Consumer Priority Service - How many years of coverage should I buy for my Apple MacBook Pro 17"?

Question

I recently purchased a Apple MacBook Pro 17" online. It costs me $2299 plus shipping. If the unit should have an issue over the next few years I want to be fully covered so I will be purchasing the Consumer Priority Service extended warranty as well. The online dealer offers a 2 year or a 3 year for about $100 more, Is it worth the extra money for the 3 year warranty?

Answer 1

I've had my MacBook for just over a year and have had two incidents. One where the screen went bust about six months ago, and now the charger broke. Since I'm outside the 1 year warranty I will try and get it replaced anyway since it seems to be a defective charger. My point here is that get as much cover as you can afford. The MacBooks are good, but they aren't faultless. Also, I think you can buy the Apple Care package towards the end of your default one year warranty to extend the coverage, but look that up on Apple Store just to make sure.

Answer 2

This is probably better asked on ServerFault, or SuperUser. However the last time I worked with Apple, without the extended warranty program they only cover the machine for 1 year, this includes battery and dvd player. My battery in my MacBook Pro has died twice in the last 18 months, the first time it was DOA so that was an easy one. In addition the other MacBook I have in the house has had the DVD drive go out twice in the last 18 months.

They could be flukes of the models I have, I leave interpretation up to the reader. Other people have had their MacBooks (pro and otherwise) without incident for years.

Answer 3

I reccomend getting the cover, its better to have it and not need it, then not have and sit with a broken laptop you cant fix

Answer 4

Is it worth it?

Look, you're paying $2299. After the 1 year of warranty it will probably worth $1500 at most, if you will sell it. Let's say you can sell it for $1299, so you "lost" $1k. Then you get that money and buy a new model for $2299. So you got an upgrade and updated your warranty for another year. So, if you're going to change it within that year, you take that risk of spending another $500 or $1000 to renew everything.

If you're not going to change it, you can have the same warranty for the extra $100. It's much cheaper, but you won't get an upgrade on your hardware. So, it is worth in this is not all that important and you're going to keep it over 1 year anyway.

The last option is not getting any warranty and then risking the chance of paying for hardware malfunction, if it ever happens. Let's say you have a high 20% of chance of breaking, and the support cost can go anywhere from $100 to a whole new computer ($2299). In this worst average case scenario it'd be costing you $440, again, in average. If nothing goes wrong, you'll still want to upgrade the machine sooner or later.

So, if you keep a Time Machine and backup of your stuff, it's definitely cheaper taking the risk and not getting the extra warranty, because it's very rare for apple stuff to break. It's already expensive for the quality. Also not worth it if you plan to change it every year, which is not such a bad practice.

I think it's only worth it if you are going to stick with it for the whole 3 years and not willing to buy a new one at all. If it doesn't break for malfunction within that long, then it's about 100% that you won't get any hardware malfunction anymore that would be covered by a standard warranty anyway. Some people will say same thing for 1 year, tho.