[moser]

i got the 499 40gig model, but the older one that only has 256 megs of ram, for 400, including apple icare (or whatever it's called). when the cute girl at the register rang it up, the mac mini rang up for 249 and the extended 3 year warranty was 150 (which is the normal price). while i didn't get screwed per se, i basically got the icare thing for pree with 79 dollars off (the normal price now is 479). i don't think i would have been able to get the mac for that price without buying the extended warranty.

compusa is having a midnight labor day weekend sale starting at six. i'm buying an extra 256 megs of ram and getting an 80 gig external hd to transer about 30 gigs of Mp3s from my pc. i hope i can do this.

i have a question too. do you think the warranty is worth it? i may try returning it tomorrow.

[marc]

Applecare is insurance. It is always hugely worth it if somethine goes wrong with your machine and not worth it if nothing does (although many people like the peace of mind and unlimited phone support it provides).

The mini only has one RAM slot so you can't pick up an extra 256 MBs unless you buy a 512 MB chip.

Enjow your new machine.

[tooki]

AppleCare is not insurance. It is an extended warranty/support contract.

Insurance covers those things NOT covered by a warranty.

yooki

[marc]

I meant insurance in the sense that you are betting to lose. It pays when things go wrong. Technically, and semantically, you are correct.

[WitchKing]

Warranty is insurance - that is why it cannot be sold in some states without a proper licence, such as Rhoad Island. I used to work for Gateway (yuck, I know, but it paid the bills) and delt with this issue many times because Gateway did not have the proper licences for all the states that require them and we could not sell extended warranties to those states. Extended warranty is considered limited insurance from a legal standpoint.

[Jacob]

deockfish

[Agent69]

Originally Posted by tooki

AppleCare is not insurance.

It is according to the state of Florida. (I disagree with that conclusion.)

[italiano]

According to what I've read all Apple had to do was post a bond with Florida which they refused to do. I bought my Imac G5 here in Florida from CompUSA so I could get their extended warranty - which is more $$$$ than Applecare but I knew I needed it with the Imac - then Apple extended the 1 year to 2... had I known that I may not have bought the extended CompUSA warranty. Apple should post the bond as they sell a lot of hardware here in Florida!

[Agent69]

Originally Posted by italiano

According to what I've read all Apple had to do was post a bond with Florida which they refused to do.

That's because it is considered insurance. You have to be bonded to sell insurance in Florida. I personally don't agree with the assessment that it is insurance, since extended Applecare does not cover things like theft and accidental damage.

[ghporter]

Legalistic issues aside, the concept that an extended warranty is the same thing as an insurance policy has some merit. Way back in 1992, my wife and I bought a new car and felt that the extended warranty that the dealer offered us was a good idea. Mechanical repair insurance made sense to us after really horrible experiences with two other out-of-warranty car repair nightmares. On ONE SINGLE AIR CONDITIONING REPAIR that extended warranty paid for itself. It went on to pay for itself again shortly thereafter when the cooling system had a problem. Since then we have bought three new cars and extended warranties on all of them.

Now for the reality check: how badly off will you be without a computer for a while, how expensive can it be to fix the computer you want, and how likely is it that you will need to use an extended warranty? Be real here-will you still be able to pay the bills if your computer is out of commission for a while? Getting to work reliably was why we got those extended car warranties, but computer warranties are not in the same league for us.

For a portable computer that gets lugged around a lot, I'd say it's a good idea to have AppleCare. For a computer model that has a track record of "issues" I'd go for it as well. And for a brand new model that didn't have much of a track record, I'd buy AppleCare too. But for a well-established, non-portable model, I would not bother. The odds of having a major problem with a machine that has a good record and that does not face the rigors a portable does are pretty slim.

As for the legal question of whether or not an extended warranty IS insurance, that is a very much local issue. Some states and provinces say it is insurance, and regulate extended warranties the same way the regulate car insurers. Others simply make sure the warranty issuer understands that they consider extended warranties contracts that their Attorneys General will ensure are complied with. Your location will have its own laws and rules, so it's a good idea to know them before making any major purchase.

[CreepDogg]

The value of AppleCare varies depending on the computer you get - basically you're extending the warranty 2 years and getting extra phone support for that total 3 year period.

Everyone has different tolerances for this, but for me, I'd look at it as this - does it make sense to pay $150 to extend the warranty on a $250 machine? My answer would be no in this case. At those prices - it's more worth it to risk having to replace the whole machine.

For the record, I did buy AppleCare for my G4 iMac - I think it was something like $180 to protect a $1600 (at the time) machine - that's a different equation... I've also bought and NOT bought extended warranties on cars - based on the price of the warranty compared to general reliability data and expectations on the car.