The serial number's been enough in my experience. It's probably worth bringing the invoice, if you have it.

Make sure you make an appointment for them to see it. You can't just turn up.

Bring some type of documentation if you can. They can operate off the serial number, but that process is not with a 100% success rate based on personal experience. Granted, when I had my issue, the Apple tech was trusting and allowed me to send him the info later that day.

Note: it is my OTHER HALF'S macbook, i.e. not my macbook.

I have just found the receipt, which the apple store emailed to him back when we bought it! It has a barcode on it.

I will make an appointment now.

BtGoG, for what it's worth, I found the techs at the Apple store to be very helpful and non-irritating. Applecare is worth every penny and your OH was wise to purchase it.

Because I took the plunge and bought AC, Apple completely replaced the LCD on my macbook pro when it got a scratch and some vague darkish patches on it last summer as a result of the spacebar contacting the screen while the lid was closed. They didn't just replace the screen bit, mind you, they replaced the entire lid assembly.

To top it off, they also replaced a couple of keys on my keyboard that had gotten worn-thru patches on them without me even mentioning it!

The appointment-making process is simple, I just went online and booked it. Or you can call, your choice.

This is "other half" here - I happen to be examining this thread. Anyway, I was not wise and did not buy AppleCare. In fact when the annoyngly hipsterish apple salesman said "would you like AppleCare - only £300" I felt my scottish stingyness come to the fore and thought "he must be joking, nae chance".

Luckily I only bought it about 4 months ago and I believe I have one year's warranty anyway. My statutory rights remain unaffected!

I will probably replace the laptop when it is 2-3 years old. I will just gamble that it will remain mostly working for 12-18 months after warranty is up. Seems to me the only parts that are very likely to break - as long as I am careful with my cups of tea - are the ones with moving mechanical bits and bobs inside them. Hopefully I can replace those bits if they break by tapping into my inner nerd and getting out a screwdriver.

I say all this but likely on day 366 the LED lamp will fail or something like that.

Perhaps AppleCare gives Apple a strong incentive to make sure a laptop fails only after a year, in such a manner that a crucial but cheaply replaceable part has to be replaced. They could do this just by buying parts rated for a certain lifetime. Then their customers would be taught a lesson when they have to fork out for AppleCare and will come into the fold with their next part.

If most folk's apple failures are down to problems like duff DVD drives (a cheap part) rather than, I dunno, the CPU or screen failing it (expensive parts) then my theory has supporting evidence! I must start collecting data!!

The funny thing about Apple is that they'll give you a cookie with one hand and slap you with the other. They're maniacs.

Sure AppleCare is great, but not as an excuse for ambivalence towards long-term failure.

I just did this toady, an hour ago. I have 2 days left on my 3 year-old Powerbook AppleCare and need a battery replacement.
2 years ago, I waited until a few days before the original 1 year ran out and bought an extra 2 years on eBay for less than half price. This past summer I got a whole new hard drive and now today I'm getting a new battery because this one is wearing out.
They looked it up no problem with my serial number, but you'd be smart to bring the receipt. And ya, appointment.
Also: I think you'd be crazy to get a laptop and not buy the extended warranty. Crazy. Unless you're leaving it perfectly still on a shiny, pretty desk.

hmmmmm. you can buy applecare on teh ebay?

pokermonk, as a longtime PC user I could make many, many cracks about MicroSoft products here, but I will resist.

I never know where my receipts are and have managed to fix three apple puters on serial numbers alone (several times each too! But not the magic third time that gets you a new one. bah!)

In the EU, AppleCare probably doesn't give you an entitlement to repairs that you didn't already have by law. See this thread.