Is It Smart to Buy AppleCare+ on a New MacBook Pro?

I’m getting ready to purchase a new 13" MacBook Pro, and I’m wondering if it’s wise to purchase AppleCare+ for this new computer. What’s your experience? Is it a wise investment or is it a waste of resources?

Thanks!

If you are located in the EU you could argue that you are covered for the first 24 months under European law, even without AppleCare+. And that is true to some degree. Then again, AppleCare+ provides you with way more in comparison to European law.

With AppleCare+ you will gain 3 years of premium service and it really is what they are advertising: 3 years peace of mind. I always buy AppleCare+ for my Macs. And when I had issues with my Mac, they always were resolved by Apple just fine under AppleCare+.

Hello Christian…thank you for your helpful input. I live in the U.S. (forgive me for making the assumption that the MPU Community is mainly U.S.-based). It is my standard practice to purchase AppleCare+ for all of the iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches I buy (mainly because I have a tendency to be clumsy and have a history of shattered screens), but I not sure about the value of the laptop plans.

I generally buy AppleCare+ on laptops. I love that Mac laptops are so thin and light, but one of the compromises involved is that certain kinds of repairs are quite expensive.

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I would definitively buy it. I bought a mac mini for my company without AppleCare+ and 1 month before the end of the 1y standard warranty my motherboard died. I was lucky. If it happened 1 month later I would face a pretty expensive repair.

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I usually get AppleCare on my portable products. So yes, I’d personally get it on a laptop. I wouldn’t get it on an iMac, if that makes sense. Not sure if there’s any data to back it up, but it just seems smart on a device you might be traveling with, putting in bags, getting jostled, etc.

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AppleCare replaced the screen on my MBP 15in after I inadvertently knocked the well-balanced (meaning, well … I thought it was … balanced) computer from the arm of my favorite lounge-while-working chair.

So, yes, I bought AppleCare for my new MBP 16in.


JJW

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My first Mac was the first Intel Macbook from 2006.

The casing (polycarbonate) had to be replaced twice because of cracks (they had issues with the material back then). The fans had to be replaced, the logic board had to be replaced later on. And the battery was replaced. All of that happened during the first 25 months. Back then, I wasn’t even aware of AppleCare. Apple paid for the defects within the first 24 months (as required by law) and it paid for a new battery in the 25th month. They were not obliged to pay for the battery, but they had a program to exchange those batteries back then.

One technician mentioned AppleCare when he was replacing the logic board (just in case, if I ever consider buying a new Mac after my not so good experiences with this particular Mac). Those were nice times: a logic board replacement in the store… Oh, lucky days! Well, I have been buying AppleCare for the MacBooks I bought after that first one. Those devices are far too expensive and today’s MacBooks are not easily repairable which leads to quite significant costs.

Why do I pay for AppleCare+? For the third year regarding because of warranty and for damages in all three years that might happen when I drop the Macbook. It is a no-brainer for me.

Yes, it is absolutely worth it. I’ve had some pretty extensive repairs done on AppleCare that would have otherwise cost a fortune. It guarantees that your device will be serviced without having to stress and spend money if you cause accidental damage of something just fails and it is out of the initial warranty period.

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And this is getting more true over time. It used to be that if you bought a Mac and got a flaky RAM stick or a hard drive that had problems, you could solve it for $100 at the local computer store.

Now, especially with the M1, lots of those components are completely non-replaceable. So I’d say it’s worth getting the coverage for that reason alone.

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Very funny… Just a couple of minutes ago I did some research on AC+ and started pondering whether I should buy it or not for my new M1 Air… I wondered whether there would be an MPU thread talking about AC+ for the Mac… :upside_down_face:

To those who bought AC+ in the past… did you regret it or was it worth the expense?

I’ve bought it on every Mac I’ve ever owned, and I’ve never regretted it.

For me, especially with mobile devices, it just removes one more level of anxiety. I don’t ever intentionally do stupid things to my devices just because I have AppleCare, but I find that if it’s out of warranty I’m a little less likely to do something like pull out my laptop in a less-than-optimal environment.

And for my 2018 Mac Mini, I bought it with the idea that the hard drive is soldered to the board, so if there were any issues I’d be guaranteed at least a 3 year service life.

