I just picked up an iPad and the sales "specialist" was completely unconvincing for me to get the AppleCare extended warranty. I realize the iPad is fairly new, so not a lot of failures yet, but I am curious if in general the extended warranty is worth while for a device like that. The only thing I could think of was battery replacement if the battery performance falls off.
IPad – AppleCare for iPad
applecarebatteryipadwarranty
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Best Answer
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.