“Like any self-respecting techie, I did not read the users manual before unpacking my new MacBook Pro, setting it directly on my lap, turning it on and immediately taking dozens of pictures of myself using the built-in camera and distorting the images with several of the Photo Booth effects, and then assembling them into a hilarious story line using Comic Life. While I busily e-mailed my new comic strip to everyone in my address book, I noticed something that smelled like bacon wafting from my laptop,” Gabriella Papic writes for Salon. “At first, I thought those guys at Apple were geniuses for making the built-in DVD burner smell like my favorite low-carb treat. Then I felt a stinging in my thigh muscles, although stinging isn’t quite the word I’m looking for to describe the burning sensation. It was more of a scalding, or a scorching, that felt worse than a rug burn but not as bad as, let’s say, reentry heat.”
“I considered calling Apple customer support, but I was already absorbed in making an iMovie from last year’s vacation footage. So I checked the users guide to see if something was up with the fan malfunctioning. The appendix directed me to Page 107, which contained a statement so shocking that I immediately posted it on my blog space I had just created using .Mac. The statement said: ‘Do not leave the bottom of your MacBook Pro in contact with your lap or any surface of your body for extended periods. Prolonged contact with your body could cause discomfort and potentially a burn.’ An important statement like that should be brought to the user’s attention a bit earlier than Page 107. Being etched on the cover of the laptop in raised neon lettering would be more appropriate. But I could see how that would mess with the sleek, spacecrafty design. So I forgave Apple for this oversight and decided to come up with a few accessories that address the heat issue in a very creative and Mac-like way,” Papic writes. “My list is broken into three sections: first aid, food and other.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Bob A.” for the heads up.]
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Reminds me of the SNL “Happy Fun Ball”
Still – this doesn’t stop me. I can’t wait to get the 17″ MBP. Should be faster than my existing desktop!
the heat of my macbook kills the bacteria that grows on my genitals.
Apple realy needs to deal with this issue. I can rest my Thinkpad T43 on my lap for hours, and while it certainly is warm, it never approaches scalding.
This is a damaging review.
What good is a laptop if you can’t use it on your lap?
yeah, I had the same reaction. So I cracked open my 15″, week 12 MBP and redid the thermal paste. Now it does get warm but just barely.
I almost shit a brick when the guy at Apple told me that they were called “notebooks” (doing the quote thingy with his fingers) and not “laptops” for a reason.
At any rate, I did it and I’m glad.
Well, this was true of the G4 Powerbooks too…
My 15″ MacBook was toasty warm, so last week the dealer replaced my logic board. Now the fans run continually. It isn’t hot anymore but battery life has suffered and the fans are so annoying. It was dropped of at the dealer again this morning for another logic board replacement, let’s hope this one let’s the fans cut in once and awhile to keep the heat down. But they sure do run hot.
C’Mon, Andy … level-headed had an opinion, and stated it. He just had to keep that moronic first post really short to get the cred for it. Cred in his own mind, at least.
That heat thing is a bit of a worry. One of the concepts behind multi-core designs is more power with less energy consumption – less energy consumption meaning less heat production. I’d think someone might have thought to put some of that saved energy into turning the fans on a little earlier to reduce the chance of such unpleasantness.
rlmamon,
That’s what’s known as “over-sharing” … it is NOT a Good Thing and may be one of the reasons you can’t get a date.
The macbooks better not be too hot.
There goes your warranty (Applecare included)
Apple marketing never refers to their portable machines as “laptops.” It’s always “portables” or “notebooks.”
If you have overheating issues and want to keep your warranty in place, take it to an Authorized Apple Service Provider and have them re-apply the thermal paste for you. Seen it done and fixes it every time.
So, I suppose it’s not a laptop computer, it’s an “offlap computer”…
I thought they were supposed to be cooler. I noticed the heat while brousing them at the Apple Store. They are warm little buggers.
Perhaps Apple should consider marketing them as dual-use products: a computer plus a
-toaster
-house heater
-egg fryer
-fire starter
I am waiting for somebody to have his laptop sitting on the rug or couch and it scalds or starts a fire in the material.