Your mileage may vary. :slight_smile:

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I view AppleCare+ as insurance. You are happy that you have it when you need it. When you don’t have insurance, you discover just how expensive things can get. I bought it on my Intel MacBook Pro 16" last year.

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I always buy AppleCare+ on anything that I purchase from Apple. I have my little ones running around there’s bound to be an accident at some point, it’s also piece of mind.

Just to give you an idea of random occurrences.

The littlest one - came to say hi to me while working, she bumped her head on the edge of my desk, caused her to be disoriented, she did a 180, as she spun, her hand got caught in a random charging cable, which then tugged on my coffee cup, which then went flying everywhere. Thankfully, it didn’t slip on her and no damage was doing, it managed to miss everything and just go straight to the carpet. But yea, life happens. Better to be safe than sorry lol

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I’ve only ever bought AC+ once, for my wife’s big iPad Pro.
I’ve never bought it for phones or notebooks.

Guess what, the only machine that has ever had anything happen to it that AC+ would have been good for was caused by a wonderfully waterproof handbag and a leaky bottle of water. I’d sneakily bought AC+ against her wishes for the iPad Pro, but it was certainly appreciated at the time when she went all ashen.
It didn’t help the ancient iPhone 6 in there, which died on the spot.

I just bought M1 Air, but I seriously doubt I’ll damage it in the next 3 years, so I’ll take my chances.

The maths for me is:
51,000 cost of computer.
10,000 for AC+
3,300 for screen repair or 10,000 for other repair.

It just seems costly for a device I don’t use whilst walking around (and no kids!). The iPad Pro is an unwieldy slab designed to be used handheld. I may be out of pocket if I trash the computer early, but I’d get a newer model…
Like any insurance, it’s a gamble and I can afford to lose this one.

Bought it on most devices and only used it twice, once on an iPad (home button died) and once on a Watch (side button stuck). If I was buying a new M1 I would definitely get it. Never know what issues might pop up with a new design.

How much is the laptop worth and how much is AppleCare+?

I calculated for a device a couple of weeks ago and it was about 15% of the cost of the laptop from memory.

It’s important to remember that insurance companies make profit. This means the odds are stacked in their favour.

Unless you’re on the riskier side of MacBook owners (I.e. it’s >=15% likely to need to be replaced), then for me it’s not worth it.

If you can afford it and want piece of mind, this has a value, so might be worth it just for that.

For me these calculations led me down the path of not buying AppleCare.

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AppleCare+ is insurance. Like any insurance you need to weigh the risks of having it versus “self insurance”. Because it is a profit center (you don’t think they lose money selling it, do you?) you will always in the long run and over many devices be financially ahead by not buying it. But you have to be able to afford any repairs.

The “+” means you are also buying accident protection, so if you haven’t had a history of breaking your computers you might be overpaying for something you don’t need.

AppleCare gives you coverage for the second and third years. Statistically those are the years of least repairs since you are beyond the “infant mortality” time of failures but before parts start breaking because of their age.

Apple has a flat rate repair plan you can use if your Mac isn’t damaged that provides a major reduction in cost of repair for units out of warranty. I’ve taken advantage of that in the past.

Some years ago (probably about 10) I read about the low failure rates of MacBooks. If you were buying base models it was actually less expensive to discard those that failed after the first year and just buy new replacements than it was to buy AppleCare to get coverage for the second and third years.

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I would say yes, especially if you are getting an M1 MacBook Pro since this is a new line of hardware.

The price for AppleCare for a MacBook Pro is very expensive (I think $350 instead of $250?). If you qualify for educational pricing, that will bring the cost down.

I think any one repair is going to exceed $5-600. So you are hoping that if that happens, you save money, while accepting that you are “wasting” money if there are no problems.

It also makes it easier/more appealing to sell your MacBook Pro you decide to sell it before AppleCare has expired, as the potential buyer will have some piece of mind about problems that may occur after the sale.

I always purchased AC+ for company laptops & iPads, never for Macs. Of the first 6 iPads I purchase 4 were destroyed. Of the second batch one executive managed to kill 3 more.

IMO, now that MacBooks are basically unrepairable by anyone except Apple it especially makes sense to add AC+.

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