I have written this same article several times over the last 20 years of writing Kibbles & Bytes but now more than ever AppleCare makes sense for your Mac. When I go to a store to buy an appliance or new electronics gear I am always asked at check-out if I want the extended warranty. I always say no. EXCEPT for AppleCare.
AppleCare is not your typical extended warranty. Yes, it does extend that 1-year Apple warranty that you get with your new or Apple factory certified refurbished Mac but it does more. First, we should be very clear, many so-called extended warranties are from third-parties and carry a whole bunch of tiny print exceptions. AppleCare is direct from Apple so you can take your Mac to any authorized Apple Service Provider, anywhere in the world and you will get expert repairs with genuine Apple parts.
With Apple shrinking the components in our Macs, repairs have become much more specialized and nearly anything that goes wrong with your Mac will cost you more to have repaired than the cost of AppleCare. Unless, of course, you purchased an AppleCare Protection Plan at the time of purchase of your Mac or within the first year of ownership.
Okay, you now have insurance against bad screens, drives, etc, but what about that question you have about the latest Mac OS on your machine? With every new or Apple refurbished Mac you get 90-days of free toll-free technical support from Apple’s award-winning support staff. On day 91, you will be asked for a credit card number to get that help. Unless, of course, you have an AppleCare Protection Plan, in which case you get a full 3-years of support from Apple.
What about that AirPort Time Capsule and USB Superdrive that you bought with your Mac? They are covered, too! In fact, if you purchased that AirPort Time Capsule up to two-years before you bought your new Mac, it is covered.
Yes, Apple products lead the industry in reliability but take it from me, things do go wrong. We wouldn’t have a bunch of employees doing Apple warranty repair if this were not the case. We often tell our AppleCare customers just how much they saved by having AppleCare on their Mac and the smiles tell it all! Get AppleCare!