
Recommendation: Got a Mac? Get AppleCare!
To the proffered loaner Macintosh I can recall saying "uh, no thanks, I don't really need a toy computer. I'll figure out another way to connect to your computer network." At the time, I was living in Los Altos, basically southwest of Palo Alto and due north of Apple headquarters in Cupertino, and the WELL was located north of the Golden Gate bridge in beautiful Sausalito. Way too far to drive for the work. So I had to get a computer of some sort. I reluctantly accepted the dorky little fishbowl unit that was reminiscent of the Osborne my Dad had won in a sweepstakes a year or two earlier, and... it took me about a day to realize just how slick the Macintosh was, even with its clunky interface and tiny screen. It was a self-contained computer with no parts to fuss with, and there was an elegance to the operating system that was pleasantly reminiscent of the expensive Unix / X11 workstations I'd used while at HP. Except it was cheap. No need to get a second mortgage and have a consulting IT person available (though I did end up with Paul Vixie doing tech support on a non-Mac Unix box he sold me, and Greg Galanos flew in one afternoon to help me figure out how to get his C compiler to work on my Mac, but those are different stories) Within a month I owned my first Macintosh system, and have since then owned so many that I can't even remember all their names. There was a Centra, a Performa, two Minis, and a veritable parade of laptops from Apple that started big and clunky and got smaller and sexier, year by year, as the industry kept its headlong race to microminaturization. Before I wrapped up a few private sales, I had four Mac laptops in my office, along with a G5 tower as a server, G4 tower in the garage collecting dust, and Mini on a shelf, buried under a stack of cables. Mr. Jobs? You owe me some stock for my faithful contributions to the sales stream of Apple gear, dude!
In fact, I feel so strongly about the need for anyone with Apple hardware to get AppleCare too that I wrote this entire posting with the hope that you'll buy it and save yourself a ton of potential headaches with your hardware down the road. I just bought yet another Apple computer and noticed for the first time that Amazon.com actually offers AppleCare at a significant discount: for the MacBook Pro, $262 instead of the $369 that Apple wants. That's a sweet 30% off an essential add-on to any Mac. Even better, it's a win:win, because you can use the links below to buy AppleCare for your Apple hardware (you can add it to your computer any time in the first year of ownership, so even if you bought it a few months ago, it's definitely not too late!) and the small commission that Amazon pays me will help keep the lights on and, well, keep feeding my hardware habit. Please pick the right link for the hardware you have, and buy it. Just do it! • AppleCare Protection Plan - MacBook This is a good move even if you have an iPhone or iPod too, btw: • AppleCare Protection Plan for iPod touch/classic Whether you want to use affiliate links or not, trust me on this: if you own Apple hardware, you want to buy AppleCare. It'll save you in the long run!
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Tagged: apple, imac, iphone, ipod, macbook, macbook pro, paul vixie Previous: 1000x returns on your stock purchase? You've been scammed. Next: How do I add my Google Reader shared items to my Friendfeed account? Subscribe!
Never miss another useful Q&A article again! Subscribe to AskDaveTaylor with Google Reader. I've used my Apple Protection Plan several times already. It's completely worth it. Posted by: Kristin at June 17, 2009 7:51 AMMost hardware failures occur within within the standard warranty of one year - if not the first 90 days. Accidents, on the other hand, can happen at any time - but are not covered by AppleCare. (Though I'd certainly pay to have accident coverage, especially on a portable.) Aside from that, there's the "warm fuzzy" of being able to call a toll-free number for support. This to me seems to be the main benefit of AppleCare. Posted by: Marc Farnum Rendino at June 18, 2009 6:27 PMToo bad this post only tells how you started using macs, I had hoped for some arguments on AppleCare. Posted by: Joris at July 5, 2009 9:25 AMI have something to say, now that you mention it, but ...
I do have a comment, now that you mention it!
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