Why don´t we hear of the Windows laptops using the same chips as being hot.
And I hate a loud, noisy, incessant fan running on a laptop. That´s what turned me off my last Apple “notebook” – screaming fan!!!
aside from all the gripes
that article was pretty funny
If Asus Tech (or whatever the hell their name is) can’t properly apply thermal paste, time to find another low cost, box assembly plant.
Nevertheless, rock on Steve!
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So, this guy smells bacon. What is he? A pig? Surely he could have come up with something more clever. Anyway, haven’t we been here before. The PowerBook G4 had the same Hotness in Style and substance. LOL.
I just love all these comparisons to the “cooler running” IBM Thinkpads.
A few years ago I had the displeasure of having to use a Thinkpad for many hours. After I was done using it I picked it up off the table to take it back to the owner. And guess what… I DID burn my fingers on the underside of it! Not almost burned. Not “it felt really, really hot”. I got burned. Period. When I got it back to the owner he stated, “Yea, I probably should have told you it got a bit hot.”
This heat issue with the Macbook Pros is a quality issue. Apple needs to fix the production line. Then Apple needs to issue an offer to have each and every Macbook Pro ower to bring theirs into an Apple store or service center for a free fix.
Salon.com is for the gays.
I have a MacBook Pro…it is dead silent…likely the fans are not operating to spec due to some issue with the logic board..I cannot say. AppleCare said bring it in for repair to the local authorised repair facility. It is not a big deal..It is an early model..logic board B which has been superceded by a number of changes. It runs pretty warm. I do not get burned but I must say, having a heating pad on my lap can be annoying at times. What can you expect? Think about desktop machines with similar CPUs…They have large and noisy fans to keep their innards from self destructing. A portable or notebook or laptop is tiny and dense with components so it is not a wonder that they run warm..or hot. I hope that Apple has found a reasonable solution or at least a compromise but knowing the quality of that company’s products I suspect they have. By the way, the computer screen is fantastic and bright sharp and easy on the eyes. The OS works flawlessly and the trackpad is sweet. So it is a little hot…no flies on this computer ( ha hah)…
Macbook Pro and Powerbook is surely hot but not hot enough to burn your carpet or sheets. beleive me I use mine in bed all the time.
My G4PowerBook gets warm/hot.
Even Dells get warm:
<http://www.experts-exchange.com/Hardware/Laptops_Notebooks/Q_20948437.html>
About the time this Dell story came out, I read a post (somewhere) that references to “laptop” were being substituted by terms like “notebook” and “portable.” The reason was that, because of the heat problem, manufacturers did not want users to believe that they could actually rest these devices on their laps.
The fanboys can poo-poo all they want and talk about how great Apple and the MBP are to avoid discussing the heat issue, but I’m not buying a MBP until they fix the heat problems. My TiBook runs cool enought that I can keep it on my bare legs
.
Apple needs to fix this. I also am interested in the MacBook (or whatever they decide to call it) but after the issues with the MBP I will wait to see what the early adopters say before I buy.
MDN magic word: Not -as in “Not buying hot.”
We all know that electronic components do not like heat, so the reported heat buildup leads one to expect shorter component life.That is especially worrysome since Apple still hasn’t enhanced their warranty from the minimalist one year to a more appropriate three years.
Second, the heat consumption suggests more energy is being consumed than we would have expected, which suggests people will get less time on-battery.
Did Intel and Apple miss something in the rush to get the product out ahead of schedule? Reports of misapplied thermal paste suggest Apple’s contractor is falling down in the quality department. Neither is acceptable in a premium brand.
Fortunately, I still have my trusty Pismo, which is slow by curent standards, but still quite usable (and never gets hot). It’ll hold me until they work out these issues.
This doesn’t augur well for future upgrades (unless Merom chips run cooler).
It really depend son what apps you use. Some apps use up major processor resources and heat up the laptop.
I have used Mac laptops for years, not a big issue!
