Apple Thoughts: What We're Thankful For: Apple Edition

At this time of year, we here in the US like to sit back and reflect on what's important to us and what we're grateful for. For the most part, everyone is generally happy about the same things; family health, family in general, and so on. This year, I've asked the other contributing editors to put together what they're thankful for, but in the context of Apple. In the following pages, I've reprinted their responses plus added my own.

We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with the joy and love of family and we also hope that it's a wonderful kickoff to another happy holiday season for all of you.

Thanks, Applecare

by Lita Kaufman, Contributing Editor

I am thankful for many things in my Appleverse - particularly great design and innovative products. But today, I am particularly thankful for the Applecare extended warranty I purchased for my Mac Pro. The accepted school of thought is "buy the extended warranty for portables, but not for desktops. Most hardware failures will occur in the first year, anyway." The problem with this advice is that it disregards one of the principle benefits of the Applecare Program - three years of unlimited technical support.

I've been having serious problems with my 16 month-old Apple TV and Airport Extreme Draft-N Gigabit Ethernet router for a week. Both items are out of their warranty period, and I neglected to purchase Applecare for the Apple TV. Last night, after doing the last bit of troubleshooting that I could do, I called the Apple Technical Support Hotline, and was prepared to pay the $35 for the support call. When I explained the problem to the CSR, the first thing she asked was if I had Applecare on a desktop or notebook computer. Since I did have a contract on my Mac Pro, she was able to use that to cover the support call. The problem still isn't solved - it needs to be escalated to a senior product specialist, and unfortunately one wasn't available at 10:20 p.m. I'll call back on Saturday, after my houseguests leave and everyone else is doped up on leftovers.