Well, look how thin the screen is, if you put it in a bag you could set something that's a weird shape between it and a book, pick up the bag and the screen could crack from the pressure. I know laptop LCDs are incredibly sensitive to pressure, one was in a bag and so far as we know nothing heavy was set on it or dropped on it and it wasn't stepped on yet somehow it cracked.
I also know that iPhones are supposed to be really strong with their front glass yet I have seen some drop from only about 3 ft and the screen would shatter. Thin aluminum also isn't really known for its great strength either.... I bet the aluminum around the screen is very thin as well so why would it be any stronger than say a fin on a heat sink?
Oh and just look at this report of a previous MBA:
The hinge had gradually gotten sloppy over the last few months (.75" of "rock back and forth" looseness when open).
One morning I OPENED my MacBook air, and CRACK! The left hinge cracks. I can't close it, for fear of making it worse. Made appointment with local apple-authorized repair place, wife drove me there with me holding Air in my lap, still open. Paid the "90 bucks to back up your data" fee, wait a couple days, and get the call: "Apple has decided that IT'S MY FAULT the hinge broke, and they offer to "fix the whole thing FOR $900".
Two weeks before, the fan had started making a very loud buzz.
Unreal. No macbook since Sunday. I bought a early rev MBP for my wife and that thing was falling apart as well. I just installed leopard onto my old PowerBook G4 1.67 - there is no way I'm paying $900 to fix what is clearly a defect.
Just wanted to corroborate your story - furiously typing this on my iPhone at 5am, so forgive any formatting errors.
Oh yeah, I left out the most hilarious part - I PAID FOR APPLECARE.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1893302&tstart=0
now that's not the actual screen but who cares if you cant really use it anyways?
And I found this little comment that applies to all mac laptops: Apple recommends using both hands when closing the lid of your Mac - one hand on each corner. It sounds silly, but if you grab one corner of the screen and pull down, you can actually break the screen.
You can grab one side or the middle on any other manufacturers laptops so why not apple laptops?
and a warning from a apple repair service: One last tip is to be very careful about what you put in the bag with your MacBook Pro. The bag should have a separate compartment for your laptop that is protected from the rest of the stuff you know will be finding its way into your fancy new bag. Don't let your cell phone, iPod or whatever push up against your MacBook Pro - the added pressure (especially when you start moving that bag around or tossing it in your car (toss = bad) can cause your MacBook Pro LCD screen to crack or at a minimum cause case damage.
If its like that with a MB how could it get better with a MBA?
