Missing Link

Back when I got my first mac,  a 12″ Powerbook G4,  one of the guys I worked with suggested that I get Applecare with it in case anything went bad.  I thought it was a bit pricey, but opted to heed the advice.   I’m glad I did, though, as two years after I got the powerbook – my hard drive died.  A call to Applecare and a week later, my laptop was back with a new hard drive (and has been running just fine ever since – still runs to this day.)    Now – a lot of people will say that the cost of a hard drive is much lower than the cost of applecare, and you’d be right.   In my case, though, it did end up paying for itself – though not the way most people would expect (or want).    A very long story short – I tripped over my power cord and caused my powerbook to fly off my lofted bed and crash to the floor, bending the case and causing some problems.   I sent it off for repair to be told it would cost me $700 because of accidental damage.   I tried – unsuccessfully – to cancel the repair and have it shipped back,  only to have them repair it anyways.   Since I had tried to cancel they never charged me for the repair – so I got $700+ in repairs for free.

Since then, though, I’ve found that paying a little extra for some peace of mind is not a bad thing at all.   IF a component fails,  they’ll fix it for free.  I’m paying for the insurance that should something go wrong, I will be able to easily get it fixed.

My most recent experience with Applecare was regarding the laptop I’m writing this post on – an early (January) 2007 Macbook Pro.  I had managed to completely burn out not one, but TWO batteries with it.  This happened several months ago.  For some reason I had thought my Applecare was already expired so never bothered to take it in.  A few weeks ago though I realized it had not expired, so I made an appointment at the genius bar and took it in.   The genius looked at it and verified that both batteries were showing a maximum possible charge of 0, meaning they wouldn’t even hold a charge at all.   Since both batteries were so severely damaged (one of them having only gone through a dozen or so charge cycles) he offered to replace BOTH batteries.    So, in my case, Applecare was able to cover not just the original equipment – but also a battery that I bought a year and a half after I bought my Macbook Pro.   Nice.   The batteries aren’t cheap either,  so I’m definitely happy about how it all worked out.

I’m happy to report that both batteries are performing very well,   and the end result has been that I use this computer a lot more since I’m not tethered to a wall.

I’m sure there are those who don’t feel Applecare is worthwhile,  and don’t see a need for an extended warranty.   That’s fine, that’s your choice.   I’ve gotten it on each of my macs so far,  and each time I’ve been glad I did.