I figure I’ve saved more than the price of a new MacBook (counting interest and growth of money not spent) by not buying AppleCare. That said, none of my own Apple laptops (which are of course a scientifically irrelevant number) has ever required warranty service of any sort except for the case plastics of my PowerBook 5300 being replaced under Apple’s Extended Service Program for that model when the trackpad button broke at about the four year mark. Sometimes when you roll the dice you lose, which is why my provisional theory is not 100 percent fail-safe. The catch would be that Apple’s basic 12-month warranty on machines sold in June, 2007 has just expired, so technically folks who didn’t pony up for the extended AppleCare coverage could be out of luck if the issue crops up now, although my hope would be that Apple would do the right thing and exercise a bit of latitude as to warranty expiry with an obvious fault like this. used in the MacBooks and MacBook Airs.Ī MacNN report noted that AppleCare is said to be recommending logic board replacement as the fix, but that some who have had that done are experiencing recurrences. The root if the issue is speculate to be that the machines firmware is failing to properly identify these particular Pros’ GeForce 8600M GT GPUs and misidentifying them as the integrated GMA X3100 graphics chipsets. A topical exception might be a problem that some owners are reportedly experiencing with early Santa Rosa-based MacBook Pros, which were first released in June, 2007, with video failures, the symptoms manifesting after wake-up or a reboot, whereupon the computer may suddenly stop displaying video on either its built-in display or an external monitor. Now, I hasten to acknowledge that there will be many anecdotal examples of exceptions to that theory, but I’m pretty confident that my provisional dynamic would apply in more cases than not. My reasoning in eschewing AppleCare is that any catastrophic problem will likely either show up in the first year under the regular warranty, or be an affliction of old age after the critical second and third years of AppleCare coverage expire. My late 2002 700 MHz dual-USB iBook is a model that statistically has one of the worst My currant main workhorse, a 1.33 GHz 17” PowerBook (Apple Certified Refurbished), has been completely trouble-free since I bought it in early 2006. I purchased the Pismo used, but at the time I think it was just less than a year from the original purchase, and if so would have been eligible for AppleCare coverage. My 2000 Pismo PowerBook has never manifested any troubles save for two battery replacements, and has been extensively upgraded with a G4 processor, a larger hard drive, a SuperDrive module, and extra RAM. I just swapped in a scrounged processor daughtercard, and it hasn’t missed a beat since, although my wife finally retired it from active service last fall. #Applecare plus for macbook pro 15 bought online seriesMy 1998, G3 Series WallStreet did suffer a major component failure the central processor chip – at the three and one half-year mark, but it was easy and cheap to repair. It still works, although the original 500 MB hard drive is getting very shaky, and it’s really too slow for much except word processing and email these days. My first PowerBook – the 5300, served for seven years – in my daughter’s hands for about half of that. The processor failure in my WallStreet PowerBook happened at 3 1/2 years, and I’ve never even made a warranty claim under the basic 1 year warranty. True enough, but and so far I’ve had exactly zero problems that AppleCare would have addressed. #Applecare plus for macbook pro 15 bought online macI’ve bought four new Mac laptops in the past 12 years (plus several used ones), opted against purchasing AppleCare coverage with all of them, and it’s never been missed. #Applecare plus for macbook pro 15 bought online for macI’ve heard similar arguments made advocating the purchase of AppleCare for Mac portables since I bought my PowerBook 5300 a dozen years ago. My experience has been the diametrical opposite. However, I’ve found that almost every laptop I’ve owned has needed some sort of after-warranty work done, so I’ve ordered AppleCare for every one.” My MacBook Pro cost $2,800 (with tax and shipping) in November 2006, so laying out another $300 for AppleCare – well, frankly, it hurt…. TidBits’ Jeff Carlson wrote recently: “Every time I buy a new Mac laptop, I question whether I should purchase AppleCare to extend the warranty from one year to three years. Charles Moore: Is AppleCare Worth The Cost?
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