Customer Reviews

AppleCare Protection Plan (For Portable Apple Computers 13.3 Inches and Below) OLD VERSION

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I used to work in an Apple Store. We were pressured to push AppleCare. I only took the job with the understanding I would NEVER pressure a customer to buy something they didn't need. They forced me to push .Mac just the same, but I made it clear to customers my heart wasn't in that disappointing product.

But my heart was in AppleCare. For two simple reasons: Apple gave excellent care, and frankly, you needed it. Look at Consumer Reports listings of product breakdowns, and you discover Apples break as much as PCs. As others will tell you, AppleCare is NOTHING compared to paying for repairs out of pocket.

But one day I got a customer who said something mind-boggling to me. He said, "I never buy AppleCare, ever." I'm like, why not? He said, "I unload my Macs on eBay one month before the year warranty runs out. This way, you're always running a new, zippy Mac, with the latest operating system installed instead of purchased." I thought that was a little kooky, but the more I thought about it, it was genius. For iMacs and Mac-Minis, no. because the AppleCare is relatively inexpensive But for laptops?

Brilliant.

Think about it. Like it or not, laptop batteries seem to go lame or dead by year two. Laptop prices also drop a bit each year. With a recession slamming against us, and Apple plainly stating prices will fall (a rarity indeed), put the pieces together.

Suppose you buy an $1100 Macbook on Amazon, right now. Word has it the line is going to be updated in September. So you buy it, and sure enough, new MacBooks pop into existence. Maybe an entry level one at 1050. So you sell your newish MacBook on eBay for $950. That means it will cost you $250 to upgrade to that new MacBook you didn't know you wanted. But $250 is the cost of AppleCare, and now you have a brand new Mac, new battery, and 1 year warranty.

Know what a new battery costs from Apple? Over a hundred. Know what the next operating system will cost, if you bought the box? Over a hundred.

Yes, there are a lot of ifs and buts in this process, and so if you can't sell your MacBook on eBay for a good price, or the price on the new MacBook doesn't drop: buy AppleCare. You have a year to buy it.

My laptop won't turn on after 10 months of usage. I brought it to the store and they shipped it for repairs. After this, I felt uneasy and bought AppleCare protection. I had to phone applecare and fax my Amazon receipt to get the plan bought from Amazon linked with my laptop.

Just after my 1 year warranty ran out, my hard drive died. Since I have AppleCare protection plan, I was covered, and I simply sent the laptop back to repairs. A couple of days later, I got a phone call that they would like to study my old laptop for reasons of failure and sent me a new, most recent model macbook. It comes with Leopard too! They also transfered the AppleCare protection plan to the new laptop for me.

So buying AppleCare was a very wise choice for me. I expect my laptop to last 3 years. After that, it is time for a new laptop anyway. I think I will buy AppleCare again when I buy a new laptop. It gives me peace of mind.

If you are accident prone, buying this might not be a good idea. If they see signs that the laptop has been dropped, spilled water on and so on, it is not covered by AppleCare. I don't think the accidents are covered by the initial 1 year warranty either. So if you are accident prone, and within a year or so, you are bound to have an accident, then buying AppleCare would not extend the lifetime to 3 years, and therefore is a pretty bad idea.

If you buy AppleCare from Amazon (or anyone other than Apple itself), you cannot register it fully online. The online form won't take the serial number, and tells you that you have to call Apple. When you do, they tell you that they will not process your registration until you fax them a copy of your receipt. They explicitly said to me "if you bought it from Apple, we would not require this".

Apple Care is THE warranty. Comparing to Best Buy or HP, Apple Care is the service that all computer users deserve. All repairs are done on site and much faster than from Best Buy or HP etc. I had my battery acting weird, I got it replaced for free after 14-months of having MacBook. I also had horrible buzzing sound when my CD Drive was spinning. Apple Care replaced the whole Drive. I love it. All other computer companies should take Apple as a great example. Definitely recommend getting it.

I have to disagree with the previous reviewer who said you have to fax in your receipt. I didn't have to do it and it's easy to register online. Here's what happens: You just go to www.apple.com/support/register. Then you put in the date you bought the computer, the serial number (easy to find by going under the Apple menu of your computer to About This Mac, then More Info) and then you input the registration code that comes on a piece of paper in the Protection Plan box. That's it. No faxing required.

The box also contains a disk with a diagnostic program that you can install on your computer. Or just remember where the disk is because if you have a problem, the Apple Support folks might ask you to run it. (The program can do some minor first-aid work, too.)

Apple Support is excellent; of course, it better be because you're paying good money for it. With my last Mac laptop, they solved every problem, even some email connection stuff that they could've pawned off on my internet provider. And when my computer started acting up, they had me send in the computer (paid for by them) and they replaced the motherboard and returned it, all in less than a week.

I think it would be of most use to people who aren't really computer savvy because they'll help you through things like setting up email accounts, connecting printers and connecting wirelessly. That said, the Tiger operating system is such a leap forward that most people won't need tech support -- the computer itself is just amazing at solving connection problems for you.

So here's my bottom line advice, which I wish I'd taken myself: You're covered for the first 90 days for software and hardware help so I'd wait till about then and see how much you need it and only then, if I'm having problems, would I purchase it. It's simply too expensive and there's too big a chance you won't need it for you to consider this an essential purchase.

My 1-year warranty was expiring and so I ordered Applecare from Amazon instead of eBay or one of the many other on-line mac vendors. I joined Amazon prime and had it shipped overnight for $3.99. It arrived at the office and I registered my Macbook during my lunch at home in no more than 5 minutes. I had registered my Macbook when I purchased it new from Amazon, so the receipt was right there on-line.

I found no problem with the registration at all. The computer serial number can be found from the "about this mac, more info" screen and the serial number for Applecare comes with the product. There is no mumbo jumbo to worry about!

So simple, even a cave man can do it!

I plan to use Amazon Prime frequently!

I suggest that you always get AppleCare for Apple laptops. I had it for my Apple iBook and used it several times without any issues. Apple fixed my problems ASAP. The longest I went without my laptop was 2-3 days, but repairs were usually done the same day in about an hour.

They do not advertise this but if you are a student call Apple and they will give you a student discount. I only had to pay $183. Cheaper than Amazon!

There are a lot of debates as to the value of Apple Care extended warranties. In general Apple products are pretty reliable and such coverage is not needed. Ironically, right after I bought my MacBook and this warranty, my step-daughter's MacBook that didn't have coverage had a hard drive crash 13 months after purchase. Yes, I was able to simply replace the hard drive in her MacBook for as little as $120 with a new Seagate that had five times the capacity as the original, but I don't think the usual iPod-seduced Apple customer that shops in an Apple Store would venture through that effort. A hard drive replacement doesn't seem like that much of a financial hit, but if you ever Google "Dead MacBook" you will find lots of horror stories of people that didn't buy an Apple Care warranty that were offered $1,000 'mainboard' replacements from Apple to get their $1299 MacBook working again. Lots to consider if you are a new MacBook owner, but I think it's a good insurance policy from a company that seems to engineer and support their products well.

It was great to now that I could get such comprehensive protection for my new Macbook. The great thing I was able to get it 50 bucks cheaper on Amazon. However, I do feel that calling it a 3 year protection plan is very misleading in that it counts the 1st year of ownership in the 3 years. Therefore, it is actually a two year extended warrenty, go figure?. I still don't get it, but its still worth it to get the coverage due to the fact that anything and everything does happen to these delicate electronics.