[Adam Shapiro]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

yes, that is what I am saying. No other company in the world forces you to send back your original board before they will sell you a replacement. You cannot buy an extra one, or spares, you cant build your own Mac, or buy just the motherboard to experiment with - they only sell computers: whole computers

no one else does this to their customers! Its outright contempt for the people who buy their machines.

I really wouldn't say that nobody else does that. Yes, you can purchase 3rd party motherboards and hardware for a PC as replacement parts. I don't deny that that is not available to Mac owners. It has been my experience, however, that if a computer retailer is to service their own hardware they will indeed require you to send them the broken hardware. This has happened to me with Dell, Packard Bell, and Gateway in the past. I can purchase my own hardware and do the replacement myself, but if I want it done under warranty I have to have their technicians do it, and I do not receive the broken hardware along with the fixed machine.

Again, I would be more than happy to continue the discussion if you'd still like to, but I'm not sure that it belongs in this thread. We could start a new thread if you would like?