AppleCare Experiences

[Midpack]

I've had one infant mortality HD failure on my PC desktop and once on a work laptop. That said, have dealt with corrupted files and viruses numerous times on both that are quite frustrating. I am guessing Apples are less prone to such outside attacks and file corruptions.

+1, no disagreement there. I've had about a dozen really frustrating episodes with viruses etc. over the years. Some took several hours for me to resolve on my own, good thing I don't know where the perpetrators were. Unconscionable IMO.

 

[audreyh1]

We have an iMac and a Mac Pro laptop and we did not purchase the AppleCare. We have had them for a few years now and have not had any problems. However, I would have purchased the AppleCare, if I had read this thread before purchasing them.

Don't worry - repairs usually aren't that expensive.

 

[Chuckanut]

I have had two HD failures on a computer, one Windows and one the MacBook.

The Windows failure was on a desktop, the failure on the MacBook was obviously on a laptop. All things being equal, laptops take more abuse and misuse than a desktop.

 

[trouthog]

Well then is the solid state MacBook Air the best value? And is the transition from MS to Apple painful?

 

[Midpack]

Well then is the solid state MacBook Air the best value?

SSD is more durable/reliable and faster, but more expensive, so value is subject to individual interpretation.

SSD vs HDD: What's the Difference? | PCMag.com

 

[Ready]

I would not buy a magnetic drive in a laptop. The price of SSDs has come down quite a bit, and the performance difference is quite significant. A laptop with an SSD will still seem responsive years later, even when new operating systems and software applications push it further to its limits. It has a bigger impact on overall performance than buying a faster CPU or more memory.

 

[FIREd]

And is the transition from MS to Apple painful?

I found the transition pretty effortless for most of my files (photos, videos, pdf, xls, doc, emails, etc...). However, 2 pieces of software written for Windows had no equivalent in the Apple ecosystem: Quicken and a flight simulator game. I had to find alternatives for those.

 

[MichaelB]

What confuses me most about this thread is the (hardware) problems folks have had with Apple devices in the first place! I've never personally had a HD failure on any of the Win machines I've owned work or personal (typically upgrade every 5-6 yrs), and the only serious issue I did have was a motherboard replacement on a Dell that happened within 90 days and was replaced at my home at no charge.

Don't worry - repairs usually aren't that expensive.

Midpack has a valid point. The reason I'll get AppleCare is, with a Wintel platform almost all the HW is designed to be field upgradable. Even someone as mechanically inept as yours truly can (and has many times) perform most repairs and upgrades, no need to pay someone else for labor and list price parts. My understanding is most Apple products, certainly the laptops, are not so designed. Even batteries need to be handled by authorized service people and replacement parts purchased at list.

 

[Chuckanut]

SSD is more durable/reliable and faster, but more expensive, so value is subject to individual interpretation.

SSD vs HDD: What's the Difference? | PCMag.com

As I understand it SSD drives do wear out. Each 'cell' can be written to about 500 times, and then it doesn't work so well anymore. They use a wear leveling algorithm to even this out, but at some point to many 'cells' have been worn out. The bigger the SSD drive, the more cells to spread the wear over, so, all other things being equal, a bigger drive should last longer than a smaller one.

 

[aja8888]

All things being equal, laptops take more abuse and misuse than a desktop.

Yes, they get dropped more and also heat dissipation is not that great compared to a desktop. And heat is not a friend of electronics, especially these low voltage and low current applications.

When we get new laptops at work, we routinely swap out the magnetic-based HDD for a solid state drive. One of these days, they will all come that way or we will all be using tablets.

 

[Midpack]

Midpack has a valid point. The reason I'll get AppleCare is, with a Wintel platform almost all the HW is designed to be field upgradable. Even someone as mechanically inept as yours truly can (and has many times) perform most repairs and upgrades, no need to pay someone else for labor and list price parts. My understanding is most Apple products, certainly the laptops, are not so designed. Even batteries need to be handled by authorized service people and replacement parts purchased at list.

Now I'm even more spooked re: Apple. I replaced hard drives, power supplies, memory chips and other items on desktop PCs many times at work (never had to at home luckily), it's really pretty easy. Not being able to do anything myself (Mac) would probably drive me batty if something failed...YMMV

 

[FIREd]

Now I'm even more spooked re: Apple. I replaced hard drives, power supplies, memory chips and other items on desktop PCs many times at work (never had to at home luckily), it's really pretty easy. Not being able to do anything myself (Mac) would probably drive me batty if something failed...YMMV

Check out YouTube. Plenty of people doing their own repairs/upgrades on Mac computers.

 

[MichaelB]

Check out YouTube. Plenty of people doing their own repairs/upgrades on Mac computers.

Sure, and it wasn't my intent to say one can't do any work on an Apple computer. Even on laptops, however, the typical Dell, HP or Lenovo is more accessible.

I'm still going to get a Macbook, because it the GUI is far superior. SW causes >90% of our problems, it is so much simpler with Apple architecture. DW took to the iPhone like a fish to water.