AppleCare Protection Plan

I have never bought AppleCare for a desktop (PowerBook is a different story). My experience has been that if my desktop displays no issues in the first 30 days it will be good for years - every one of my 6 personal desktop Macs is still in service - going all the way back to my 1989 SE/30. In all that time I've had 2 hard drive and one CD-ROM failure.

Since you are new to the Mac world there is one benefit to AC you might want to consider. You have unlimited calls to Apple during the 3 years for whatever reason involving both Apple hardware and Apple software. Under the standard warranty free phone service ends after 90 days except for issues or warranty covered repair.

As for the tech support after 90 days there is always the forums here
and other misc places too.

I feel pretty much the same - of course in my household we have a boatload of computers so if one goes down we can still get online.

Bad advice.
The first 30 days means nothing, as my G5 ran excellent for the first 5-6 months. Now, even after playing all the silly games of swapping memory, running disk utilities, wiping drives, to find out what's wrong, my machine is a piece of junk. Constant crashes and my only recourse is to take it to an Apple store. I'm 3 days under the one year warranty, but bought AppleCare 2-3 months ago, when the problems really started happening. Good thing I did, because I'm going to need it.

Same goes for my work machine (2.3DC); worked like a charm the first few months, now slow and cranky. Not as bad as the machine at home, but completely unnacceptable from high priced machinery.

The forums are great for advice and helping you know where you went wrong, but when you didn't go wrong and Apple did, they're useless.

Consider AppleCare a little more thoroughly. You have a year from the date you bought it to judge whether or not the machines is going to be a pain in the *ss.
-Vincent

Is the AppleCare Protection Plan really necessary?

Yes, it's highly advised to get it, even more for a first issue machine or if your a Mac newbie. Your bound to screw something up.

I always got it and a hard drive failure and a mouse dead more than paid for it.

I can see perhaps a Mini one might skip it because after one year if it died, $600 would be a bitter pill to swallow but not as devastating as a $4500 loss if the more expensive Mac burned up.

Risk is relative to each person.

I would seriously consider buying Applecare. After 3yrs my old iMac DV Special Edition developed a fuzzy screen. Tech attempted to replace the videocard and the motherboard twice. They decided it was easier to replace rather than to replace the display. They ended up giving me a brand new G4 iBook worth what I paid for the iMac three years before. I have also had to send in my daughters G3 iBook for repair. As much as I trust Apple products, Applecare is very good insurance for a worthwhile investment.

Another reason, these new machines are bound to have some bugs. I definitely would not purchase any new technology without Applecare.

Cheers,

G5 Dual 1.8, G4 & G3 iBooks, iPod Video Mac OS X (10.3.9) ACD 23inch

G5 Dual 1.8, G4 & G3 iBooks Mac OS X (10.3.9)

They ended up giving me a brand new G4 iBook worth what I paid for the iMac three years before

Sweet, free upgrade.

I've got Applecare on my Quad and PowerBook, haven't used it yet. But I'd prefer Apple not play this slimy insurance game, and just stand behind their product with a warranty which covers things for 3-4 years, which is a reasonable life expectancy for a computer.

Take a look at the consumer electronics industry. Dell and HP, for example, have dropped the 'standard' warranty on their entry level systems to 90 days with an option to pay for extended 1, 2, or 3 year warranty. Apple's 1 year warranty standard warranty, by contrast, looks pretty good - the killer is the 90 day phone support limitation. But actually the phone support can be the most expensive part of a warranty.

I've done phone tech support and the stories I could tell 😟 My role was providing support for an information system but I wound up fielding all kinds of problems that were, at best, peripheral to the software. The company I worked for charged for support accordingly - and it wasn't cheap. I know Apple faces the same problem - I have several students and former students who have worked for an Apple call center and they love telling me their best stories.

Given my own experience with Apple computers - both personally and professionally - I stand by my original advice. For a desktop AppleCare probably isn't necessary for most people. And if it turns out your computer is acting more like a lemon than an Apple, you have plenty of time to buy AppleCare later.

They've turned supporting their product into a 'profit center', and lumped hardware warranty with phone support.

I don't object to charging for tech support calls. I've never called. The cost of providing this service can vary wildly, and it's largely out of their control. But hardware warranty is different, the manufacturer's liability is relatively easy to model statistically, and directly related to how well they build the product.

They've turned supporting their product into a 'profit center', and lumped
hardware warranty with phone support.

IT and support departments 'drain' the bottom line because they are costs with no redeeming income streams. To a bean-counter the costs spent on these two departments are irredeemable and areas to be slashed to the bone. Of course the consequences for doing so can be horrendous but they don't show up on a spreadsheet, at least not right away. Extended warranties are a way of making tech support less expensive if not actually profitable.

Yes, I understand that, but lumping support and hardware warranty together doesn't serve the customer.

Yes, I understand that, but lumping support and hardware warranty together
doesn't serve the customer.

I don't see how Apple can realistically separate the two other than what it has chosen to do - stop free support calls after 90 days unless you pay more. Don't forget that Apple is selling the hardware, the OS, and iLife with every computer. When I call Dell and my question is obviously (or can be passed off as) a Windows question I am told to call Microsoft. Apple can't do that. What it can do is assume that most people will have gotten over the new computer jitters within 90 days and be able to handle most of the rest of their problems online or through friends.

For me, AppleCare is about hardware coverage, notice the price varies according to the hardware, though they all come with the same software. They have you over a barrel with things like $1000 repairs for laptop screens, can't even imagine how much for Quad G5 motherboard and CPU's, and no alternative market for these parts.

We can't know the numbers, but I'd be very surprised if Apple isn't making big bucks on Applecare, whereas a small price increase on all models could cover a three year hardware warranty. The cost of AppleCare includes a nice margin for resellers.

I don't see that there would be any problem offering a separate support package, but I feel the hardware itself should be warranteed failure for a reasonable service life.

This discussion may have veered over the edge as far as permissibility on this forum - sorry.

You know you can find excellent systems (and value) over in the Apple Store Specials section which are Apple refurbished.

As for when to buy a MacIntel - well, they are still working out the bugs in some of the existing systems - I would refrain for six months and give others a chance to field test/beta test the hardware, and to wait for more software to come out. And then, I would not want to HAVE to use OS X 10.5.0, not with new hardware and given it takes six months to flush out software bugs.

you can find excellent deals now on G5s. Whether you need PCI-X or want to go for PCI Express for the video and 16MB RAM.

Even with ACP, it is a good idea to have a fall-back system you can rely on if it does take more than 24 hrs.

And then there is how well you know how to troubleshoot hardware and software.

If you own a lot of windows software, MacIntel dual boot or virtualization should be interesting.