New Macbook dud, leaving for military duty in remote loaction.

Question

I recently convinced my sister to purchase a MacBook. She logs in, starts the updates and it restarts, hanging for eternity at the apple boot screen.
I professed the quality and consideration of Apple, and she is given one of the few bad apples. She must take her laptop into the MacStore. Unfortunately she is leaving for an island off the coast of Africa in mere days for Naval Duty - making shipping difficult if not impossible.
Does anyone have advice for expediting a return, reissue or consideration. As not only mine, but apples reputation for my circle of computer dependents hangs in the balance. Unfortunately.
Thank you.

Answer 1

A few things...
1.) Where was the computer purchased? Was it purchased online or in an Apple Retail Store?
1a.) If it was purchased online, and you look on the product sticker on the outside of the box is the Part Number an MBxxxxx/A or a Zxxx? If it's a "Z" then the unit is considered CTO/BTO and almost all Apple Retail Stores will typically refer you to call back into Apple to arrange it's replacement (the stores can fix it for you). I'd found out the answer to that immediately.
1b.) If it wasn't purchased from Apple (retail store, online) and you try to return it through Apple, that's not going to work. Because there's no history of the transaction in their POS system and thus no receipt or order number to arrange the exchange through. I'd call into Applecare and see what your options are at that point, given the situation and timeline.
2.) It's possible that there's nothing wrong with the hardware and it's a software issue. I purchased a brand new MacBook Air about a year ago and out of the box it was very clear that the image from the factory was bad. None of my iLife applications would load, despite being launched for the first time. After a clean install of the OS off the disc that came with the computer, the machine worked fine.
3.) Given your short timeline, I'd try to do as much troubleshooting as possible while still allowing for a return/exchange/service window (if that's possible). Potentially, we're dealing with a software issue that doesn't warrant a return/exchange but rather (unfortunately) a little extra work on behalf of the owner. Typically not a behavior of a new machine but there's that chance.