Well, Friday in Atlanta I bought another new iBook, memory, airport card and Applecare at the Apple Store there in the mall. [I previously bought one and sent it back because of problems.] So far, everything is great, even the screen (which I was worrying about because of the last time).
One thing to let you know for others who are thinking of buying one: if you buy it direct from Apple (either online or at one of their retail locations), you have ten days to return it, even if you add memory or an airport card. Maybe this is because I let them do it themselves and bought the memory direct from Apple, but still, I know people were curious about it. [I don't know if you can return it if you buy memory and did it yourself.]
I bought it stock from the box and let Apple techs add the extras while I waited at the store, so I didn't have to get it only from online.
Oh, and I did get Applecare, and since I bought it all at the same time they put in my memory and airport card for free

Yeah, it's extra money for Applecare, but I got an educator's discount, so...
Sorry if this rambles, but hopefully somebody who is thinking of buying one at the retail store will find this useful. It was a lot better than I thought.
--Kelly