Thanks Apple!

Last Wednesday, our 24" iMac crapped out. Purchased waaaay back in mid-August of 2009, the thing wouldn't stay on for more than about ten seconds of "grey screen". A little spinning wheel, a whole lot of nothin' else.

Frustrated with the unexpected glitch, I brought it down to the Carlsbad Apple Store where I was told I'd have to leave it until the next day. They cracked it open on Thursday and ordered up a new power supply and logic board (from what I've read online, a $900 part). Friday came and went with no word on the machine.

Apple finally called last night with the cliched "I have bad news and I have good news" spiel. Bad news? Permanent hardware failure. They installed the power supply and two different logic boards and still no go. Good news? They'd be replacing our ~75 day-old computer - and not with a "refurbished" 24" iMac, but with one of the new 27" iMacs at no additional charge to us.
Larger, brighter and with a higher-resolution LCD screen, faster processor, larger hard drive and new wireless Magic Mouse and wireless keyboard. SD slot, full aluminum construction, lower energy use. $200 more at retail. How could I say no? Especially since they were also able to transfer all of my data from the original iMac. No set-up required, no formatting, etc. Plug 'er in and everything is familiar.
This thing is a monster, and I say that in a good way. The old machine was way more computer than I needed but I loved working on it. Now I'm looking forward to playing around with this to see what she can do. I am already loving the Magic Mouse and the lack of clutter from the lack of wires.

Thank you Apple for the great customer service and quick turnaround. Now back to trying to peck out a few more future boring blog posts...