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If your notebooks have a hard life of traveling from place to place in a case, get powered up/down many times a week or if they will be used by careless users (kids? ), you're far more likely to need AppleCare than if they lead a quiet existence on a desk and rarely venture from your home or office.
Apple's hardware is just as susceptible to failure as PC hardware, maybe more so, there are a bunch of problems with various units in their history that no one knows about, sub par LCD's, defective logic boards and so forth, get the waranty.
Apple's hardware is just as susceptible to failure as PC hardware, maybe more so, there are a bunch of problems with various units in their history that no one knows about, sub par LCD's, defective logic boards and so forth, get the waranty.
Not at all defending Apple, but curious if you can back your statements up with data? Esp. these "problems that no one knows about"? Thanks.
As said before, myself, I've the extended care, and believe it to be worth its cost.
My data has been on my work bench, emacs with blown caps, iMacs and laptops, with bad logic boards, PowerMacs with bad power supplies, the melting mag connector. You can read about some below. Apples are more reliable because of their OS, not their hardware, when a Mac comes into my shop it's almost always a hardware problem, where as with PC's it's almost always a Windows problem. Granted I have no data on the newer stuff so hopefully it's improved.
My data has been on my work bench, emacs with blown caps, iMacs and laptops, with bad logic boards, PowerMacs with bad power supplies, the melting mag connector. You can read about some below. Apples are more reliable because of their OS, not their hardware, when a Mac comes into my shop it's almost always a hardware problem, where as with PC's it's almost always a Windows problem. Granted I have no data on the newer stuff so hopefully it's improved.
Yea, even "newer" Apples have issues - my ~2 year old MacBook has a buggery logic board that causes very intermittent problems, maybe 4 times has faulted. But besides that, no complaints - running MS Office and other apps on it, and the 24" iMac no significant problems either [knock on wood],,, well, besides foolish mortal having its HD almost filled w/ music and photos . As to that site, sorry, but had to laugh - maybe what 3 posts in their forum since early/mid 2007, and no updates to its homepage since July '07 either so, no offense, but that is not very persuasive for data showing "problems that no one knows about"...
In regards to the part where you state Apple supposedly has more hardware failures vs. Wintels more OS problems, I would love to see non-biased proof of such too, comparing similar platforms, using similar apps, over time. No, not challenging you to do such, just a statement. I am concerned that Apple may in the recent past have grown larger at times too fast, thereby increasing the potential to have more issues, sacrificing quality for components... as too often happens in industry. But, overall, based only on reviews/articles, for example Consumer Reports, that have looked at in the past couple years show that Apple has overall lower failure rate than competitors, and higher rated service.
I use those forums as well. I didn't say apple has more hardware failures, I said when I get Mac's in the shop, it is usually a hardware failure, meaning the OS is less of a cause of problems. In Apples defense, with widely publicized hardware defects they many times do issue an extended replacement program, so even those out of warranty can get the repair done at no cost, but against them they have been known to continually deny that common defects exist and have been known to censor their own support forums and delete threads they don't want seen. (no I'm not going to provide proof, if you want some use Google)
I'd say if you're getting a laptop, go for the warranty. Laptop repairs are often tied more to the logic board which would be pricey (not to mention harder to replace yourself then a desktop). Otherwise, I'd forgo the warranty if its for a desktop (you can replace many parts without having to swap out the MB). But that's just what I would do.
I have a Powerbook G4 that the video chip went bad after two years. I didn't have applecare, so never paid the $900 to have the MB swapped out. Its still works today - just have to deal with these squiggly lines that would appear on the monitor every once in awhile.
But - In 12 years of working in IT - that was the only HW related issue I've ever experienced on my own equipment (other than issues resulting in my own dumbness). So had I purchased Applecare on all of the laptops I've owned (I'm on my 5th) - I would've spent ~$1500 to date and have used $900 (thus far).
I'm going to be purchasing at least one Mac soon (at least one MacBook Pro - maybe two - with one utilized 100% for a small business) and I am unsure of whether to ante up the large amount of money to buy the extended warranty. It seems that in the past 2 years it isn't all that hard to find stories about people using it for failed hard drives or other issues, but overall I have this perception that Macs are much more reliable than PCs. What are your thoughts and/or experiences?
I have never bought an Apple warranty in the last ten years and I am not sure if I ever will. You get one year of coverage right off the bat (for free) and all Apple Care does is extend that same warranty for another two years. So basically you are just buying extra time and more phone support (big whoop dee-do!), not 'more' coverage (you end up with the same 'limited' coverage). If you bought a bad Apple, it is more than likely to malfunction well within the first year. Yes, it has been known that people have used Apple Care to replace parts that may or may not have been defective well into the second or third year of ownership, but the reality is that the older your computer becomes the more likely normal wear and tear will take it's toll and it becomes harder to 'prove' that the component is busted as a result of faulty manufacturing and not from basic everyday (over) use.
My 'professional' amateur opinion is that Apple Care is not worth it save for the piece of mind of just in case. You might as well just throw that $300 into the trash. Many other long time Apple users feel the same way. Search the Mac boards and you will read the same thing.
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), you're far more likely to need AppleCare than if they lead a quiet existence on a desk and rarely venture from your home or office.
. As to that site, sorry, but had to laugh - maybe what 3 posts in their forum since early/mid 2007, and no updates to its homepage since July '07 either 
so, no offense, but that is not very persuasive for data showing "problems that no one knows about"... 
