AppleCare for PowerBooks - Worth it or Wasted?

Starquake asks: "I am planning on purchasing a PowerBook in the near future. The choice between models largely depends on whether or not the cost of AppleCare is included. Of course the salesman at the Apple Store suggested I purchase AppleCare, but I am not sure about the cost/benefit ratio. Would the PowerBook owners on Slashdot please advise me on whether or not the AppleCare plan is worth the extra cost? What types of experiences have you had with Powerbook failures and replacements?"

Comments

Re:Year warranty

[DoctorTuba]

AppleCare is a must have. While I'd never buy it for a desktop machine (and never have) laptops take a tremendous amount of abuse and no matter how careful you are and how good the hardware is things will break. I've seen screens, optical and hard drives, motherboard connectors, keyboards, and batteries replaced without a hitch under AppleCare.

While the price of AppleCare for PowerBooks is the highest Apple charges (that might be indicative of the percentage of claims that relate to PowerBooks), it's less than the cost of a replacement motherboard or screen.

worth it, especially for early life-cycle models

[ubiquitin]

Early Titanium PowerBooks (15" before they called them that) in the 400 to 500 megahertz range G4 processor had problems with the screen developing always-on vertical lines. Apple will charge you around $800 to $1200 to fix this problem. Unfortunately, that's the depreciated value of those powerbooks at this point. Applecare would have taken care of this issue for $50. It took about 18 months before this problem developed widely and powerbook owners were able to corroborate stories that this problem was widespread. I've heard of keyboard-issues with the 12" models, but can't confirm that. My next powerbook will have AppleCare, as this is a piece of business equipment I can't afford to have not work perfectly all the time (kinda like a high availability server).