For the past few months, my 2010 13-inch MacBook Pro has been exhibiting horrible battery life. For a model that was originally claimed to achieve up to 10 hours per charge, the four hours that has been my average over those months is truly unbearable. I’ve tried everything to fix it: calibration (which did help a bit), installing an SSD that runs cooler (for less fan use) and draws less power (no moving parts), to completely reinstalling OS X. And, while some of it helped a bit, I’m not even getting half of what I did when the machine was brand-new.
I suspected that something was wrong with the battery, but I don’t really use my laptop as much as I used to; therefore, I decided not to worry about it until the machine simply died whenever I took it off the charger – tat is, until I got this message today after waking the Mac up from sleep. According to my Mac, its battery “isn’t functioning normally,” and I have to take it “in for service.”
Since my Mac turned two years old last month, I should be worried about a computer repair. After all, Apple’s original warranty only covers the Mac for non-accidental repairs for a year . This means that, if I didn’t pay the $250 for AppleCare, I would have to pay a rather horrifying $129 to replace the thing, and that’s before taxes!
Thankfully, I did choose to buy AppleCare (which extends the original one-year warranty by an extra two years) before my warranty was up, which means that I’m covered for the replacement.
After this repair goes through, I will have used half of what I paid for AppleCare. In other words, that means that if I have one more major repair done to the machine, I will have saved myself a few dollars by purchasing AppleCare when I was still covered. And, if I have one repair done after the second, Apple will foot the bill for a brand-new MacBook Pro – something that has happened to me two times in the past.
Since electronics, unfortunately, can be unpredictable, I have recommended to everyone who owns a MacBook a purchase of AppleCare. The price varies by model, but everyone always comes to the same conclusion: the price you pay to get the extra two years of service will likely save you a chunk of money in the future, especially since more and more of Apple’s products are not user-friendly, and therefore not easily repairable.
If you own a Mac that’s still covered under its warranty, I suggest you look into purchasing AppleCare for it. Since I assume that you plan to keep your Mac as long as possible – as you should with a $1000 plus machine – the extra couple hundred dollars that AppleCare costs is really worth it in the long run, especially given how expensive Apple’s replacement parts and services can be.
Truly, AppleCare is the only extended warrantee I recommend.
AC does NOT cover damage caused by the User: especially things like being dropped and/or having liquid poured over it.
Having said that, Apple CAN choose to do what they wish: I sent in two different MacBook Pros, each having been dropped with significant damage resulting. Apple chose to fix one for free (not sure their rationale — didn’t ask!) and billed me for the other ($1100 — OUCH, but still cheaper than a new machine).
Added bonus: at our local repair shop (Apple-Certified), having AppleCare moves you to the back of the AC line, but ahead of non-AC-owning machines, significantly shortening repair times.
Added Added bonus: AppleCare entitles you to the truly terrific phone-based help Apple offers. I’m a tech guy, know an awful lot and can fix much, but sometimes you need people to offer suggestions or who can say, “yeah, we’re seeing a lot of that… try turning off XYZ..”
Bonus (x5): If you can use the Education store, AppleCare drops in price: it’s only $183 for MBAirs/13″ MBPs that way.
I worked at a company that had a lot of Macs, before the unibody ones.
The sleek design meant poor cooling particularly for the batteries which would be quite hot when charging, and that shorted their lives; the computers were used every working day and the batteries were significantly degraded after 18 months.
The batteries in the high-end Thinkpads we also had were still pretty good after two years.
All the more reason to get AppleCare: free batt replacement!
And I gotta tell you, my users get about 2 years useful life outta the Lenovos; at least 3 out of the MBPs. They’re just better built, esp now with the unibody removing flex from the components inside.
I don’t know…
I tend to replace my laptops every two years anyway, something about paying $250 for a warranty that *might* help you out later seems a little bad.
To me it seems like Apple is saying “we know our parts are made to fail, so let’s tag on another $250 fee in advance so you don’t have to worry about that.”
You’re still in the hole $120, and you’ve said yourself you don’t use your laptop as much as you used to – how much life do you really think it has left in it anyway, and do you really expect another major repair before you find a replacement?
Also, if you’re willing to drop $1000+ on a laptop, I’m sure it wouldn’t have been an issue to come up with the $130 a couple years later. There comes a certain point where the old tech simply isn’t worth fixing.