Which is a better use of $250 - AppleCare or a hard drive upgrade?

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 35
    idebaseridebaser Posts: 121member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Matsu

    I believe that some of the American big box electronics retailers will et you buy extended coverage from them whether you purchased the item from them or not.



    Then there's safeware too




    Matsu, you'll have to be much more specific w/ the procedures on outside insurance for a laptop, most folks here aren't familiar or have gone through the motions. What i do know about AppleCare is that you can cancel it at any time and get a prorated amount back, so you're not "stuck" with it.



    Luca,

    i used to own an iBook 500 dual USB, and added a 40 GB hard drive, and lemme tell ya, it's no EZ job (gotta take the whole thing apart). I messed up the airport antennae somehow, and had it looked at by an apple repair/retailer who luckily messed up the power and had to send it back to apple who repaired the whole thing under warranty (but they put in the standard size 10 Gig drive it originally came with). My bro quickly scooped up my unused 40Gig and very easily installed it into his TiBook. I used his 20 gig in an external bus powered firewire case, and that was kinda cool (you can have a system folder and boot up other folks computers)except i had to carry it around all the time.

    Basically, not a good idea to open up a working iBook.
  • Reply 22 of 35
    formerlurkerformerlurker Posts: 2,686member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Luca Rescigno

    Just ordered an IBM Travelstar 40GN (not the 5400 RPM 40GNX) and a 2.5" case with the Oxford bridge from NewEgg. Total cost - $164 shipped. Pretty good, considering MCE's equivalent is $280, and the SmartDisk and Lacie both cost $250.



    I was going to recommend newegg. You done good!
  • Reply 23 of 35
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    Serrano,



    Why role your eyes? For the kind of money Apple charges on their laptop Applecare, companies like Dell provide stellar service. Yes, some here will come in and say, Dell sucks this and that and drop some story about Dell fvcking up their machines, but ALL of the Dell's I've seen come with great extended warrantees and very reliable service when it has been needed (which is rare)



    Given that Apple's offerings are much more expensive to begin with, better warrantee coverage ought to be included or at least available at a more reasonable price.



    Some of this may not apply to Luca because he already bought his machine, but in the future, use a major credit card and you'll automatically get an extra year of coverage (up to 60 000 dollars) on whatever you buy with said card. I've used this in the past for some speakers. One of my speakers needed to be re-coned, I paid for the repair on the credit card, called their insurance division and they credited the full amount back, I didn't even have to put any cash on it.



    AppleCare? No friggin way. After 2 years, you can use your homeowners insurance (read it first to make sure) or buy 3rd party insurance for about 80 bucks a year.



    So, rather than gift 389-529 Canadian to Apple, you can get the same coverage for one fifth the cost. Basically, there's no reason whatsoever to pay Apple's inflated prices. If you can't get approved for sufficient credit, you shouldn't be buying macs anyway.
  • Reply 24 of 35
    I love the people who preach "don't get AppleCare" and then come to find out a) they credit card company won't extend coverage b) the upgrades they made on the system voided what little warrantee they had, or c) claim it's too expensive and find themselves replacing a whole CPU.
  • Reply 25 of 35
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    A, I don't plan on making any system upgrade whatsoever, and B, your telling me that I didn't get warrantee coverage on my speakers through Mastercard? You have to make sure you have the coverage, keep your reciepts, and call when you plan to get the repair. No problems.
  • Reply 26 of 35
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Matsu, did you read my post? About how I don't have homeowner's insurance because I don't own a home? And also about how I don't have a credit card, because I am a freshman in college and I'm not ready for one yet? I paid with the debit card my bank gave me. I did get an Apple Loan for $1100, and I paid that off shortly afterwards when I sold my previous machine (so no interest).



    I suppose there aren't any options for me other than AppleCare. If I sell my machine before the two extra years are up, the iBook will just be worth that much more. Either way, it won't be a while until I get it. And I will check out CompUSA, I heard they have a pretty good warranty that also covers accidental damage.
  • Reply 27 of 35
    murbotmurbot Posts: 5,262member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Matsu

    Some of this may not apply to Luca because he already bought his machine, but in the future,



  • Reply 28 of 35
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Okay sorry.
  • Reply 29 of 35
    sebseb Posts: 676member
    Get applecare.



    It covers repairs, the battery, the power adapter etc.



    Plus, if you sell the machine it's resale value will be higher.



    HD prices will keep going down.



    The cost of one repair is more than the cost of applecare.



    Repairs are done quickly too. Especially if you take it to an AppleStore and have them ship it for you.
  • Reply 30 of 35
    pyr3pyr3 Posts: 946member
    If you know the people at the Apple Care center you could add it yourself and have them cover for you. That's what I did when I got my LCD and top case on my TiBook replace. I had to take apart and reassemble it in the new top case with the new LCD. I just did it in the repair shop so that I could ask questions if I got stuck. ;-)
  • Reply 31 of 35
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    Not only is it too expensive, they make you do the repairs yourself! Definitely look at alternatives, especially on of the bigger retailers that offer insurance against screen damage. Check out Macnet to see what I'm talkin about.
  • Reply 32 of 35
    I talked about this very topic with some employees at my local Apple Store who were very candid about exactly how much I would have to pay to repair even simple problems w/o Apple Care. They practically begged me not to replace the hard drive. It's amazing once you find out how when a tiny part breaks, it can require the replacement of huge swaths of your machine. I had my iBook's latch break not too long ago, and they had to replace the entire housing around the keyboard. A faulty hinge will run you into the hundreds, I believe....and a new screen.....*shudder*.....you don't want to know. Trust me.



    The power adapters (I swear these things are made out of tissue paper disguised as plastic and metal) are $84 bucks a pop. I've gone through one, and I wouldn't be surprised if this one dies within a year, as well.



    Not to mention that a hard drive replacement in the current crop of iBooks is a non-trivial matter.



    It is slightly ironic, though, that when they replaced the top part of my iBook, they didn't properly re-seat the plastic "rim" that goes around the connectors on the left side, causing my Ethernet port to jump back into the case and bend a bit.



    As one problem solved, another arises.



    But that is why I have Apple Care.



    And so should you.
  • Reply 33 of 35
    jbljbl Posts: 555member
    AppleCare is a rip off. A brand new iBook 800 only costs $1000. In a year it will not even be worth $750. Unless 1 out of 3 iBooks die, the odds definitely say skip AppleCare. Of course there are special cases, like if you are planning on taking the iBook kayaking or something.
  • Reply 34 of 35
    jante99jante99 Posts: 539member
    AppleCare is a rip off. Chance are something will break because you did something to the machine and then it won't be covered.



    If your ibook does break uses http://www.powerbookresq.com/ . They do out of warrenty repairs for half the price of Apple. They only charge 99 dollars in addition to what ever part you need compared to Apple's flat fee of 350 minimum.
  • Reply 35 of 35
    jbljbl Posts: 555member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by jante99

    AppleCare is a rip off. Chance are something will break because you did something to the machine and then it won't be covered.



    Actually this is the one thing that I think is good about AppleCare. No one has ever questioned me about how exactly something broke. I have dumped water on a computer. Dropped one. No one ever asked how these things broke they just repaired them. That is why I said if you were going to go kayaking AppleCare might be a good idea. My problem with AppleCare is that I don't pour water on my computer every other year and that is about how often I would have to use AppleCare before AppleCare was a better deal than just leaving the money in a bank account.
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