Alternatives to, or benefits of, AppleCare for a MacBook Pro? I have a 17" MacBook Pro. I bought it in November 2010, so it is still under the one-year warranty and thus I have the ability to buy AppleCare and extend the warranty. Thing is, I'm having second thoughts as to whether this is worth it, or if there are other third-party warranty services that might be just as good at parts replacement for a lower cost.

Everyone I've talked to has touted AppleCare as being great, just walk into the Apple store and they help you with anything, etc. etc. But I can say pretty confidently that I'm never going to have a software question for the people at the Apple store. So I guess the only thing I would ever use it for is if there is a hardware issue with my MacBook Pro. Is this worth buying AppleCare for?

What are my options in this regard, and what else would I get from AppleCare that I might care about?
In general, extended warranty plans are a healthy-sized profit center for the company offering them.  This implies that unless a product turns out to be less reliable than predicted, on average (mean average) customers will be better off paying for their own repairs without the warranty.  However, if one can't afford to self-insure for abnormal or even normal deviations from the average, something like AppleCare will lessen the downside financial risks.

Thus, I suggest (and buy) AppleCare only if an Apple product seems to be getting numbers of reports of below average reliability (e.g. the Duo 2xx and PowerBook 5x00 product lines).  For other Apple products, maybe put the money in a savings account instead, and there is a good likelyhood that you'll end up ahead after a decade or two of Apple products.