While traveling to Minnesota, the screen on my MacBook Pro started behaving oddly. A green shimmer replaced most dark shades, rendering pictures distorted and unrecognizable. White backgrounds with black text were reasonable, with only mild distortion, so I debating waiting until the trip was over before initiating a repair. I had some time yesterday morning. At about 9:30 AM, I logged in to Apple’s support page and booked an appointment for 10:40 AM at Apple’s Mall of America store. I arrived about 20 minutes early, but only had to wait five minutes before someone was ready to help.

I showed them the problem. After some quick tests, the friendly rep took the computer to the back to see if it was a simple case of a loose cable. It wasn’t.

He told me there were two options – either the screen needed replacing or the motherboard needed replacing. The former could be a quick fix, the latter would take about a week. I explained I was on vacation and leaving the next day. No problem, said the rep, they’d try the quick repair today and, if that failed, mail the computer back to me if a more extensive fix was needed.

2 hours later, I had a call that my computer was fixed with a completely new screen and lid.

Charge: $0

P.S. Yes, AppleCare is worth it.

Steve Jobs’ thoughts on Flash http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/

Lost iPhone saga is getting real. Police seize Jason Chen’s computers. http://bit.ly/bNEJnK

Apple needs to add corporate style machine management to keep relatives’ computers up to date. Or auto-install software updates.

As everyone knows, the iPad is launching this weekend…or, to be more precise, the WiFi-only iPad. Given the irresistible appeal of ubiquitous internet access, I’m holding out for the 3G model in “late April”, but it’s hard to resist the urge to buy in this weekend.

A month ago, the question was: should I buy an iPad? The question is now: is one enough?

Hear me out – the iPad is a personal device. It’s really designed for one person to use at a time for browsing, reading, watching video etc. As soon as we get one, I can tell there will be a battle for who will use it. My wife will want to read something about entertainment news. I will want to check my gadget blogs. Ultimately, we will both be trumped by my 3 year old, who will monopolize it for “Land Before Time” videos.

Hence the need for multiple iPads. You laughed when you first read this, but admit it…it’s starting to make sense to you.

I guess it takes some pressure of picking the right model.