After lunch, DHL unexpectedly rang the doorbell and the courier presented Julie with a box containing the Powerbook. The optical drive has been swapped, and now I"m in the process of moving all my stuff back onto the primary disk.

This was my first time shipping a laptop back to be repaired. The machine was gone for 2.5 working days, which wasn't nearly as bad as what I was led to believe. Exceeding expectations is good, I suppose.

Most of my experience with laptop repairs are from our first year in the Puget Sound, when I was working at a startup. I was using a Dell laptop whose screen decided to go bad. We had purchased the on-site service contract (although not the version that got you support absolutely right away). So I was able to work right up to the moment when the technician showed up with a new screen to repair the machine. I watched as he pulled out a sheet of paper with disassembly instructions and swapped the display. Unfortunately, when he put the machine back together he had a number of screws left over. Not exactly confidence inspiring. In the end it took a total of 3 such onsite visits before Dell finally agreed that they ought to just give me a new laptop.

Of course, neither of these experiences live up to what Ole Eichorn has been suffering through.

In contrast, our 4 year old Thinkpad X21 has taken a licking and is still ticking.