“Everyone knows that Apple’s Intel powered portable lineup gets hot, but this is insane! An enterprising fellow figured out that it would be possible to actually fry an egg on the bottom of his black MacBook,” Dan Lurie reports for The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).
“Granted, it probably took something like 3 times as long than if he had used a stove, but thats obviously not the point. For bonus points, keep your coffee warm by placing it on top of your MacBook power adapter,” Lurie writes.
Full article with photo of egg frying on a black MacBook here.
“Presumably the Mac that’s auditoning for a job at Mac-Donalds (groan) is one that suffers from the overheating problem tackled by Interrupting Moss at the Something Awful forum. He made his system run dramatically cooler by opening it up and correcting the manufacturing defect — the application of too much thermal paste, as illustrated on page 106 of Apple’s Service Manual,” Jack Schofield blogs for The Guardian.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Jack T” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: Would you like a little thermal paste with your omelet? Hey, maybe the fried egg chef just forgot to remove his MacBook’s plastic strip? Look at it this way, with a Rev. A black MacBook, you’ll save money on both stove use and the cost of a frying pan. 
[ UPDATE: July 17, 10:05am EDT: Original story post confirms it’s all a joke: http://www.sagags.com/?p=441 ]
Related articles:
Apple says MacBook heat issues due to plastic strip – June 06, 2006
Apple firmware update fixes MacBook Pro overheating – May 18, 2006
AP: Apple’s MacBook should give makers of Windows-only notebooks nightmares – July 07, 2006
Survey shows big jump in consumer interest in buying Apple Mac; Dell takes steep slide – July 06, 2006
Boston Herald: Apple MacBook superior to iBook predecessor in every way – July 03, 2006
Report: Apple MacBook shipments stronger than expected; 15-inch MacBook (not Pro) model planned? – July 03, 2006
MSNBC’s Krakow: Apple’s MacBook ‘the best notebook computer I’ve ever used’ – June 28, 2006
The Washington Times: Apple’s new 13-inch MacBook ‘is one powerful, affordable Mac portable’ – June 23, 2006
Apple offers special deal prices on select Apple Certified MacBook, MacBook Pro models – June 20, 2006
Review: Tom Bihn ‘Smart Alec’ backpack for Apple MacBook and MacBook Pro models – June 19, 2006
IT Business Net reviews Apple 13-inch MacBook: ‘Insanely great value, Strong Buy recommendation’ – June 13, 2006
Computeract!ve: Apple MacBook ‘the best of both worlds’ – 5 out of 5 stars – June 13, 2006
Washington Post: Apple MacBook leaves iBook in the dust – June 11, 2006
Mossberg: Apple’s new MacBook surprisingly inexpensive, offers vastly superior Mac OS X – June 08, 2006
Time Magazine on Apple’s 13-inch MacBook: ‘Dell and HP should be very worried’ – June 07, 2006
Thurrott: Look at Apple’s MacBook and ‘you might just find your perfect notebook’ – May 31, 2006
CNET writer won’t buy Apple MacBook because it lacks 2nd mouse button (uh, two-finger right-click?) – May 30, 2006
Personal Computer World review: Apple MacBook – May 22, 2006
Amazon offers US$100 and $150 rebates on Apple MacBook and MacBook Pro models – May 22, 2006
Ars Technica reviews Apple MacBook – May 19, 2006
iTWire’s Beer: My next notebook is an Apple MacBook – May 18, 2006
Analyst: MacBooks are best consumer notebooks Apple has created, sure to be big winners – May 18, 2006
Apple’s new MacBooks are mobile HDTV media centers – May 17, 2006
Analysts expect Apple’s new MacBook to drive market share gains in near future – May 17, 2006
PC World: Hands on with Apple’s new black MacBook running Mac OS X and Windows – May 17, 2006
Analyst: Apple’s new MacBook costs a bit more than iBook, but will sell strongly – May 16, 2006
Close-up Apple MacBook photos (keyboard, glossy screen, and more) – May 16, 2006
Apple debuts new 13.3-inch widescreen MacBook; replaces both iBook and 12-inch PowerBook – May 16, 2006
this is great news! especially for my colleagues in Dubai and Doha. This time of the year you can actually boil an egg on the street.
I think you meant “fry” an egg on the street…would be rather tough to boil one that way…
Dubai and Doha? Screw that! I’m in New England and it’s 98 degrees F.
