Imac (isight) standard Ram fault.

Hi,
My Brand new Imac (20" isight version) has gone wrong after only 2 weeks of owning it... Doh!!
I have been using it for two weeks quite a lot with no problems but on Sunday (4th December 2005) it locked up (nothing would work, not even the mouse) after 5 mins of using it. I turned it off (using the power button) and then turned it on. It then made 3 beeps and would not do anything else.
After leaving it for a bit I got it to work again but it soon crashed and I had a repeat performance of the above.
I contacted Apple (on their webchat service using my MS laptop) and they diagnosed the problem as faulty ram (the Imac is totally standard).
As you can imagine, I bought the mac under the impression that they are bomb proof and my confidence in them has been severely dampened.
I am very disappointed about how I have to get it repaired.
Firstly I have to take it to an authorised apple service dealer, (who are only open Mon-Fri 9-5, luckily I have got Friday off as a holiday), then they are going to charge me £58 just in case Apple won't pay for the warranty work (apparently has happened before) and then after they have diagnosed it, I will have to wait for them to receive the parts needed (because they are not allow to keep any in stock) and then finally I will be able to pick it up after they have fixed it and get my £58 refunded (as long as its Mon-Fri 9-5).
I think this is poor as surely they must have ram in stock to be able to repair it whilst I wait and not have to take another days holiday off (bearing in mind I haven't got any remaining for this year.. doh).???
To make life easier for myself I would quite happily replace the ram myself (at my cost) as I can get a 512mb stick for only £35, but I have read somewhere that the standard ram is not removable!!!!
Surely this can't be true..... Can it???
Cheers
Marc
P.S. The annoying thing is that I was going to buy my wife an ipod for Christmas but seeing that I won't have my imac back by then I obviously won't bother.

Surely what can't be true? That sometimes a part in a Mac might fail? Of course it can; if nothing in a Mac ever failed, we wouldn't need a warranty. Apple products are, in my experience, at least as reliable on average as any other computer vendor's, but there's no such thing as a "bombproof" product, no matter who the manufacturer might be. Sorry it happened to you, but sometimes things to do wrong in any product. And with an electronic product, they're more likely to go wrong when the device is new.
To make life easier for myself I would quite happily replace the ram myself (at my cost) as I can get a 512mb stick for only £35, but I have read somewhere that the standard ram is not removable!!!!
The initial 512MB of RAM is soldered onto the main logic board, so if that is indeed what has gone bad, then it requires replacing the logic board, not just switching out a RAM module. Which is why your service provider probably has to wait for the part; I doubt they stock logic boards.
Again, sorry your system had problems, but it can happen to anyone, with any product. Most Macs are very reliable, and providing you give your Mac a good home (quality mains, low static environment), it's quite probable that you'll have no further problems. Note that I'd strongly suggest erasing the hard drive and reinstalling the OS and apps; bad RAM can cause software corruption which could cause further problems down the road.
Good luck.
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