Switching to Mac

[Pulvinar]

No, they're not, and neither am I. I've researched extended warranties in detail, and as a rule, I don't buy them. When it came to my laptop, I read the pros and cons, and decided it was worth the money.

If it's a good deal for you, why do they offer it? Are they into losing money?

 

[lionking]

If it's a good deal for you, why do they offer it? Are they into losing money?

It's insurance, that's all. You may lose on the deal, but it allows for peace of mind. My son is a computer professional and he thinks an extended warranty is a no brainer. He knows the cost of repair and replacement of parts.

Anyway, deed now done, and will set up shiny tonight.

 

[Emet]

It's insurance, that's all. You may lose on the deal, but it allows for peace of mind. My son is a computer professional and he thinks an extended warranty is a no brainer. He knows the cost of repair and replacement of parts.

Anyway, deed now done, and will set up shiny tonight.

Agreed. As with all insurance, risk is pooled.

Congrats, lionking. Hope you enjoy.

 

[Pulvinar]

It's insurance, that's all. You may lose on the deal, but it allows for peace of mind. My son is a computer professional and he thinks an extended warranty is a no brainer. He knows the cost of repair and replacement of parts.

Anyway, deed now done, and will set up shiny tonight.

Ok... but why doesn't a savings account offer just as much peace of mind?

Do you think the company offering the extended warranty has less knowledge than their customers of the cost of repairing their own products?

 

[lionking]

Ok... but why doesn't a savings account offer just as much peace of mind?

Do you think the company offering the extended warranty has less knowledge than their customers of the cost of repairing their own products?

The trouble with self insurance is that people just don't do it. I would be better off if I saved $200 a month and put it into a health saving account than pay the $280 for health insurance, but I know I wouldn't do it.

Anyway, I'm posting now from the iMac, and it's wonderful.

 

[Damien Evans]

Just had an argument with one of my sons. He wants to download music via Limewire. He tells me that there shouldn't be any problem if I run an anti-virus program. My plan was to use the old computer, which still has a year or so to go on its anti-virus software, for downloads, and if that works he can copy the music to the iMac. I plan to do the same thing with movies.

Am I being a bit paranoid?

Mind you, he'll probably do it regardless of what I say.

Why on earth would he want to use limewire when torrents exist?

 

[lionking]

Why on earth would he want to use limewire when torrents exist?

You usually can't get individual songs with torrents. It's more often whole albums. Anyway he tells me that he doesn't use Limewire anymore. The apple guy told me that ("while I can't endorse what your son is doing") it was pretty safe.

 

[Damien Evans]

You usually can't get individual songs with torrents. It's more often whole albums. Anyway he tells me that he doesn't use Limewire anymore. The apple guy told me that ("while I can't endorse what your son is doing") it was pretty safe.

Download the torrent for the album, deselect the songs you don't want. Easy, and from what I've seen and heard Limewire is full of viruses and malware now anyway.

 

[Kid Eager]

Anyway, I'm posting now from the iMac, and it's wonderful.

It is very nice, isn't it. The screen is awesome.

 

[erlando]

Never ever buy upgrades (extra RAM, extra HD etc) from the Apple Store. They charge horrendous overprices. The warranty allows for at least DIY installation of RAM. I forget if it covers changing the harddrive on the MacBooks.

When I bought my Mac Pro (octocore for the win! ) I bought the base model and bought extra RAM and HD from 3rd party suppliers. On 16 GB RAM and 2 TB HD I saved around 700 Euros IIRC.

 

[lionking]

Of course, the trouble now is getting near it. My daughter is on Facebook now, which her laptop is well and truly capable of handling. Good thing there's a lot of sport on TV tonight.

 

[ThatSoundAgain]

Ok... but why doesn't a savings account offer just as much peace of mind?

Like Emet says, it's insurance and therefore pooled risk. That means that you won't risk repair outliers on the far end (total system replacement), and you won't cash in on outliers on the near end (no problems at all ever). Some people prefer that.

Do you think the company offering the extended warranty has less knowledge than their customers of the cost of repairing their own products?

No, but they might have more negotiating leverage with repair providers than the average person walking in from the street. That means that they might actually be able to offer a competitively priced warranty.

Of course, the trouble now is getting near it. My daughter is on Facebook now, which her laptop is well and truly capable of handling. Good thing there's a lot of sport on TV tonight.

Heh, that'll hopefully wear off. Congrats!

