kenneth – The replacement the Apple Store did for me definitely fixed the kernel panic issue, but occasionally the pink line still appears. I have to take it in again, eventually I’m sure.

i’d have to be a physicist to be absolutely certain, but blackle may actually use more energy (but not significantly more) on an lcd screen like on your laptop (and all laptops.) first of all, the energy the backlight uses (which is much more relevant than blackle) is affected by the settings in os/x, not the images or colors on the screen.

the images are formed by turning on colors, not light, on lcd, just like the numbers on your watch (unless it’s mechanical.) to make a white screen on lcd, you do nothing. to make a black screen, you turn the pixels on- it’s the opposite of how old monitors and tv’s work, firing electrons to activate a phosphorescent coating.

in short: using blackle on a laptop won’t hurt anything, but if you’re doing it to save even a negligible amount of energy, it’s very silly. you’re better off fiddling with the backlight settings, which not only save energy, but make the battery last longer. thus, saving energy on laptops should make a *noticeable* difference.