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Question

go for the care plan or not?

Nov 4, 2011 2:51AM PDT

hi all,
have owned a MBP 13in 2010 model for nearly a year of more or less trouble free operation.
now that the 12th month is approaching i have to decide if i want to take the apple care plan.
the plan is not cheap - over 200 $ for most people, and 185 $ for students.
so, i am wondering whether it makes sense to spend this amount?
even if i do have some problems it would perhaps not take this much money to get the computer serviced etc.
assuming that i do run into common problems that such computers have
after say a year of ownership (mine is quite well kept btw) how much am i
looking to spend?
thanks!

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Try this.
Nov 4, 2011 2:55AM PDT

Get the cost of replacing some part. Even a trivial one and you find that it can easily top 200.

The plan is cheap compared to if you have to pay for the repairs.
Bob

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(NT) I concur
Nov 4, 2011 5:09AM PDT
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Answer
I'd say go for it
Nov 4, 2011 11:56AM PDT

I'd say go for it. I actually repair Apple stuff for a living, so let me just say that even something as simple as the trackpad going bad, once you factor in labor, can easily run just shy of $200. The trackpad is something like $50 cost, and then an hour of labor is typically in the $100 range. So even if they don't mark up the cost of the part, that alone is almost enough to completely pay for the APP.

If it's a display assy, or maybe the top case goes bad, then you're looking at about $200 for the part alone. If the battery goes bad that's about $120 cost, and if you think you're going to put some third party battery in there, expect absolutely no mercy if you ever take your system in for repairs later. They will automatically assume the battery is the cause, and since it's third party, you just voided even the OOW coverage. Ran into that one at work recently.

If you think there's a good chance you'll be keeping this laptop for at least two more years, or the better part of that at least, $200 is an absolute bargain. Like any kind of insurance, you always hope you don't need it, but are ever so grateful it's there if you do.

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Answer
Apple care plan or not.
Nov 4, 2011 1:12PM PDT

Macs are very dependable. I have had one since 1988 and only got a newer model to update capability. Never had a failure. Friends have the same experience. In general paying for an extended warranty for any product is not cost effective. Companies who offer such plans make substantial profit in the process. The price is related to the companies concept, based on a lot of experience, of their liability to make a profit.

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Answer
Apple Plan - Yes
Nov 4, 2011 3:12PM PDT

Frankly I wouldn't hesitate. I currently have 3 Macs (1xiMac & 2xMacbook Pro's), and have had the burner one Macbook replaced and the HD in the iMac replaced. Both these have more than paid for the Applecare Plan - and, whilst macs have a reputation for quality parts, things can go wrong, and it's great insurance. Hell, we have car insurance, personal insurance, health insurance - why not the worlds best computer insurance? Go for it!

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Answer
Apple cares plan or not?
Nov 4, 2011 6:33PM PDT

As we all know, there is an element of risk in most things in life. Weighing up the chances of something going wrong, the most likely failure(s), and the costs should be considered. I have owned a succession of Macs since the early days of Apple and have never bought their 'insurance'. There have been out of warranty failures but these have either been corrected at no cost by talking to Apple people, or I have undertaen the repairs myself. I am no expert when it comes to repairing things, especially computers, but there is a wealth of help available, and replacing a faulty hard drive, upgrading memory, etc., can easily be done by most of us with simple tools we already have. The replacement parts are usually available from places like Amazon or eBay at a tiny fraction of the Apple prices, and the labor cost is your time. I'll give you one fairly recent example. My five year old MacBook's hard drive failed. I ordered an exact replacement through eBay and consulted a fix-it website to undertake the replacement. My total cost (apart from my time, which was about an hour) was under USD50. Apple's charges would have been USD150 or perhaps more for the same thing. The hard drive I bought from eBay was an upgrade, but exactly the same one Apple would have used. If you are useless at using even the most basic tools, by all means buy the insurance; however, if you don't mind a little extra work (with all the help you could ever want for free), then don't waste your money.

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So what happens
Nov 4, 2011 10:35PM PDT

So what happens if say the MLB or display assy craps out on you? With the unibody MBPs, they designed the units "upside down" compared to pretty much every other laptop out there, and the display assy is designed to go on at a very specific angle for which AASPs have a special anti-static foam positioning block.

Swapping out a HDD or RAM is one thing, but have you ever done a full MLB replacement? Ever replaced the display assy on a unibody unit? It was enough of a PITA on the older style units, but without that positioning block, getting the display assy on/off would involve some rather risky maneuvering.

Not to mention, if you buy a MLB or display assy off someone on ebay or craigslist, who knows if they had any clue what they were doing when they removed it, so as to avoid ESD damage. For all you know it could be some ham-fisted moron who just grabs the thing anywhere s/he pleases. Then there's the fact that any third party board you buy will almost certainly have a SN burned into the EEPROM, so the OS will read that and report the wrong SN. You take it in for service, there's a decent chance a tech would notice the difference and then have Apple's people look up the original BOM for your unit, find out that the MLB SN doesn't match, and then come to the logical conclusion that you have done a major unauthorized repair on the unit and tell you they want nothing to do with it, kindly go away. Unless you want to pay full price to have the MLB replaced, which usually ends up costing more than the unit at retail.

If you could be guaranteed that only the HDD or RAM would fail, I'd be right there with you. Even the optical drive, though it's a little harder to get out. However, that's not a promise that can be made.

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So what happens....
Nov 4, 2011 11:02PM PDT

That is why I pre-empted my remarks with the word risk. What is the likelihood of an MLB failure as opposed to a HDD failure? I'd bet on the HDD going before any trouble arises with the MLB. And the other point, of course, would be to use a little common sense by vetting, as much as you can, where the part(s) come from by asking pertinent questions before buying, etc. I've never used Craigslist, so can't comment on how best to approach that source, but I have plenty of experience with eBay and being able to ask questions helps a lot in deciding whether to buy from that source or not. If there are no expert guides on line about how to repair/replace something, then it goes to the ones who should know what they're doing, and pay for that expertise. But what are the chances of failure of that component? A gamble up front is worth it.

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Answer
Insurance
Nov 5, 2011 1:04AM PDT

Bear in mind that the components of Apple computers can fail, just like the components of other computers. Over the years, Apple has replaced hard drives and logic boards for me. A couple of years ago I had an iMac that needed repairs repeatedly. When the AppleCare people suggested replacing the logic board for the second time, I asked the tech how many times they had to perform the same repairs before they declared the computer a lemon and replaced it. They immediately agreed to swap out my machine for a new iMac. I would have been up a creek without AppleCare. I always buy for computers.