Be sure to learn cmd+tab, cmd+`, cmd+h, cmd+opt+h, and cmd+q if you haven't already. I see to many novice Mac users rely on the dock and manually moving windows aside.

 

[Pulvinar]

Like Emet says, it's insurance and therefore pooled risk. That means that you won't risk repair outliers on the far end (total system replacement), and you won't cash in on outliers on the near end (no problems at all ever). Some people prefer that.

No, but they might have more negotiating leverage with repair providers than the average person walking in from the street. That means that they might actually be able to offer a competitively priced warranty.

What you're describing is the repair providers competing to be the warranty provider's supplier, as any other of their suppliers would. That doesn't change the warranty equation though. Why would repair providers compete for warranty service unless it was more lucrative for them too?

I think I'll go into the insurance business-- so much easy money to be made due to people's poor reasoning.

 

[Emet]

I think I'll go into the insurance business-- so much easy money to be made due to people's poor reasoning.

For me, insurance is about catastrophic coverage. The state I live in requires minimum renter's insurance. However, I have more than the minimum. I have replacement coverage for catastrophic loss of all of my possessions. I've rented before where no insurance was required, but I still had it.

The odds of catastrophic loss are very small for me, statistically speaking. I expect I'll die without ever making a claim.

And despite your insistence that there is only one correct view, there really isn't. I agree that for most electronics, appliances, and even automobiles, extended warranties are not worth the expense--for me.

But for a laptop, well, again, I researched it thoroughly--and decided it was worth it--for me.

YMMV.

 

[Emet]

Be sure to learn cmd+tab, cmd+`, cmd+h, cmd+opt+h, and cmd+q if you haven't already. I see to many novice Mac users rely on the dock and manually moving windows aside.

Despite having my Mac for 1 & 1/2 years, old habits die hard. I'm really bad about using all of the available shortcuts. Hell, I bought a wireless mouse (non Apple) because the laptop I used at work had a terrible touch pad, and I never thought I'd be able to be mouse-less. It's still in the blister pack/box it came in. So at least I've progressed.

Note to self: start using the short-cuts.



(Thanks for the reminder)

 

[Pulvinar]

And despite your insistence that there is only one correct view, there really isn't. I agree that for most electronics, appliances, and even automobiles, extended warranties are not worth the expense--for me.

But for a laptop, well, again, I researched it thoroughly--and decided it was worth it--for me.

YMMV.

So, why does one's milage vary here? You must be counting some service outside of the insurance aspect of the warranty which you may well be able to get separately. Otherwise I don't see it. Unless you believe that in this case you can beat the odds. (that notion lights Las Vegas...)

 

[leonAzul]

Download the torrent for the album, deselect the songs you don't want. Easy, and from what I've seen and heard Limewire is full of viruses and malware now anyway.

Despite its bad reputation, there are quite a few legitimate uses for P2P networks, most notably among FOSS proponents. Their viability depends on cooperatively serving as well as consuming files over the network. Although it's considered "bad form", most clients can selectively download individual parts of a torrent without staying online long enough to return the favor.

About 10 years ago Gnutella was a cutting edge outlet for suppressed information, much like WikiLeaks, with some warez and pr0n on the side. Today it is a festering cesspool of automated phishing and malware with some paid-for content, much of dubious worth, on the side.

Upthread, someone asked why pay for copies? The obvious answer is to repay the people who financed the production as well as the creators of the content in a decent sounding and properly tagged format. Sometimes, what you don't get from a legitimate source is even more important

 

[leonAzul]

So, why does one's milage vary here?

It depends on how valuable your time is. For someone who depends on a piece of gear for their livelihood, a solid backup plan with a complete restore image, or cloned replacement drive, and a walk-in or overnight replacement warranty is quite valuable. To others, it might seem a waste of money.

 

[not daSkeptic]

It depends on how valuable your time is. For someone who depends on a piece of gear for their livelihood, a solid backup plan with a complete restore image, or cloned replacement drive, and a walk-in or overnight replacement warranty is quite valuable. To others, it might seem a waste of money.

^This

 

[Pulvinar]

It depends on how valuable your time is. For someone who depends on a piece of gear for their livelihood, a solid backup plan with a complete restore image, or cloned replacement drive, and a walk-in or overnight replacement warranty is quite valuable. To others, it might seem a waste of money.

Certainly time time is valuable and backups are good. But what would stop you from just buying a replacement for that piece of gear if needed, using the savings from all the extended warranties you hadn't paid for?

This must be purely psychological: not noticing how much these warranties add up to.