Apple Care Protection Plan

[george]

My G4 (mdd) is now eleven months old, come Christmas will be the option to take up Apple's option of extended care at a price. This far, all my queries and supposed problems have been answered by TS.
Do I need Apple Care? are there benefits that make it  worth while?
George.
 

[beacher]

My own outlook on that, George, is that if it's been running fine for a year, with no problems, that it will probably continue to do so.  There are exceptions, of course, but for the most part, if an electronic failure is going to occur, it will have done so by now.  Good luck, George!

[JohnKentucky]

If it was a laptop, I would have definately said yes. But like beacher said....if it's been running fine, I wouldn't worry about it.

[george]

Thanks Beacher, JohnKentucky....for confirming my own thoughts............from what I can gather from Apple all one gets is a sort of telephone talk you through whatever problem you are having, or have I missed something in the translation?
George

[Paddy]

I've only ever bought extended Applecare warranties on two Macs - my husband's Lombard, and my Ti. Haven't had occasion to use either (touch wood ). And you do get a bit more than just a voice on the other end of the phone - if something is wrong and covered by the warranty, it will be fixed free of charge. Of course, dropping a laptop is probably the most common cause of damage, and somehow, I don't think they cover that.

That said, I agree with Beacher. And Consumer's Reports for that matter. Most of the warranties just make mega-bucks for the providers of the insurance.

http://www.wral.com/money/1010783/detail.html

[()]

My iMac G4 is going to be 2 years old coming Feb. 2004.

I have had no problems with it at all and i didn't renew the service plan only because I never got the offer in the mail.

 

[Bbob]

I have bought AppleCare for two computers. The first one had no trouble. The second one had bad firewire ports (which I didn't find out for some time) and I had to send it in. Apple even sent the mailing carton and there was no cost to me at all, except losing the use of the computer for a while.

AppleCare is like most insurance, you buy it but hope you don't need it.

Bbob with a Cube

[george]

In the morning I'm off to Cambodia, Laos and Thailand for three weeks holiday I do thank you all for your comments (thanks Paddy for the Link) I'll make up my mind when I return.
  again.
George.

[dakota]

Worth every penny! Have a G4 whose fan would not quit even in sleep.  Had every part replaced, one by one, till the culprit was found.  Wouldn't have spent the money on all that - a new computer would have been cheaper!

[MamaMoose]

This is a tough call! I have bought the extended warrenty on all my Macs and several times I have had significant dollar savings by invoking AppleCare. I would not be without it although I know that Apple products rarely breakdown. I agree that the towers are much less susceptible than laptops. In fact my Ti  500 MHz laptop had significant case problems as the battery either wouldn't release or it fell out! Apple took it, repaired it under AppleCare and returned it under 4 days. Without AppleCare it would have cost me over $400 to have it fixed

When Ibought my G5 and my 20" monitor, the AppleCare package for both was only about 6% of the cost of bopth units. I felt it was a bargain! I know in these tight times, Applecare is a significant dollar cost for many folks. That's why i consider it a tough cal.

MamaMoose