Applecare: Best place to get it

savemejebus

Am going to upgrade to a new macbook/macbook pro in a few weeks and i was wondering about where the best place to get applecare would be.

I can get the educational discount and Mactivate have said they would try to better whatever price i'd get from the Apple store but I was just wondering about maybe getting it from the states, either on a visit or from an ebay powerseller?

Would the american bought applecare be applicable for an EU Macbook/pro or would i be wasting my time.

Also on another topic, does anyone know what the developer discount is currently?

Cheers

Rebeller

Applecare is region specific meaning that an AppleCare package purchased in the Us will only be valid in North America. If you move to Europe you would be obliged to ship your mac to a US address (at your own expense) to avail of your AppleCare cover.

I personally fell that AppleCare Protection Plans are one of the biggest marketing scams Apple promotes.

Steer clear unless hours on the phone to a call centre in Bangalore, India where you know more than the technical "expert", is your idea of fun!!!

I'm not offering legal advice but depending on the amount you spend on a product you are entitled to expect that it should function (be fit for its purpose to use the correct term) for a reasonable amount of time.

This means that even after the 12 month warranty expires and a hardware issue arises you could resort to the small claims court in Ireland to possibly receive a remedy where Apple refused to provide a repair as the product was out of warranty.

Worth considering anyway.

Sad Professor

Rebeller wrote:

I personally fell that AppleCare Protection Plans are one of the biggest marketing scams Apple promotes.

Steer clear unless hours on the phone to a call centre in Bangalore, India where you know more than the technical "expert", is your idea of fun!!!

I'm not offering legal advice but depending on the amount you spend on a product you are entitled to expect that it should function (be fit for its purpose to use the correct term) for a reasonable amount of time.

I'm inclined to agree, TBH. The phone support is a total waste of time; unless, of course, you're a complete novice and truly need it. For everyone else, there's nothing you won't find on the net. Every possible problem is covered on the Apple discussion boards.

Physical damage caused by the user isn't covered anyway and the vast majority of hardware problems show themselves in the first 12 months. And after that there's the possibility of a recall. As far as I know Irish and European law means Apple has to cover genuine faults for at least 2 years, possibly longer.

But on the other hand, if you can afford it and don't mind the expense, then why not.

savemejebus

I generally find with laptops that a long warranty is essential as i've had machines go bad after 15 months and i'm damn careful with my kit and the dubious value of it is part of the reason that i'm looking for the cheapest way to get it. I mean at the end of the day all insurance is based around hoping bad things don't happen and applecare is just that, another form of insurance.

So back to the point at hand, where is the best and cheapest place to get it? or what would be an alternative?

uncle_sam_ie

Rebeller wrote:

Applecare is region specific meaning that an AppleCare package purchased in the Us will only be valid in North America. If you move to Europe you would be obliged to ship your mac to a US address (at your own expense) to avail of your AppleCare cover.

Applecare on portables have world wide warranties. If you live in north america and are on a business trip to Ireland Apple isn't going to make you ship it back to the US if it breaks. World cover means they'll fix it in Ireland while your here.

Elessar

Best place is Ebay. The American sellers offer the cheapest. Applecare for a Macbook Pro is only around €200-250.