Applecare?

[shekki]

whats your experience with applecare? its pretty much extended warranty i believe...

how well did your macbook(pro) hold up? do you recommend shelling out this extra 2-300$ or would a new pair of s5000vx be a more justifiable expense?

graphic design program is requiring an apple laptop.

the school made applecare a requirement.

macbook v macbook pro, trying to make a decision on which one to get as well as decide if apple care is worth it

http://www.superfuture.com/supertalk/showthread.php?t=18310&highlight=macbook+pro

been looking through previous threads, so any further insight or experience with either mb v mbp would be much appreciated

[tangerine]

applecare is a good idea. go pro.

mac makes good products but they are only human; stuff breaks. and you get what you pay for.

[josephr]

always. apple laptops almost always break. knock woods.

[polishmike]

MacBook Pro without a doubt. Applecare is good if you're a complete computer illiterate or if you have a history of electronics breaking on you (idiot user syndrome). Otherwise it's a waste of money. Both MacBooks hold up pretty well and there are no major problems with them.

[alterion]

Always take the minimum warrenty on desktops and the maximum one on laptops

[pillow pants]

whats your experience with applecare?

Applecare covered $1400 worth of parts in my powermac that failed. I'll always be getting it now.

[case87]

I've got it for my G4 iBook but have never used it because I haven't needed to. However, my battery is pretty much shot now (my fault, shit's been running for like a month straight at some points...) now hopefully that can be taken care of.

Side question: anybody know the best way to clean a laptop screen? I've heard rubbing alcohol or vinegar on a soft cotton cloth, any other suggestions?

[the_state]

get the applecare. if say you're a student it'll cost a fraction of the regular price. its worth the $200+ in case anything breaks.

i bought a g4 ibook when they were released in '03 and ended up with a lemon. if i didn't get applecare i would've been screwed. i managed to trade mine in for a powerbook g4. it's 3+ years old and i haven't had one problem with it yet, but it's best to be safe when you're paying $2000+ for electronics.

[JTSO23]

I have applecare on my MBP but if I could do it all over again I would buy it from Best Buy and get their warranty. Their warranty covers accidental damage whereas Apple's doesn't. I take my computer almost every where I go so it has taken a small beating and has been dropped a couple times. It still performs perfectly fine though. My friend spilled his Naked Juice in his brand new MBP and Best Buy gave him a new one no questions asked.

[mizanation]

polishmike, are you serious about that? you have more experience with macs, especially broken macs, than anyone on this board, but you are saying not to go with the applecare...

[cuddlysheep]

nothing wrong with getting insurance. you do get 1 year warranty on your apple products on the day of purchase. fyi

[polishmike]

polishmike, are you serious about that? you have more experience with macs, especially broken macs, than anyone on this board, but you are saying not to go with the applecare...

I think Applecare makes sense for some people but not for other. Most of the new models don't have any defects that 'you can count on'. Back in the day iBook G3 had a logic board problem and you could bet on it cause it happened to almost everyone, iMac G5 also had a power supply problem and that hit many people as well as myself. I fixed it and it cost me less than the cost of Applecare, I'm sure you would be able to do it too. Since then there weren't any big problems with any models. If something happens to your laptop within the first year Apple will fix it. I go with the rule that if major things don't crap out within a year they won't at all. I think some people might need Applecare cause they just know that electronics will break on them. They just have so gift of breaking every possible device. So if you had 6 coffee makers in last 2 years I suggest getting Applecare

I know people who work for Apple support and most phonecalls they get are about printers being of of paper.

So at the end, no I wouldn't go with Applecare. There is a very small chance that you'll need it.

[sybaritical]

Sorry PM I disagree.

I'm not an idiot and I've always had mac laptops and I've always bought applecare and my macs have always had at least one major thing go wrong with them within the 3 year period that would have cost so much to fix it would've been cheaper to buy a new one . Screens and hardrives for instance.

