Just a note to anyone here who may be having this problem: I had an early 2011 MBP, the GPU died three times in three months. Apple charged me $300 to fix it the first time, did it for free the second time because it was still under repair warranty, and then replaced the machine entirely with a brand new 15" MBPr the third time. Obviously, the fact that it failed three times in as many months is unacceptable (and probably uncommon) but if you're struggling with this, do set up a genius bar appointment and see if they can do anything for you.
I was sitting in an Apple store getting the battery replaced on my MacBook Air. It only lasted 300 cycles instead of the 1,000 it is supposed to. My battery replacement was free despite being outside the 1 year warranty.
Next to me a woman had brought in her laptop because of problems (did not overhear what), and they replaced it for free despite it being 3 years old.
I definitely agree that the first step with Apple stuff is to see what they'll do for you. Hitting the Apple store is the best way to do that, but they're not everywhere. I wonder if the mail-in folks have as much latitude to please the customer. (And of course if you mail it in, you're missing your computer for at least a week or two.)
If you go to the store, you're missing it for days as well. I was told a repair would take 3-5 biz days after I dropped it off - drop off on Monday, Tuesday is first biz day, etc. So.. effectively up to 1 week no computer, out min $300, and no replacement in the meantime.
