For longer than I can remember (at least six years now) I've been using a laptop as my main production/development/blah machine. Taking the decision to put the machine in for a repair isn't one that I've taken lightly, trying to schedule in my head when it's going to be best to be without it.

I ended up calling a few places that aren't too far away to try and gauge how long I'll be without the machine to have the repair done. There's a bit of dust seemingly inside the screen (other people report it as being "dust behind the screen" - it's certainly visible, and definitely not dead pixels and so on). Whilst this isn't that common, it's not entirely unheard of, with reports coming up through Google of people saying much the same thing. (Here, here, here... and numerous mentions on the official Apple forums.

The Apple store in Manchester's Trafford Centre said they'd got no idea how long it'd be. Another independent Apple Authorised Service Provider (AASP) suggested a wait of 2-3 weeks (which is pretty unacceptable for me), whilst the outfit I plumped with - Digital Store reckoned on less than a week. The guy I spoke to on the phone was really helpful giving me all the information I needed.

I arrived in Manchester and dropped the machine off with them at lunchtime, having spoken to the same guy that I'd earlier spoken with on the phone - seemed to be a pretty top bloke who seemed to live and breathe Apple gear.

So, we'll see how this pans out - hopefully the extended Applecare I've taken out will be worth the money. I'm not into the extended period yet, my first year (which is given anyway) runs out in June.

Hopefully, anyway, I should be back with it later this week. We'll see what happens.