How AppleCare+ could pay off in spades: broken MacBook Pro 2019 is replaced with MacBook Pro M5

A MacBook Pro owner reportedly got their six-year-old laptop with an Intel CPU (this was pre-Apple days) replaced with a new MacBook Pro 14-inch M5 under an AppleCare+ plan.

Wccftech noticed that GeneralZilla on Reddit explained: "Today I took my 2019 15' IMBP (Intel MacBook Pro) in due to a battery service warning. I've been paying the monthly subscription for Apple care since the original warranty lapsed. This was going to be my second battery replacement so I was already familiar with the process but I was told that the store could not service my laptop and to call an Apple care specialist about more information regarding the denial of service."

The Redditor then describes an hour of "getting bounced around and escalated" until one of the Apple reps offered to replace the MacBook Pro with "equal machinery", but the only options were the current laptops on Apple's site.

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GeneralZilla notes: "I just got lucky I guess with the timing and that equal machine is the new M5 14' base model."

The Redditor actually goes on to complain that this wasn't ideal for them, as they had a Windows partition (for work) on their 2019 MacBook Pro, and they can't have that on the new MacBook Pro with Apple silicon.

I say complain, but to be fair they do acknowledge that they are "definitely grateful for this blessings of good customer service" and so they are hardly unhappy - as you would expect. They've got a brand-new $1,599 MacBook Pro, which is pretty good for the outlay of $600 or so the Redditor seemingly paid for AppleCare+ coverage.

Not a tall tale

At this point you may be wondering if this is a tall tale, but the post has a ring of truth to it, although obviously we must take it with some salt, as with anything we read from some random person on an online platform.

That said, there are other posts from other Redditors in the past who have had the same experience, with Apple replacing an old and outdated MacBook (here's another MBP 2019, in fact) with a much newer model - and this does appear to be policy with AppleCare+ in more extreme circumstances. After all, it is a guarantee for your laptop at a substantial outlay, and so if something does go wrong with the device, Apple has to fix it.

Apple will, of course, look to perform a repair, or a like-for-like replacement (maybe using a refurb), but in cases where it's an old laptop that isn't made anymore and there's no stock to be had at all, the company may not have any choice but to replace the hardware with a newer MacBook.

This is seemingly very much a last resort, but in rare cases, it does happen - unless all the reports on Reddit are fabricated (which seems more than a stretch).

While the Redditor in this case notes that it doesn't make much sense for Apple to be effectively covering the cost of a new laptop, remember how much money the company is making from AppleCare+ subscriptions - most of which is piling into the coffers with no comebacks or need to do anything. The very rare occasion of having to give away a new machine as we see here can doubtless easily be written off in the grand fiscal equation here.

It goes to show that AppleCare+ can certainly pay off for some customers, and it is an impressive statement of customer service from Apple that it'll honor this agreement in this way.