Is AppleCare worth it for a Mac mini?

[Joshua]

I'm gonna be getting a Mini once they make the upgrade official, but should I spend the extra money on the AppleCare Protection Plan?

Whats the general idea with you guys on AAP?

BTW, this is my first Mac.

Thanks guys.

[turtle]

My take on it is why?

The Mini is $500 to $700 with the one year extra coverage costing you $150. To me it doesn't make sense. The Mini isn't like a laptop that will get bumped around and such, it just sits there. If it were and iBook or PB you were asking for I would say YES. Something to sit still on a desk though...no.

Is there a chance it could die in that year and make it worth the coverage, sure, but to me it just isn't worth it. Not for $150 anyway, if it were $50 then maybe...maybe. This being my first Mac I can't speak from too much of a back ground other than to say they are really solid machines.

The real question is: is the peace of mind worth the cost to YOU?

[EmC]

My advice would be to wait. There is no need to buy the applecare immediately. You can buy applecare anytime as long as you are within the one year original warranty. So since this is your first Mac, wait, See if you like the exerience(I am sure you will :) ). If 11 months from now you know that you are going to be using the mini for a while then go ahead and get it. If not you didn't waste the money on it. Resale value usually goes up a bit though if you can say it has X amount of applecare left on it.

Also look at it this way. Will you be skipping any upgrade that would make the machine run better know, in order to get the applecare. If so get the upgrade, then 11 months from know get the applecare.

[Joshua]

Thats kinda what I was thinking too. I know enough about computers to where I could probably fix any hardware problems I had.

Thanks for the replies