On Friday, May 24, 2002, at 10:55 AM, Kaufman, Charles wrote: > What is the general opinion on Applecare? > > Is it worth the extra $$$? > It has been my experience "in general" that > extended warranties are seldom worth > the money, especially with electronics. Usually > if something is going to break it happen in the > first few month and after 5+ years. And extending > a 1 year warranty an extra year or two is not > worth the money. > > Is it significantly different with an iMac?
The ACPP is definitely worth every penny and then some; not only is it good for the extra 2yr warranty, but it also lets you call Apple for free the whole time. The iMac ACPP is only $149 and virtually every part in it costs at least that much. It also gives you the possibility of on-site repair, instead of having to carry it in (you aren't guaranteed on-site, though). Hard drives are a good example of how your logic of failure doesn't hold true with computers; a hard drive is just as likely to fail now as it ever is. I have 15 year old hard drives that are still going strong; I have 2 year old hard drives that are now paper weights. Hard drives have a "mean time to failure" which really means they averaged the amount of time every drive failed. Installing a hard drive in an iMac is not that difficult, but is definitely non-trivial, so unless you're keen on tearing things apart, there are significant labor costs. The LCD in the new iMacs is... an LCD, and has a backlight. There is no rhyme or reason to when backlights fail. They are nothing more than fluorescent tubes, basically. Some last a decade or more. Some last in the order of months. Most last somewhere in between. But, in the end, it is a fluorescent tube, and it WILL die some day, and it's not cheap; you have to replace the whole LCD panel. The ACPP also allows you to get on-site service, and for that alone it's definitely worth $149 in some areas (the standard 1 year warranty requires you to carry the unit in to a local AASP). How often do you make claims on your auto insurance? If you're a good drive, and you're lucky, you wind up losing money in the long run. But all it takes is one mistake or bad luck on your part, and suddenly it looks like a much MUCH better deal. -- The iMac List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | - Epson Stylus Color 580 Printers - new at $69 | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> iMac List info: <http://lowendmac.com/imac/list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/imac-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
