I recently spent some time camping out at the local Apple Store ’s Genius Bar while my tike were having playfulness at Apple Camp , and I ’ve decided that Apple’sProCareplan is a great deal . So how occur nobody ever talks about it ?

The $ 99 per yr ProCare design offers customers a higher level of divine service than you would encounter if you just walked in to the Apple Store off the street . Your repairs and access to Apple Geniuses is prioritized , you’re able to reserve sentence in rise ( up to one week ) , and the plan is accepted by any Apple Store anywhere in the worldly concern . You also get a “ annual tune - up ” of your equipment — the Geniuses will run diagnostic software package and clean house up your equipment to make indisputable it ’s in wind - top shape . And when ProCare phallus grease one’s palms a newfangled Mac , Apple Geniuses will transmigrate their software from the one-time computer to a novel one . ( confessedly , Apple ’s Migration Assistant makes it pretty easy , but there ’s still something to be sound out for make someone else do it . )

But more than that , ProCare have you an hour of training with expert at the store — and not just once , either . you may do it as often as onceper week . The training can endure the gamut , depending on your motivation — read how to get the most out of Apple Mail , for instance , figuring out how to add some pizzazz to your in vogue musical work in system of logic , getting more out of Final Cut Studio , or understanding how to create a eminent - impact presentment with Keynote . It ’s really up to you .

Think about it : $ 99 per class . you could pay professional Apple consultants that much , or more , per hour .

Now I ’m certainly not suggest that everyone cut down their Mac consultants and run to the Apple Store to sign up for ProCare — obviously there ’s an important market for consultants . All kinds of services and aid that consultants provide are totally beyond the scope of Apple Stores . But for the mean users who are trying to get the most out of their Mac investment , either personally or professionally , it ’s hard to think of a beneficial value than sign up for ProCare .

Over the course of the two mornings my kids were at Apple Camp this calendar week , I realize the faculty at the local Apple Store help fold to a 12 ProCare client . One was a firebrand fresh MacBook Pro owner who just wanted to understand how her machine worked . Another was a professional musician who wanted to expand her acquirement with Logic . Another wanted supporter sympathize how to employ pro editing tools . Some were just there for technical school support on ware that they owned .

The interesting thing is that for most of those ProCare customers , the Apple Store is a regular stamping ground — enough so that the faculty knows their names and distinguish them when they arrive in . Now I ca n’t say for trusted if that familiarity is unique to the storage I shoot the breeze , or whether it ’s a matter of cause - and - event of ProCare , or just entirely coincidental . But that layer of personal overhaul can be priceless , specially in a compaction when you ’ve catch a serious problem you need solved . The staff already knows you and has an mind of what you ’re up to of , and can avert wasting time going through the motion .

Sadly , theclosest Apple Storeis about an hr ’s private road from my house , so the cost benefit of ProCare is offset by the price of gasolene and the time it remove to get there and back .

But if Apple opens a store close to my house — given the proliferation of “ life-style center ” in this surface area ( that ’s the raw euphemism for smaller , more upscale shopping centre that Apple and other retailers like Williams - Sonoma and Talbots run to favor ) , I ’d take it a distinguishable possibility — and if one does open near me , I ’ll get one of those ProCare card pronto .