what do you have to take to the apple store to claim warranty

You should not need any kind of documentation to prove your warranty. If you purchased your mac less than a year ago, you are still covered under the minimum warranty which covers 90 days of telephone support, and 12 months of hands on support. (Its on you to take it to the Genius or Apple Authorized Service Provider for the free support.)

If you purchased your mac without the AppleCare Protection Plan, and less than a year ago - you still have the option to purchase the APP here http://www.apple.com/support/products/

If you purchased your mac with the APP, but have not yet registered it, you can do so here http://www.apple.com/support/applecare/register/

Additionally, if you purchased your mac without the APP, and your minimum 1 year warranty has expired, you can then Pay Per Incident, and here is the pricing list for that http://www.apple.com/support/products/pay-per-incident.html.

- Jason

What are you taking to the Apple store? A Phone, iPad, iMac? I'd say your purchase receipt would suffice. As for "claiming warranty" - what is your aim? Having something repaired or returned? Not sure how it works with a phone purchased from, say, AT&T, but you can ask them when you get there.

You shouldn't need any documents. The date of purchase is linked to the sn in Apple's systems. Likewise if you have Apple Care on the product, it is also linked to the sn. I have never had to provide any documentation when requesting service.

I know that's the case if the item was purchased at an Apple store. Any time I've purchased something at a reseller, Apple had no record of it unless I registered it. In fact, I've had to "prove" the purchase already by faxing in a copy of the purchase receipt when they wouldn't accept my registration online. That happens especially if the product has just been discontinued and only resellers have some left over stock; therefore, the warranty has been started (Appl starts the warranty when the product goes to a reseller/store) so you need to prove that you just purchased it in order to have Apple honor a full year's warranty.

You should not need any kind of documentation to prove your warranty.

You generally need documentation for any product from any manufacturer to prove that you are within the warranty period. How can Apple know when you bought it if you didn't buy at an Apple store and haven't registered it? Resellers generally do not automatically initiate registration of products purchased. Here is an excerpt from the Apple warranty:

Before receiving warranty service, Apple or its agents may require that you furnish proof ofpurchase details, respond to questions designed to assist with diagnosing potential issues andfollow Apple's procedures for obtaining warranty service.

In most cases you do not need the receipt for warranty service if you purchased it from an authorized reseller, Apple will have the record of the date of sale. You can check the warranty status on the Apple website. Registration of the device has nothing to do with the warranty.

You are obviously dealing with resellers who inform Apple - I never have. I've purchased three different Macs over the years from three different authorized resellers. Apple did not have a record - the only record they had was the paperwork of that unit being shipped/sold to that reseller, but absolutely nothing regarding them selling it.

Case #1: Apple required (online) reseller to fax a form to them and it took 4 weeks before they recognized the date of purchase for the warranty. I required service during that time and was told I'd have to pay $49 (if I remember correctly) because I was out of warranty.

Case #2: I had to fax a copy of my purchase receipt to Apple (could not register it "out of warranty" on website.)

Case #3: Website actually accepted my registration and the Applecare - first time I did not have to send a fax.

Checking warranty status on the website for #1 and 2 returned absolutely nothing: "no record" until Apple updated their database based on the receipt of the fax.

So, to be safe, I would not show up anywhere without a copy of my purchase receipt. If it is not required, great; however, most of the time, it is by most stores or mfr's, so it's much better to be on the safe side. I would not recommend going without a receipt and then being criticized for giving the advice.

I've purchased from resellers and never had this issue one time.

What I would do before going is check the warranty status online before going.