IMO You buy an apple laptop, you don't even think about not picking applecare up with it.

[mizanation]

ok, that makes sense, polishmike.

being a computer engineer, i always fix anything that breaks on my machines anyways, so i've never needed to use the warrantee on a computer.

syb, do your screens go bad on your laptops? harddrives, i'm not worried about since it would probably be cheaper for me to get a new harddrive as a replacement.

[josephr]

not getting applecare is pretty risky, but if you wanted to be really cheap about it you can get it any time in the first year after you have the computer, so you can try to get a sense of whether or not it's going to be a problem computer. it doesn't always work though, i've gotten hosed so many times...should've always had applecare. i'm the kind of person who always buys insurance too.

also i've been a developer on the mac platform for a few years (advicecredcredcredcred)

thx

I think Applecare makes sense for some people but not for other. Most of the new models don't have any defects that 'you can count on'. Back in the day iBook G3 had a logic board problem and you could bet on it cause it happened to almost everyone, iMac G5 also had a power supply problem and that hit many people as well as myself. I fixed it and it cost me less than the cost of Applecare, I'm sure you would be able to do it too. Since then there weren't any big problems with any models. If something happens to your laptop within the first year Apple will fix it. I go with the rule that if major things don't crap out within a year they won't at all. I think some people might need Applecare cause they just know that electronics will break on them. They just have so gift of breaking every possible device. So if you had 6 coffee makers in last 2 years I suggest getting Applecare

I know people who work for Apple support and most phonecalls they get are about printers being of of paper.

So at the end, no I wouldn't go with Applecare. There is a very small chance that you'll need it.

[polishmike]

I think you we're very unlucky. I had wall over 20 macs over 10 years (including my closest family) and had only 2 bigger problems. Even for work (I fix macs and pcs) I don't fix many broken macs, it's mostly settings to make the life easier for each user.

Just out of curiosity, does everyone buy an extended warranty with their HP/Dell/Sony/IBM laptop?

[sybaritical]

syb, do your screens go bad on your laptops? harddrives, i'm not worried about since it would probably be cheaper for me to get a new harddrive as a replacement.

Yeah. the screen on my Firewire G3 went down completely about 3 weeks after the

initial warranty ran. without the 2yr applecare extension I'd've been totally sunk.

[mizanation]

i never get an extra warrantee on pc's because by the time something happens, i'm ready to upgrade anyways. macs tend to hold their usability longer so maybe it's a good thing to get applecare... i still have several months left on my 1 year warrantee...

[shekki]

i never get an extra warrantee on pc's because by the time something happens, i'm ready to upgrade anyways. macs tend to hold their usability longer so maybe it's a good thing to get applecare... i still have several months left on my 1 year warrantee...

yeha i feel like warranties are a bit of a ripoff... i dont think ive ever used them in the past, but considering how a mbp is like 2k$ it would kind of suck if it just died and i was SOL. thats why i was wondering what other members have experienced with their macs.

[dismalfuture]

My dad does something or other for Apple and has friends who do the servicing so I can count on getting set up for free usually, but I get caught away from home most of the time if my computers ever do break. Idon't know what happened but i had a 867mhz PB G4 12" a few years ago that suddenly died on me in finals week, post 1yr free applecare. I took it in and they said it was a flat rate of $365 to get anything fixed. They sent it off, came back a week later not fixed with a bunch of additional scratches and golf ball-sized dents in it that weren't there when i sent it off. Another week later they gave me a free 12" PB in the upgraded 1.5ghz spec. Fluke, but not bad.

I spilled a beer into my MacBook a couple weeks ago and took it in locally at the authorized repair center. Repair policy doesn't cover liquids obviously and they told me it'd be $1100 to fix it. Turned out just a keyboard swap did it, and they put in an English version for me to boot, and fixed the cracked cover too, all for $150. Not bad.

