Dear Friends,

The new year has started off strong with lots of activity at Small Dog Electronics. We are restocking the shelves from the busy holiday season and laying plans for 2012. I am heading out to Cupertino for meetings at Apple next week, then on to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show and finally, to New York for the Big Retail show.

It is always an adventure traveling this time of the year with cold temperatures and snow always in the wings ready to mess with the best-laid travel plans. I am sure that Apple will once again dominate the CES show without even being there. Each year, you can see the impact of Apple in the products that others are showing. I am sure I will see plenty of tablet wannabes and companies trying to presage Apple’s plans for future products (such as televisions).

Do you buy AppleCare when you buy a Mac? Unlike most extended warranty programs that I believe lack true value, the value in the AppleCare protection plan is evident to me each day. For Macs, AppleCare extends the hardware warranty from one year to three years and just about any out-of-warranty repair is likely to cost more than the cost of AppleCare.

Even more significant, however, is the free AppleCare technical support. You get 90 days of free technical support from Apple with your new Mac purchase but if you have AppleCare, you get three years of support for your hardware, operating system and Apple software. On day 91, Apple will ask for your credit card number before they provide this support, but you are truly protected with AppleCare—it is one of the best values from Apple!