I will certainly update. Since I purchased my machine through the Apple education store I already know I will wind up having to go through a few more hoops. It won't help that the unit was picked up one state over that doesn't have sales tax. Any guesses if I'll wind up having to go to that store to sort this out? I'll certainly let everyone know how it goes & how it should work for any "normal" person returning it.
Long story short Apple is more than happy to accept a return in my case due to the history & logs. Store rep couldn't even think of anything else to try. On a side note in store diagnostic apps don't release to the store until the 13th.
However if I returned it for a new one in NJ I would have to pay the sales tax. Even when asked about a straight exchange if they had one in stock. Since it's a CTO I'd be waiting either way and while I could take a morning & go to DE I'm going to hold onto this unit for now. Best plan of action for the moment would be to wait it out & see if any of the updates or the full release of 10.12.2 solves it. If it doesn't I have until the 8th & the rep will accept the return.
If anyone else is in this situation the store will honor the holiday return period & you might as well wait for the update. If it hasn't been released by the end of the return period then if it's still an issue I would return it for an exchange or to wait things out a little bit.
In the mean time I think it's time to put a SSD and new battery in my old 17" mid 2009 monster as a backup.