Enable Express Checkout to speed up that iPad Mini preorder

Enabling Express Checkout for your Apple account will help you speed up the ordering process in the middle of the night. Here's how.

When you wake up in the middle of the night to preorder a product, you aren't fully aware of what you're doing and you want to go back to sleep as soon as possible. This can make the process of selecting the item you want to order and ensuring that your shipping and billing information is correct feel like a monumental task. Especially if you're trying to beat the onslaught of traffic that's sure to slow or take down the store.

The preorder for the iPad Mini is likely to follow the same pattern. Get your order in early and you'll be back to sleep in no time. Otherwise it's going to be a long morning.

One way to speed up the checkout process is to enable Express Checkout for your Apple account. What this will do is allow you to click on one button, Buy Now, then enter your account password and your order will be placed. You won't have to enter your address or credit-card number, waiting for multiple pages to load in the process.

Remember, the iPad Mini goes up for preorder at 12:01 a.m. PT. Make sure you know what time that translates to for your location and have your favorite browser pulled up with the iPad Mini page a few minutes early. Then refresh like crazy.

Enabling Express Checkout takes just a few minutes of your time.

• Visit Apple account settings page and log in to your Apple account.

• Verify your shipping and billing information is correct. Keep in mind the iPad Mini is scheduled to arrive on November 2; adjust your shipping address accordingly. If you're going to be at work, you may want it shipped there instead of your house.

• After you have updated and verified your information, turn on Express Checkout. Enter the three- or four-digit security code for your credit card if prompted.

• When the preorder finally goes live, instead of seeing a green button titled Add to Cart, you'll see a Buy Now button. Click on it, verify (one last time) that the information on the screen is correct, enter your account password, and then click on Place Order.

That's it. You preordered your iPad Mini in just a few clicks and without having to type in anything more than your password. After you order, you can always go back and disable Express Checkout by repeating the same steps above.