Can this be purchased after the purchase of a mac as long as its in the 1st year after purchase? I ask because i didnt get it at the time i purchased my mac and i am now thinking about getting it.

Spot on

Though it's still best to get it as soon as you can. Often, Apple will require that you bring the machine in first, before you apply for APP after the first year, so that they can make sure you've not poured coffee down it - on the off chance that you did, and are trying to get APP and then use it a month or so after.

nods

If you get it now, you won't need to go through the hassle of taking it in for examination.

thankyou for the quick replies, does it often come in handy or is it more of a better to be safe than sorry thing.

It comes in handy. If your logic board dies at some point after the 12 months, you just saved yourself money, as this is normally the most common thing to die in all macs, and is usually the most expensive.

ClockWork - how often do they request you have the mac checked out? Last year I put AppleCare on my Mac Mini G4, and they didn't ask about anything. In fact, I ordered the AppleCare 2 days before it expired, rang apple and said 'look its about to expire, I'll probably get the package after it does, what do I do?' and they told me as long as the INVOICE date is within the 12 months, they'll honour it! - And they did!

Very much so - I regret not getting for my powerbook, its now 20 months old (8 months out of warrenty) and has a faulty trackpad heat sensor which causes it to go to sleep all the time (yesterday the sleep book shut itself off 15 times in 10 minutes before i gave up) with apple my topcase would be replaced without it its going to cost about 500 or 600 dollars. So tonight the powerbook is going to become a linuxbook, linux doesnt monitor the heat sensor

my ibook is 2 years old and its working well. I have dropped it once and it still works. I got the apple care protection plan. Its a gamble.

Hawker - it depends which Apple Retailer with Service Centre one goes to. It's not an all out rule, yet certain outlets want to take a look at the device before selling APP after a year has passed.

Guess they got burned a few times too many.

Ben - yes - mighty handy, to cover your arse. It's just like any bet. We pay Apple for the APP on the bet that something will go wrong. Apple sells us APP on the bet that nothing will go wrong. As Hawker's mention. logic board goes belly up at some point after 1 year and that's around $1,200 replacement - yet full APP - it's $00.00 to replace.

Have had quite a number of customers refuse to purchase APP on the grounds that it's pricey, yet when something goes awry, and they realize they have to pay for parts and labor, they suddenly wanna sue Apple, go bananas, and all kinds of weird stuff.

I got it direct from Apple so I could get education - so that's probably why I got away with it!

will probably go ahead and buy it sometime soon then. i've had my mac for just under a month so i dont think i will have to worry about taking it in for inspection. i will be purchasing from apple anyway so i can get the education discount.

Does it pay to get APP more for laptop macs than desktop macs?
- Berwyck

Since the bulk of the desktops (iMac, Mac Mini) are built with laptop parts I'd say its wise to get APP for all of them. But because laptops are moved about more, and normally treated a bit rougher than their desktop counterparts, then yes I'd say its wise.

But in this day and age, I'd get it for every Mac. I'll be getting it for my PowerMac G5 Quad soon.

Cheers hawker, just wondering since I will be going for my first laptop mac in the next month.
- Berwyck

On the other hand, someone like me who buys new machines before the original warranty expires, AppleCare is a waste of money

I think ClockWork's info is out of date. Apple USED to do a variant of AppleCare (used a different name) that could be purchased on an annual basis either once the 2 year APP had expired OR if your normal warranty had expired. If you were outside warranty they would check teh machine to make sure you weren't buying it to cover some pre-existing problem. They don't do this coverage anymore. All you can get is the usual AppleCare which must be bought whilst the normal warranty is current.