While I agree with you in general on extended warranties, AppleCare
is actually a decent deal. It provides value even if you never have a
hardware problem because it enables you to use the support help line
free of charge. It's saved the people I know (and persuaded to buy
it...) a substantial amount of money on several occasions. Laptops in
particular tend to have more problems than desktop systems due to
their being carried about so much.
BTW, memory or hard drive addition on most models of Apple cpus are
considered user serviceable and do not void the warranty.
One of the good things about AppleCare is that the original purchaser
can elect to buy it anytime within the first year of ownership, at
least in the US.
(I know a good bit about AppleCare because I was involved with that
team for a time and helped set up some of the software support they
use.)
Godfrey
On Sep 15, 2005, at 11:20 PM, David Mann wrote:
Is the xtended warranty a good idea.
IMO extended warranties are a ripoff. Retailers apply a lot of
pressure to take them as they are highly profitable.
My advice depends on what you're buying. For something like a
laptop it might be a good idea if the terms are OK - check the
exclusions thoroughly because many warranties aren't worth the
paper they're printed on.
When I bought my Mac I only bought the box - I already had a good
monitor. I figured that if the machine doesn't die inside the
first 12 months then it's a pretty safe bet that it'll never die.
If a HDD died, well they're pretty cheap to replace and I'd be far
more concerned about the data and the time spent restoring my setup.
The upgrades I made within the first couple of weeks (more memory,
a second hdd) probably voided the regular warranty anyway.
Cheers,
- Dave
