When will my warranty run out ? (when to buy apple care)

[takao]

so i bought my mac mini last year (ordered in january and recieved around the 18. feburary) and now after a year i'm thinking about buying apple care because after all i'm extremly happy and i want it to stay that way ...

so my problem is... where can i see when my first year runs out so that i can order apple care before it runs out ?
is it the date it shipped ? or the day i received it ?

my problem is that don't remember the date... is their a way to look it up ?

and how does it work with apple care ? do i get some codes or box or something ? i'm still not sure how it all works

 

[eva01]

I believe your 1-year warranty expires exactly one year from when you receive the machine, not from purchase date.

which reminds me i need to buy applecare for my powerbook and powermac *cries* basically the price of a new display that i want -_-

 

[DaftUnion]

It goes from purchase date unfor., I have AppleCare on my iMac and it's from the day I ordered the item (or when it shipped out) but def. not from when I received my mac.

 

[Macky-Mac]

...so my problem is... where can i see when my first year runs out so that i can order apple care before it runs out ?...

go to apple.com/support/ and look around on the left side of the page about half way down, you'll find a place where you can enter the serial number of your computer..... it'll tell you how many days remain on your coverage


edit; opps! that's the right side, not the left

 

[takao]

go to apple.com/support/ and look around on the left side of the page about half way down, you'll find a place where you can enter the serial number of your computer..... it'll tell you how many days remain on your coverage

oh thank you so much ... that was exactly what i was looking for ... you saved me some sleepless nights and a telephonecall
after all i ordered on the 13/1/05 which would be too late and got it around the 22-25 (?) feb

it even says you how much days you have left (32 in my case)
it seems to be the shipping date ...

so only the questions remains if i should buy or not it's still not cheap ...

(edit: and it was on the right side of the german site )

 

[hayduke]

I'm renewing...

I'm renewing. I just found out that I have 49 days left and my screen just started to go on the fritz (15" PB). I think it's like to be a *very* good investment.

 

[TMA]

go to apple.com/support/ and look around on the left side of the page about half way down, you'll find a place where you can enter the serial number of your computer..... it'll tell you how many days remain on your coverage

That's just an estimate. It can't be used to prove your mac is still in warranty. The serial number of your computer contains the date it was assembled in the factory - I believe the Apple serial checker just adds a week or two on to allow for storage/delivery before it gets sold, but it can sometimes be out by a month or more.

 

[takao]

That's just an estimate. It can't be used to prove your mac is still in warranty. The serial number of your computer contains the date it was assembled in the factory - I believe the Apple serial checker just adds a week or two on to allow for storage/delivery before it gets sold, but it can sometimes be out by a month or more.

so this brings back my point: "when is the point of sale made ?" when it gets shipped or when i receive it ? i doubt it is made when i order it ... that would mean that i only had 10 3/4 months of warranty left when i recieved it ?

it actually is pretty close to the day it got shipped so i'm not sure about it being an estimate
i never received a "your product got shipped e-mail" so i don't remember the date .. i just have the "because of high demand it won't ship on the estimated date but before the 24.2" from the 17.02.05 ...

 

[sw1tcher]

so only the questions remains if i should buy or not it's still not cheap ...

If you haven't had any major problems with it over the past year, then I say skip it. For the price that you're paying for it (~ 25% of the cost of the mini most likely) I don't think it's worth it.

Save the money toward a new Intel mini if it goes south on you.

 

[TMA]

According to the T's and C's on Apple's website, the warranty starts from the invoice date (printed on your receipt) Have you still got this?

If it's going to go back for repair you'll need to talk to Apple anyway, so you'll be able to confirm with them. You could try and be a bit sneaky and say you don't remember the purchase date and that you can't find the receipt - They might just check when it was assembled and decide it's close enough.

 

[takao]

yeah i just found that with the receipt somewhere on apple's homepage... the thing is: i don't have the receipt here.. it's about 160 km away at home in my desk at our house and not here in my studying flat (and as always in those cases: nobody seems to pick up the phone at home)


i only had one problem with hardware so far: after going over to my sister and coping some stuff over ethernet, the (empty) disc drive somehow was mechanically blocked on the right side of the slot... i somehow solved it by rebooting + holding the mousebutton AND *grasp* pressing a disc in while doing it... needless to say that took me like half an hour and i was sitting there sweating with a heart rate of like 300 and thinking about calling apple the next day...

that was my only hardware problem so far ... (the software crashes aside... yes Safari i'm looking at you... finder locked up a 5 times too)

and yeah it gave a small electric charge once when i first plugged in the powerbrick etc. _first_ (i know stupid idea but i'm kinda used to the safe PC connectors) and then tried to put the small plug in the back


... while i was typing this my mother finally answered the phone and confirmed the 19.02.05 date (looks like the homepage is really good at guessing or somehow looks it up)

i'm in for a student rebate so it's a little cheaper ... and now i'm even thinking about ordering something with it... is Tiger worth it for a Mac Mini Panther user or should i wait more untill it gets more stable ? any other recommondations what might be usefull? software hardware wise (<100 bucks ?)

 

[Macky-Mac]

That's just an estimate. It can't be used to prove your mac is still in warranty. The serial number of your computer contains the date it was assembled in the factory - I believe the Apple serial checker just adds a week or two on to allow for storage/delivery before it gets sold, but it can sometimes be out by a month or more.

I've heard different things about the "estimate".....I've heard that it does scan a database of registered computers first before it relies on the manufacture date......and I've heard that when you buy from an Apple store (as opposed to a resseller) then the serial number is scanned and sent into Apple.....and also your serial number goes into the registration database if you're connected to the internet when you run the set-up assisstent program (assuming you run it that is)

(and earlier when I said the serial number check thingie was on the left, I goofed, it's on the right)

 

[dblissmn]

My AppleCare on both my spring 2001 G4 and my TiBook started from the date I registered the systems with Apple. The G4 PowerMac in particular I remember because I was surprised the warranty was in the month following when I had ordered it, and I figured out that it was the day I registered it. Same with the TiBook.

My understanding from my dealer (as of last October) is that is still the case.