Come January, I will have been a Mac user for precisely one year. To be honest, I can hardly believe it’s been so long already, and my Powerbook still very much feels like a new addition. I suppose in the 20 years I’ve been using computers, it is a new addition, and I’m still exploring and finding out stuff about my new platform every day. (This was a revelation). It’s only grubbiness of the keys that give the game away and reveal the number of hours use this thing has had over the last ten months (I estimate around 4000 hours).

So I’m thinking about whether or not to buy in to Apple’s extended warranty scheme, Apple Care. I’m normally set against extended warranties with the view that they only exist because the manufacturer makes profit from them. If the customer base as a whole won on the deal then no right minded company would sell such a thing. However, the customer base as a whole matters little to the individual – at the end of the day it comes down to whether or not it benefits me if anything goes wrong. Apple Care offers an additional two years cover if anything goes wrong with my Powerbook, but at the cost of around £280.

The alternative, as I see it, is to sit it out and hope nothing goes wrong and if it does I’ve got £280 to put towards a repair. This is fine if it’s something like the disc or power supply packing up, but not if it’s the screen, mobo, burner, well pretty much anything else. The other thing to consider is that if something major were to die, the age of the machine would be a factor. If I was faced with a big spend in the next 12 months, perhaps the Apple Care would be worth it. If the same was to happen in, for example, 18 months time I might have to consider whether it was time to replace the Powerbook anyway.

As with anything, it would seem to be a gamble. It’s a gamble both ways, with the smallest stake being £280. However, I treat my machines well and haven’t had so much as a hint of bother from my mac so far – it’s been flawless. The question remains of the likelihood of needing a repair – I’ve heard as many horror stories as not.

So my question to mac owners – do you have Apple Care? Have you had cause to use it? Any suggestions would be helpful, because I’m genuinely undecided.