In U.S.A you you can come to AppleStore with broken MacBook saying, that it was you only mean of earning money and they would give you a brand new one in a couple of days.
Yesterday exactly 3 months has passed since I have left my MacBook Pro 17" in service center. Well, this MBP is not actually mine, but is given to me by my employer, but this doesn't really matter. Guys at local authorized Apple reseller im.Time (site in Russian) keep saying the replacement motherboard is being delayed by Russian customs.