AppleCare costs $249 for a MacBook Pro. Is it worth it? Will you get your money back within that 3 years if your Mac goes belly up? It’s a good question.
In answering the question, we must first ween out the fine print to see exactly what is and is not covered. In a nutshell, any defective hardware is covered. That includes the following:
What does AppleCare not cover:
- Accidental spills causing keyboard or logic board to fail
- Drops causing screens to crack or hard drives to fail
What do I think? AppleCare is a steal if your logic board fails. A logic board replacement is $500 or more depending on your model. For everything else, you’re better off not purchasing the AppleCare and just take it to a local NYC Mac repair shop. If you wind up having 2-3 issues with your Mac over the three year period, then AppleCare may come in handy. However, that is rare. Another reason to get AppleCare is if you’re brand new to the Apple world and think you can take advantage of the Apple support by phone when you have a question here and there.
Most MacBook Pro issues we see are spill damage and drops which is not covered under the AppleCare warranty. So, paying the $249 warranty cost wouldn’t help. If you live in a remote location far away from a MacBook repair shop other than Apple, then you may consider getting the AppleCare warranty. Otherwise, Apple’s cost of single repairs are way far more expensive than places like New York Computer Help, a reputable NYC Apple repair shop.
