Warranties
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Dear Aunt TUAW: Should I buy AppleCare+?
Dear Aunt TUAW, I was wondering how you felt about AppleCare+ vs Best Buy's extended warranty. My wife and I just bought 2 iPhone 4S's and would like to protect our investments. The Best Buy option would cost us US$15/mo. for each phone. That is $720 over the next two years. AppleCare+ is $99 for two years of coverage but has the $50 service fee. Can you do a pros and cons list of these two options? Thank you guys. Your loving nephew, John Dear John, AppleCare+ is easy to do -- just buy it when you purchase your iPhone 4S. And when things go bad, which they often do with devices that get used in your hands in real-world conditions (i.e. more often that you'd like, and "all the time" when you're looking at the population as a whole), it's more cost effective. What's more, with AppleCare+, you're in the Apple system. You're going to deal with Apple Geniuses and Apple Retail, which Auntie assures you provides more happy outcomes than dealing with Best Buy. An Apple Store's environment of hands-on help is fantastic. When it comes to "who do you trust," Auntie trusts Apple's service techs over those at Best Buy. Hugs, Auntie T.
Apple revised South Korea's iPhone warranty
The South Korean Fair Trade Commission has said that customers who receive defective iPhones can exchange them for non-refurbished models, Bloomberg reports. This reflects a change to Apple's iPhone warranty in that country. Apple has given phones refurbished with new parts to customers in that situation. Owners complained that Apple's policy states they may receive refunds, new phones or free repairs. Now a customer who meets the criteria may choose which option s/he would like to receive. If a new phone is the choice, that customer will receive a brand-new iPhone, not one containing refurbished parts.
iPad 101: iPad AppleCare pros & cons
Considering AppleCare for your iPad? I know that I am. For $99, AppleCare extends your iPad warranty coverage to two years from the date of purchase. Although AppleCare tends to be expensive, for certain purchases it can really save you, especially for devices which run a higher risk of component failure over a lifetime of hard use -- such as laptops and other mobile tech. Many Apple aficionados tend to avoid buying AppleCare for robust devices like the Mac mini series. Those units tend either to die right away or last forever. They are highly self-serviceable for anyone who has a reasonable degree of comfort with a screwdriver. The iPad and the iPhone, on the other hand, can feel like accidents waiting to happen. Without a simple avenue for owner-repair, they are more of a black box purchase. And their components can and do die much more unexpectedly. In my history of purchasing iPhones and iPod touches, I have personally encountered video driver death and massive touchscreen failure. To be fair, both of these incidents happened within a month or so of purchase, so keep that in mind as well. For many devices, component failures tend to show themselves fairly soon. With a standard iPad purchase, you are covered for 90 days of phone support and a 1 year hardware warranty without any need for a further AppleCare payment, according to the Apple representative I talked to this morning. What's more, if you want to wait, you can. Purchasing AppleCare extends standard iPad coverage to 2 years each of phone support and hardware warranty. You can buy AppleCare up until the last day of your 1 year complimentary coverage, so there's not really a rush unless you need phone support during that time.
Are Apple Time Capsules out of time after a year and a half?
There are quite a few unhappy Time Capsule owners over at the Apple support boards. It appears that some Time Capsules are going belly-up at roughly the 18 month mark, simply refusing to power on. As Brian from Texas wrote: "My TC did the exact same thing two days ago. It is 18 months old. After doing some research, I have found others with the same problem. At 17-18 months, the power supply goes out. I went to the Apple store today and they said too bad, out of warranty." There are 6 pages of TC owners with similar issues, most of them happening after about a year and a half, so it looks like something is going on with the units. This seems eerily similar to the 'dead airport express' syndrome of a couple of years ago where the products would simply fail to work and all the data and power lights went off. Sometimes there was an audible popping sound. Other times, the APX just died. If you are having this issue it might be a good idea to report it to Apple and see if the weight of complaints gets them to look into this. Let us know too. Thanks to Mike for the tip. Update: As it's being discussed in the comments here, Lauren went ahead and investigated whether AppleCare for your Mac will cover an out-of-warranty Time Capsule. The answer may surprise (and please) you.
Survey says: LCD and plasma TVs highly reliable
LCD and plasma TVs are far more reliable than older rear-projection types, according to a report by Consumer Reports. On average, only 3% of flat panel TVs need repairs, with the majority of those repairs being free thanks to warranties. Rear projection TVs had a far higher repair rate of 18%, probably due to the limited life of the bulbs contained in these TVs. When flat panels TVs did need an out of warranty repair, they cost around $260 for LCDs, and nearly $400 for plasmas, with rear projection TV repairs costing around $300. The report also called out expensive extended warranties, saying that they're only worth it if you're particularly paranoid and they're cheaper than any possible repairs.
