Took me a couple years and a couple laptops, but I finally dropped one just good enough to shatter the LCD. AppleCare doesn’t cover broke-it-yourself physical damage, only the deep center of the bathtub curve, so it’s basically pointless to drop the money on it.
Again, if you’re buying a Mac, save your pennies and don’t bother buying the Apple Care plan.
That’s horrible advice. It’s true that Apple’s warranty doesn’t cover situations like yours, and that truly sucks…but there are so many things that can go wrong, especially with a laptop, that it would be completely idiotic not to have a warranty.
AppleCare saved me a ton of money on my G3 iMac and G4 iBook, and on my sister’s iBook.
I’m sorry that you got screwed, but honestly, didn’t you know what AppleCare covered before you purchased it?
Without knowing what the “ton of money” you saved would be for, it’s kind of pointless to say my advice is horrible. For me, unless it covers the hardware completely, it’s a waste of money.
Hardware failure happens following a bathtub curve. A lot of shit is DoA, some shit fails in the first month of actual use (which is covered by the el-cheapo 90-day policy), then nothing happens for a long time, then things start to go because of old age after several years (well after your ACPP warranty is over anyways).
Three people, including myself, have had laptops get fucked once they’re up and running, and those failures have been because the screen gets destroyed during a rapid, uncontrolled deceleration against a floor.
Again, after the initial 90-days, they just run until you do something to them like spill liquids, drop them, modem + electrical surge, etc., or until they just fail of old age, at which point they’ve served their use and you buy a new one because it’s an old POS anyways. For Apple to blanket-refuse to pay for physical damage to the box on a warranty is bullshit.
SW says: Strongly disagree. Of course AC doesn’t cover doing-something-stupid-to-it damage– if you want that, it should be possible to add it to any decent house contents insurance policy (and probably for less than Apple would have charged you).
Over the ten years or so I’ve been using Mac laptops, the total cost of AppleCare has been less than the couple of major repairs I’ve required would have been. It’s a no brainer, for me.
Steve says: AppleCare has saved me several thousand dollars on laptop repairs over the past 10 years or so. It’s most definitely worth it.
(A car’s extended warranty won’t pay for repairs if I crash the car, why would you assume that *any* extended warranty covers accidental or malicious damage?)
The confusion stems from the fact that AppleCare is like the standard warranty included in most other laptops, while most other laptops offering a care package from the company that DOES cover this type of damage. Even though its from the manufacturer, its still supposed to be a complete insurance policy, just as my car insurance or house insurance. Adding it to a house insurance policy usually doesn’t make sense for this type of damage as the deductible is usually more then the value of the laptop, when you’re only going to be filing a claim for that one thing.
mibus says: I totally agree that AppleCare has its uses. Not for everyone perhaps, but I’m glad I put down money for it on my last Apple purchase (G3 iBook — went back for 5 – 6 repairs in total over three years, about half were the infamous logic-board issue).
I don’t normally get extended coverage on anything, but it was a worthwhile investment at the time (considering what I spent on the laptop).
I agree about apple care. I’d really love to have a real Dell-style extended warranty on my macbook, and I’d happily pay for it. Right now I’m dealing with a bent hinge from dropping mine, and replacing it would cost as much as a new one. My laptop is less than a year old. Laptops *need* real extended warranties.
If you reply to this post, your reply will go here.
If you link to this post from your blog, a link back to your post will go here.