: 'Just cough it up Mike. A couple hundred extra bucks for extended hardware protection MAY save you LOTS MORE in the future!' I could have never imagined how right-on his advice to me was! (And BTW, I continue to experience videocard hick-ups even with my brand new replacement, the 'Nehalem' box; AND this quad core 'super computer' REALLY DOES NOT seem anywhere near as fast ['blazing fast'?!] as one is led to believe by all the Apple hoopla on their site. Think I'm nuts about the 'quality' of these Mac 'Pro' workstations? Stop by DealMac from time to time over the coming months and take note of the TONS OF refurbished Mac 'Pro' 'workstations' the Apple Store is re-selling every now-and-then. Over the past year alone I have seen Apple dump hundreds of these 'pro level' refurb-machines that failed the first time out! Do your own research before dropping Big Bucks on one of these things! And if you have owned one of these machines for less than a year *purchase AppleCare before your initial 12 month warranty runs out*!)

This was my first order through PowerMax. Everything went incredibly smooth - I received my AppleCare box in the mail a few days after placing my order. As AppleCare is a warranty - there's really not much of a review I can write about it. It adds 3 years of coverage for a Mac Pro (and Apple display, if purchased together). If, for whatever reason, something goes wrong with my system, I'm covered.

Whether you should buy an AppleCare warranty is entirely up to you. For me, it was about peace of mind - knowing that Apple will be there to cover this production machine for years to come.

I have had the opportunity to use apple care protection with other products and found it helpful and essential.

It's a great idea to get this plan just in case. Plus it supports endless support calls and whenever I had a claim in the past, it was quickly resolved. Apple products are know for their high quality (so far) so hopefully you will never need to use it.

It often pays to get AppleCare, but be sure that you comply with the rules. For example: If it's for a display, buy it WITH the computer. Great product. You need it. If for nothing else, then for peace of mind if it's for that kind of investment. If it's for a Mac, or any other Apple product, congratulations.Apple Cinema 30-inch HD Flat-Panel Display

Another Mac (a Mac Pro that cost me $2700) just recently died at the ripe old age of 24 months. My choice was to spend $1,000 to "try" a fix and maybe another $1,000 if it didn't work or trash it. Was it the power supply unit or the logic board? We'll never know, it was trashed.

My previous models all died under similar circumstances.

Instead of selling extended warranties, maybe Apple should start selling better computers and stand behind their products. It's much better public relations than ripping off your loyal customers with overinflated prices on parts when something goes wrong.

I have been an Apple customer since about 1990. I am now very interested in learning more about PCs. Lots of people like them. Maybe they're good. I need to open my mind to the mainstream.

I rate this product one star because no matter how good or bad it is, you shouldn't need an extended warranty on a product that costs as much as a Mac. Anything as expensive as a Mac should be good enough to last 3 or 4 years without expensive repairs.