[X4U] Applecare and hard drives

[Linda]

On 10/5/05 1:59 AM, Jon Warms wrote:

> Does the AC contract replace like with like? If they charge extra for a
> bigger drive, how competitive is that charge? Would it be less than going
> to a third-party to buy and install a bigger drive?

AppleCare replaces like with like. If you have an 80GB Seagate drive that
dies, but Apple isn't using Seagate as the OEM drive in similar new
machines, you'll get an 80GB Maxtor or an 80GB Western Digital, for example.

The only time you get "upgraded" is if the part is no longer available
anywhere, anyhow, not even for service (which doesn't happen much -- even
Airport cards that were discontinued a year ago are still available for
*service* through AppleCare).

They won't upgrade your drive at user request, in my personal experience.
And, if you perform the repair yourself and don't return your faulty disk
drive to them in time, the cost for the new drive charged to your credit
card is generally more than if you went to your local store and bought a
replacement.
> 
> I don't know the warranty status of a new drive if you replace the 
> original drive with a larger one before the original drive fails 
> (a fairly common upgrade). Many replacement drives have two year 
> manufacturers' warranties but I suspect they won't cover labor.

The warranty status of the new drive is that it's no longer covered under
AppleCare. Only the original disk, or one that's replaced *under contract*
via AppleCare, are part of AppleCare. Any improvements you make -- new hard
disk, third-party RAM, ergonomic keyboard, trackball/turbomouse -- are not
covered.

However, AppleCare *will* cover a monitor you buy at the same time you buy a
CPU, which is a bonus -- otherwise APP is not available on desktop monitors.

> Anyone have any experience with AC replacing a drive with a larger one?

Only once, not at my request. When I was having problems with my 7100/80
some 9 years ago, AppleCare upgraded my 700 MB hard disk with a 1 GB hard
disk for "customer satisfaction". There was nothing wrong with the hard
disk, but the machine was having problems and the tech was having difficulty
figuring them out, and so to help me be happier, they upgraded the disk.
However, this was back in the day of a long regular warranty and 24/7
service, and the machine wasn't actually under an extended AppleCare plan.

peace,
Linda