My Ti PowerBook G4 400 gets pretty darn hot. Solution, I usually use it on a surface or put something between my legs and the metal…like a pillow if I’m sitting on the couch. Never thought of it as a big issue.
I play World of Warcraft on mine and to say it hot is an understatement.
You could cook a roast dinner on mine.
When I have it on a table its ok though.
Im sure prolonged exposure to the heat could blow the logic board or processor if it got too hot.
A word of advice: DON’T use laptops on your lap!
I liked it during the winter when I could use my MacBook to keep me warm, but now with summer here, it’s making not want to use it in bed anymore. It reaches its peak when I’m playing Grand Theft Auto San Andreas in multi-player mode…adds to the excitement of the game though.
They’re called portables, and not laptops, for a reason.
Notme;
It’s somewhat disingenuous to compare a TiBook with a MacBook, as TiBooks are running a single processor clocked more than 1000 megahertz slower.
I smell a Troll.
What about the Mooeing and the whining?
APPLE WILL NOT FIX THESE ISSUES. IT’S WELL WITHIN THEIR SPECS
theNewMacDude, since when is Gabriella a guy’s name?
Tom Strong, so now we know why you are such an avid reader of Salon.com, eh? Good to get that cleared up.
Lots of people think it’s somehow a Good Idea to use a notebook on their lap. Sometimes it really is the only real choice – like when you are sitting at a presentation/keynote and it’s your lap or nothing. Usually it’s just a Bad Idea.
Any troll who thinks this is a problem unique to Apple’s notebooks should note that many computer stores sell cute little devices in their PC laptop sections. These devices are designed to:
a) tilt the far (hinge) end of the laptop up (aids convection)
b) provide a layer of air under the notebook (more cooling surface)
c) some actually blow air against the bottom of the notebook!
While these devices are “generic”, they are sold with the PCs, not the Macs, where both are available. Not that they are not needed for Macs – they obviously are – but because there are more PC notebooks needing them than Mac notebooks.
You don’t know the history of thermal paste. I do.
I really do look forward to Tom Cruise’s posts. Makes me chuckle every time.
Can we get serious for 2 seconds? Look, my MBP before my fix was hot and I hardly heard the fans. Now after re-applying the thermal paste, its only warm, and I still do not hear the fans.
Apple broke good faith with its customers when they started saying that it was not meant for use in your lap. Come on, thats just a cop out. Thats like saying that a coffee mug isnt for drinking. Whats so hard about saying ” We applied the thermal paste wrong, and we’ll fix it.”?
Thats all they’d have to do.
I can just imagine taking one of the hotter MacBook Pros into an Apple store genius bar and handing it to the genius:
Genius: “Yeow! that f@#$er is hot! So what’s the problem with your MacBook Pro?”
You: “It burns my flesh with its hotness.”
Genius: “Oh, don’t worry about that, it’s definitely operating within spec.”
So much Intel being cooler than IBM cpu’s. Intel cpu’s have always run hotter, and have been more power hungry than anything offered by IBM
or Motorola. The future designs are going to be interesting.
“So much Intel being cooler than IBM cpu’s”
LOL
My PowerBooks actually ran hotter (and the fans ran much louder) than my MacBook Pro. The performance is 2-3x higher for the stuff I use, and the battery life is just as good.
I suspect that Apple has been gushing on the heat sink compound for a long time now. Maybe all of this press will get their attention – I know they legally threatened the guy in the somethingawful forums who posted the photo of the MASSIVE amount of heat sink compound on the CPU from the Apple shop manual – so at least Apple’s lawyers are paying attention. Maybe the engineers will notice too, at some point.
My MBP 15″ gets warm, very warm, or hot. I mostly use it on a table or similar surface.
I’m not going to worry about the heat that it generates. My 12″ PowerBook ran warm and hot, too! The PB has never been a problem and I don’t expect MBP will be either.
My MBP 15″ gets warm, very warm, or hot. I mostly use it on a table or similar surface.
I’m not going to worry about the heat that it generates. My 12″ PowerBook ran warm or hot, too! The PB has never been a problem and I don’t expect MBP will be either.