If the laptop repair policy is still the flat $365, I feel like Applecare isn't worth it. Macs have always broken on me in the late late years, around 3 years. My ibook G3 assed out on me but a new moboard and HD got it going again and it still runs. i don't exactly treat my computers very well, so i get what i give it.

[sybaritical]

Never paid a cent for any of my repairs after the £199 ( currently) that I shelled out for the extended warranty and service.

It's worth stating that all my major problems have occurred within three years of purchase date. I was using the G3 well into it's 6th year before I just decided to upgrade to a G4 when they dropped the prices in prep for the Macbook reinvention.

[shekki]

yeah, heres another thing...

do you guys always buy warranties on other devices as well? DAPs, Digital cameras? and any of you have owned a pc, is it any different from a dell, hp, vaio etc? i never bought warranty for my dell and although i may abuse it, something alwasy happens and i manage to fix it myself for much cheaper than it would have cost if i had gotten applecare.

another thing, how many of you have gotten the "new" macbook pros? the reason i ask is because I've heard issues with the intel "santa rosa" chip and it having issues while running photoshop. theres this problem where you will be running the app and it will just freeze or shutdown. or are there any more problems that i have not been addressed about

[polishmike]

I set up 12 new MacBooks Pro with CS3 as soon as it came out and so far only got one problem with the app slowing down. Reseting preferences fixed it and I didn't hear from them again.

My best friend uses Photoshop on her MacBook Pro every day and has no problems at all. I'm not sure if the chip was at fault with photoshop but these problems with freezing and shutting down were just single examples.

If you max out RAM you should be fine and remeber kids always back up your files

[notesee]

Mike .. recently my Macbook flashes an icon of a folder with a question mark over it every time I start it up.

Do you know what that's from or how to fix it by any chance?

[polishmike]

Mike .. recently my Macbook flashes an icon of a folder with a question mark over it every time I start it up.

Do you know what that's from or how to fix it by any chance?

Try verifying the permissions using the Disk Utility application, which is located in /Applications/Utilities. In Disk Utility, select the startup disk in the left column and click First Aid. Click Verify Disk Permissions to test permissions, or Repair Disk Permissions to test and repair them. Run Verify first and Repair second, this should fix it.

More ideas

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58042

[minimal]

My advice is that most major problems that are due to defects will occur within the first three months. You have applecare for the first year and you have until the end of that year to upgrade it to the three year. You don't have to make the decision now. However, because you are buying a laptop you should get it anyway. Because of their portability they are much more prone to problems. I've had lots of experience with applecare repairs and they have all been lightening quick and without hassle.

[poly800rock]

MacBook Pro without a doubt. Applecare is good if you're a complete computer illiterate or if you have a history of electronics breaking on you (idiot user syndrome). Otherwise it's a waste of money. Both MacBooks hold up pretty well and there are no major problems with them.

i know we've had this discussion to death, but every mac i've worked on/had friends with has had hardware problems. specifically with the logicboard. i'd say go for the applecare

[polishmike]

i know we've had this discussion to death, but every mac i've worked on/had friends with has had hardware problems. specifically with the logicboard. i'd say go for the applecare

Here is the best logic board repair ever

Most of them were under free replacement program but I fixed few of them with a heat gun and tin foil. I still have 3 dead ones sitting under my bed.

[hollaforadolla]

ive own 2 mac laptops with no problems what so ever on any of them. i never bought apple care but probably am going to once my current macbook pro's warranty expires.

[Kasper]

i can't believe apple care doesn't cover accidental damage as i thought it was pretty much always the case with laptop. i have no idea how can someone bring his laptop everyday with him for 3 years without dropping, spilling drink on it, etc. i have only had mac desktop so i can't really comment since i never had any problem with them, but i with my dell laptop, i had it fixed like 3 or 4 times (dropped it a couple time, broke the screen) and every time they just changed whatever was broken and never complained. since apple care is pretty much the same price, i don't see why they wouldn't cover accidental damage...