[stomachmonkey]

My wifes 17 in 1st gen Intel battery popped on her, took it in, walked out 30 seconds later with a new one.

Had a flaky USB circuit on one of my laptops, my main work horse. Brought it in before the warranty ran out. Needs to go back, 10 days round trip. Told the guy I'll loose $1k a day if I don't have this piece of hardware. He goes in back, comes back a few minutes later, says I just ordered everything we'll need to fix it in house. I'll call you when the parts are in. Bring the box back at your convenience and we'll turn it around over night.

Piece of advise on out of warranty hardware. Had to stop short and had my laptop on the passenger seat. It flew off, hit the dash and then the floor.

Was a bit flakey after that so I took it in.

Now you can either send it back and they will tell you what's wrong and how much to fix or you can opt for the "one price fix it all" plan which for that particular machine was a bit north of $300.

Got it back a week later, new screen, new logic board, new case, all for $300. Considering it was a $3k machine that was a deal.