Thank God for AppleCare

My trip to the Apple store in Beijing to get my MacBook repaired taught me several things. First, like everything in Beijing/China, the Apple store was HUGE. Second, those working at the Genius bar do not speak English, but they were very helpful and patient with my garbled Mandarin (how the hell do you say words like “trackpad” in Mandarin??). Third, the best thing anyone can do if they have an Apple product is to have AppleCare.

My issue with my MacBook was the trackpad. Or, well, the clicky part of the trackpad. Sometimes I could click on things, and other times I couldn’t. When I took my MacBook in to get it fixed, I was terrified of how long it would take to fix and how much it would cost. My Genius was just the nicest guy; he was incredibly patient and took the time to tell me what the name of each component of my computer whenever I asked. He explained that the housing kit, top case with keyboard, and the display bezel needed to be replaced. That, combined with the hardware repair cost, amounted to 1270RMB. Or should I say would have – because I have AppleCare, it really amounted to free!

I know it’s common sense to purchase insurance or warranty of some kind when it comes to laptops and computers, but in this case, having AppleCare really was a lifesaver. I’m studying abroad and am obviously on a budget, so it’s not like I have thousands of spare RMB I can pull out of thin air. Plus, the turnaround to get my MacBook fixed was only one day. Now that’s genius!

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.