Applecare v John Lewis included guarantee?

[bigTillyMint]

Im looking to buy a MacBook Air for my DD (18th and hopefully off to uni) - she will be the one who needs suport/repairs!

Any views on which is better?

TIA

Buy from JL as you get automatic 2/3/5yr warrantee (depends on item). If it goes wrong in the first year, Apple will usually replace it under their own warrantee scheme which isn't affected by where you buy it. JL will send it off to be inspected, possibly repaired. It will take a few weeks and they usually recommend taking it to an Apple Store if it's less than a year old. This has happened to us twice with Apple products and JL and both times it was sorted out really quickly and the items replaced. This will not work if you drop it in water however

If she has a uni email address or a NUS card AppleCare is better as it gives three years technical advice as well as product guarantee and damage cover.

She will also get a discount buying through the education store.

Is it a surprise for her? Can you get to an Apple store? My DS asked for cash for his 18th then decided to buy a MacBook. We went to the Apple store, the staff were amazing. They can offer an educational discount of up to 16 percent I think? They can also include Applecare massively reduced, I think we paid about £29. He had to be with me though.

Ooh thats all really helpful, thanks!

She isnt at uni yet - fingers crossex she will go in September. Do you think that would still work iamme?

DS was still at college and qualified for some discount, he told them he was going to uni and they gave him the higher discount!

Worth asking!

Oh and when he had an issue with the battery, he just took it into Apple and it was replaced no problem

I'd say there's a few factors. What course is she looking at? Is it one that will require intense computer use, or use of intense programs (video editing, some science programs, any assistive software). If she's just needing a standard laptop with office software then a MacBook Air is a great computer!

What university will she be attending (all going well) and will she have easy access to an apple store, or a John Lewis or both?

Apple Care is good, and can also be purchased within 12 months to 'spread the cost' a bit. You'd need to see if JL can also be that flexible. Also what the JL warranty covers, compared to AppleCare.

Apple discount is very good, and they usually also have a decent 'new academic year' offer of an apple store gift card, or free headphones or something similar when you buy a new mac or iPad for university. Those offers usually come out end of July/August so hold your horses a little.

She will likely get access to Office for free through her university, but I'd say get the (also free) iWork's suite, the programs are better (IMO) and work well on the Air, you can also open and save documents as windows files (if her uni runs windows).

I have a 5 year old MacBook Air and have had zero issues with it, although now it needs a new battery but that's fairly standard. I will be upgrading to a MacBook Pro in September as I need to run some more processor heavy programs and my Air just can't cope.

Iamme, that is great - will get her to come on a little shopping trip with me!

Loops, she will not be doing a course with any computing in it - it is needed for netflix wordprocessing and possibly the other odd Office programme! We live in London and her firm and insurance are both big cities with AppleStores and JL's. That's great advice about waiting - her b'day is late July, but maybe we should wait till August.

Also good info on the iWorks and great to hear your Air has lasted 5 years!

In that case, and assuming nothing assistive will be needed the Air will absolutely do her :) the 13 inch is the best size, 11 is really too small, it's super light :) accessories I have found useful are a laptop lock that works with the Air and a hdmi-lightning converter if she wants to hook it up to a tv screen to watch movies

Let Apple advise you Tilly, store or on the phone.

I always bump up my memory and processor.

I moved from a ten year old Mac book pro to a Mac book air earlier this year, configured it with a i7 processor and souped up everything else.

DD has got my old one, I could have just replaced the track pad but I wanted a new one for frivolous reasons.

Apple education stores sell directly to parents buying for uni students.

This is all great info, thanks! Think I will call Apple tomorrow to ask re discount and when we should buy for best offers.

I am a NUS member despite being 50! Eternally studying something, my three year AppleCare cost £90 ish from memory, in March this year, as opposed to the £229 normally. When I bought my pro ten years ago students got AppleCare free! I was a student then as well!