Ironically (is that the correct usage?) this actually makes it appealing to me.

Whenever I take a laptop in to be serviced, I always remove the hard drive and replace it with an old one that has a new Linux or Windows install on it.

This is mainly for privacy reasons.

When I got my MBP, I knew you couldn't do that, so I basically used it as a thin client, storing all my data elsewhere. However, I was still uncomfortable when I did need to turn it in for servicing, that I spent extra time and formatted it beforehand.

And yes, I encrypt all the drives, but I've heard of instances where the tech will ask for passwords.