[Macpartners] Apple Powerbook Display Scam

[David Steffens]

The option of opening the unit and testing it in the store
*before* purchase may not always be available.  By law,
once the box has been opened, the store *cannot* turn
around and sell the unit as "new" to another customer...
they must return it to the manufacturer who will "refurbish"
the unit for later resale, or they must sell it as a "demo"
or "open-box" special at less then the price of a "new" unit.

So the store may be just as reluctant as the consumer to get
"stuck" with a unit with a bad display, and may (reasonably,
IMHO) refuse to allow the in-store test, based on considerations
such as how much they want the sale, predicted probability that
the unit will be rejected, etc.
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David Allan Steffens, Senior Engineer, Eaton-Peabody Laboratory
Research Laboratory of Electronics, Mass. Institute of Technology
c/o Mass. Eye & Ear Infirmary, 243 Charles St., Boston, MA 02114 USA
das at epl.meei.harvard.edu    Tel 617-573-4211    Fax 617-720-4408