MOTUnation.com

Yeah... sure seems like for the guys depending on these machines for their livelihood, AppleCare is probably a no brainer.

I think you can always buy Applecare for 2 years anytime before the original 1st year expires, so you can always spend it some plugin first, and plunk the cash in 11 months time . My Applecare (3 years) is about to run out on my Quad G5 (December) - that's always the sign for me to start thinking about a new Mac . I'll wait until January after the Mac show (supposed to be new Mac Pros coming out then..).

Just got my G5 iMac back from an Applecare repair. They replaced the superdrive, and it seems to have fixed the problem, which was very unpredictable behavior in its ability to read and/or write disks of various formats.

My brother had an identical computer, bought at the same time, and they replaced both the superdrive and the LCD, which were nearly 3 years old.

On balance, the applecare was money well spent.

Just one month before the 3-year Applecare ran out on my G4 PB the display went out and the DVD drive started having trouble and the speakers wouldn't work because some little clip in the audio output jack had broken off. They fixed it and sent it back and it wouldn't accept the backup recovery from SuperDuper, so I sent it back and they replaced the hard drive. No charge for anything. Applecare was worth it to me. I use this ol' G4 PB for everything. Best computer I've ever had. It's a workhorse. No way would I buy a Mac without getting Applecare. Too many things can go wrong at any time.

I've never bought Applecare before, but I got my wife a new Macbook (white - since it's the only one with Firewire - duh!). Anyway, I bought Applecare and used my American Express card. Guess what? Amex (depending on your account) extends warranties by as long as one year. I called Amex and sure enough, I now have 4 years of Applecare. Since my wife is a teacher, Applecare was only $183. Not bad for 4 years...

BTW, when you migrate from a previous machine, I didn't realize it essentially clears everything on the new machine except the OS! All installed (bundled) apps had to be reinstalled from the DVD. Kind of odd way to do things, IMO.

I got a email from Apple saying my phone help was comming to an end and if I wanted more I needed Apple care, I never used Apple phone help in my life. I am thinking it may not be a bad thing to have 4 years of Apple care although most problems happen in the first year or when it is old, I can get Apple care any time in the first year right?