Apple Still Cares Without Apple Care… For Now.


apple-cares
I’ve been a Mac user for around 2 years now. Still pretty much a newbie though, compared to the veterans who have been Mac users for over 3 decades or so.

Only recently have I been able to fully appreciate being a Mac user because of its Apple Care Protection Plan (APP). Some might disagree with me on the topic of investing in the Apple Care Protection Plan but I still firmly believe that it’s still a good investment.

But that’s not what this article is all about. What I want to talk about is how Apple still cares without Apple Care. In my opinion, anyway.

This month of October hasn’t been a good month for me and my Mac Book Pro. In a span of 30 days, my logic board gave out, my battery just got fully discharged and my left fan just totally conked out. And just recently, my MagSafe adapter gave out, too. I just noticed it was fraying at the part near the block, and the next thing I knew, it wasn’t charging my laptop anymore.

I knew for a fact that the other parts like the logic board and fan were included in the Apple Care Protection Plan so I wasn’t worried too much about those.

My battery getting replaced, on the other hand, was a big bonus. It’s true, what one reader commented on my past post. Batteries aren’t normally included in the APP. But if you feel that you have been given a lemon of a battery, then you can still bring it over to an authorized Apple Service Provider to have it evaluated EVEN if it’s out of warranty. There’s still a good chance they might replace it for FREE. One sign of a bad battery is when it has a low number of battery cycles and the battery health is also low. My 2 year old battery had only 160 cycles and yet the health was already 20%.

Another similar issue is when Apple gave the announcement about Mac Book Pro models with faulty NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processors. Even if your unit is not under warranty anymore or not under APP, you can still bring it to an Apple Service Provide (ASP) and have it evaluated for a possible replacement free of charge.

Same thing with the MagSafe adapter, apparently the “fraying” problem is common.

Additional Information
Whether your product is in or out-of-warranty, you can take your adapter to an Apple-Authorized Service Provider or Apple Retail Store for evaluation and replacement if necessary. You may be eligible for a replacement adapter free of charge provided there are no signs of accidental damage. – Apple Portables: Troubleshooting MagSafe adapters

This is also reminds of the thread I recently read in our local Apple community forums, where I based the title of my article. (Philippine settings.)

I may seem like an Apple fan girl, but I believe that Apple is definitely giving me back my money’s worth in terms of service and quality of products. But with Apple becoming mainstream, let’s hope that they will be able to maintain the same amount of excellence in years to come.


Lia Espina

6 Comments

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  1. I believe Apple Care is an overpriced extended warranty that belies the cheap components Apple sells for high prices. I had a 15″ MBP 15 months-old original equipment battery need to be replaced. It had gone through 93 charging cycles. It cost me $136. This should have been replaced for free but greedy Apple won’t stand behind their equipment.

    Apple’s equipment seems to fail more frequently than comparably priced non-Apple PCs/laptops. I know this firsthand as tech support is my livelihood.

  2. I agree — My Apple laptop’s battery was coming apart!! Upon taking it into the Apple store I walked out with a brand new battery at no charge.

  3. I hear about too many issues with Apple products. I can’t get excited because the warranty covered something- how about not breaking in the first place?

  4. My iBook is five years old, and still I use it daily for web work, writing, etc. It has been rock solid with only a few software-related glitches. I replaced the battery after three years. It works. I dispute the claim that Apple uses cheap components. As for battery life: ymmv.

  5. I just went in to an apple store today and even though I’ve had my macbook for about 2.5 years and even though I do have apple care on it the guy said batteries were usually only covered in the first year. He was cool though and decided to give me one anyway. Mine had fattened up and I was scared to keep it in the mac.

  6. My experience with the quality of Apple products has been universally good. I have long — very long — experiences with many many PCs and for years I used to make my own desktop PCs, and am hardware and software trained by IBM during my long employment with IBM before I finally retired. I am very pleased with the advanced technology I have always found in Macs, and while I know the more advanced it is, the more likelihood of problems, i have not found this to be true so far at least. I do know you have to pay more for Macs, but I feel it is a super bargain considering everything you get — including the best service and training in the business. This results from having a single source both for hardware and at least operating system software — you will never get Microsoft to be interested in fixing your PCs. The original IBM PC when sold only by IBM had this advantage, but that is long gone.