AppleCare for iPad

Solution 1:

Generally an extended warranty (and insurance in general) is not worthwhile if you can afford the loss. By definition, insurers calculate the odds that they'll need to pay out a claim, and charge more than that (odds * payout) to make a profit.

The only reason to pay that surcharge is to protect against losses that would cause massive financial hardship. If you can replace the item on short notice without going hungry or losing your home, you're probably better off self-insuring in the long run.

That being said, there are exceptions: most notably when you have better information than the insurer about your risks. In other words, if you know you're much more likely to damage an item than the average user (and the insurance company considers you an "average user"), it might be a win to insure for accidental damage.

For this reason, I did actually go ahead and insure my iPad -- although I did so through SquareTrade, not Apple, as they offer a better product IMHO.

Solution 2:

Sadly, I had got pretty good mileage from Apple Care with my MBPro so I got one for iPad.

It has less moving parts but one part I expect to need repair is the main button, especially after iOS4 arrives and it will be used to switch between running apps with double-click

Solution 3:

I do get AppleCare for all my Macs, and will get AppleCare for an iPad whenever I buy one that I expect to use for more than 12 months. Three of my last four Macs have benefited from it.

I suspect I'll buy the 2011 iPad next year, so I decided an extended warranty wasn't needed on my 2010 iPad.