“A laptop is expensive, breakable (get that extended coverage and check to see if it covers accidental droppage), its less-than-modern CPU suggests we’ll see shorter life-spans (that 5-year rule might become a 3-year rule!)…”

I cannot applaud this statement enough. I know that is seems expensive to spend an extra $500 on the extended 3-year CompUSA version of AppleCare, but it is well, well worth it. It covers everything, including accidental droppage (unlike the regular AppleCare through Apple). And if there is a problem with the computer, and they aren’t able to fix it (especially after they’ve poored money down the drain, themselves, by expending several hundred dollars of their own labor-hours on trying to fix it), they will give you a new one for free. Obviously this new replacement one isn’t actually “free”, but it essentially cost you only $500 (the cost of the extended 3-year warranty).

I got a brand new 17″ G4 Powerbook for $500!

They couldn’t fix my old original model top-of-the-line Titanium Powerbook (which itself was cheaper than normal because it was the last in-store demo model and was already a bit beat up when I bought it several years ago), so they had to replace it for me with a modern equivalent — which actually turns out to be an even better machine.

Even if you don’t have that catastrophic a failure on your machine, within the three-year period (and yes, I was near the end of my three-year period, so I got lots of use out of it before it died), you will still save yourself a ton of money with that $500 extended three-year warranty through CompUSA. I know this from experience because during the first 12 months of the warranty, I was under the mis-impression that I had to take the computer to the Apple store in Cambridge to be serviced. The regular Apple care is not as extensive as the CompUSA one, and so when I accidentally dropped the machine, I had to pay $500 out of my own pocket to have the monitor replaced. Those LCD screens are expensive. If I had only known, I could have saved myself a long, cold commuter rail and T ride, and lots of money, if I’d only taken to where I bought it, CompUSA.

Now I know I sound like shill for CompUSA. Far from it. They have major problems of their own — for example, they will typically take a much longer turnaround time on your computer, because their shipping speeds to Texas are much slower than directly from the Apple stores, and their in-house initial diagnostic techs aren’t as savvy about Apple equipment as they could be. And sometimes they can be hostile to Mac people. But they have improved so much in these areas during the last year or two. Now they even drop by your house or workplace to pick up the dead computer, and if you will be without it for more than a week, sometimes they even give you a loaner!

Plus, if you don’t end up needing that $500 extended warranty, and your Mac works and lasts past the three-year mark without a problem, then you are actually in an even better and less money-wasting position than ever, because you’ve essentially lucked into a 4- or 5-year lifespan for that supposed 3-year lifespan computer, all for only another $500. It really isn’t a bad deal at all.