[Gore] With this unprecedented global climate change it’s abundantly clear that something needs to be done. My new movie, An Inconvenient Truth, spells out the details of our future doom if we don’t act quickly. [/Gore]
Have you noticed that no other notebook company makes laptops that run H O T ? If Dells and HPs are comfy cool, and just as fast and thin as any core duo crap, then why can’t apple do it?
Cool isn’t just about LOOKS.
That hot there’s enough sweat and heat to boil more than your eggs.
Has anybody actually seen the picture? I followed the links and ultimately wound up at a gamer’s site, but no picture.
Well if Apple made them 2 to 3 times as thick they would stay cooler like the PC notebooks, Also the PC notebooks cut processor speed (i.e. run cooler) when on battery power – you can run an Apple at full speed.
you don’t know the history of egg frying. i do.
It isn’t the plastic strip, MDN. The overheating problem is a deal killer for me and lots of others who were eagerly awaiting these intel powerbooks and now can’t justify the purchase, at any price.
Isn’t it time you called for a fix in the next generation? It would greatly improve your credibility as an advocate for the faithful.
Instead, I bet I get one at least one hateful accusations of being a troll since I have to type my input on a PC at my office.
My son just picked up his Black MacBook yesterday from the local Apple store and it runs very hot! You can not keep it on your lap for more than a couple of minutes. Checked to see if the plastic was covering the vent per earlier discussions but it was not present.
Does anyone know if the dulls of the world with the core duo run this hot???
They don’t get that hot – I have on e of the black ones and it is actually cooler than my 12″ powerbook.
Whoop tee doo Basil. Who cares…
Hey, Vizzini — don’t be an idiot. Real scientists have called Gore’s “movie” a joke. He doesn’t know fact from fantasy to save his ass.
Remember 15 or so years ago when Ted Danson made a speech about how, if we didn’t do something drastic right away, the “oceans would be dead by 1999”? Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
Funny, that mahi-mahi sandwich I had the other day must’ve been a fantasy too.
Get a clue, Vizzini.
BTW – the MacBook Pro rules!!!!
what’s the deal sez:
Have you noticed that no other notebook company makes laptops that run H O T ?
AHAHAHAHHA HA HA!!
You have OBVIOUSLY not worked with a PC laptop lately.
When one of our folks gets a new laptop we: boot it up, de-install the norton’s crap, install our own AV solution, connect it to the network download the windows updates, install a few other things, by which time…THE MULTIPLE FANS IN THE LAPTOPS ARE ROARING SO LOUD YOU HAVE TO SHOUT…
They also are blasting hot air out the side like a freaking space heater.
MW ‘work’, as in I feel like I’ve been working in a steel mill after setting up those puppies.
Yeah… and Dell laptops actually burst into flames. Great for marshmallows!
I have a dull with the same processor as my personal MacBook and I find them both hot in the same proporcion. Sorry my english.
Don’t put portables/notebooks on your lap, stupid asses.
That you have in the past doesn’t mean you can or should in the present or future.
Whoever coined the term LAPTOP should be shot for generating a horde of fuctards insisting on the right to place multiple GHz processors so close to their crotches and have the CPU somehow not get hot.
Soft, cushioned, fabric surfaces insulate heat. Put them on a smooth, hard, flat surface.
Berks.
My black Macbook has only gotten hot to the touch once and that was while running Windows! While on Tiger, it runs pretty darn cool. Only heard the fan turn on a couple of times while playing movies.
Go figure.
Question: Is that black coating on made of Teflon?
Why doesn’t anyone put the processor behind the monitor?
So what if heat pours off it (check out the back of an iMac sometime). The whole back panel would be a heat sink, and it wouldn’t roast your nuts.
I don’t think anyone would mind a slightly thinker notebook if it could cool itself. Sometimes compact goes too far, like cell phones that you need a toothpick to dial with.
this is why you should be a dell instead. especially now since I’m a stock holder.
I feel sorry for you, No Kool Aid.
Dell is going down with the M$ ship because they cant license OS X and consumers dont want to use linux.
Theyll go bankrupt and you’ll lose your money. Probably serves you right for bumming microshoft.
Hey Funky Dunky, Your an Idiot, Your making your whole argument up. It turns out that real scientist agreed with everything Gore said in the movie, they did say that Gore over emphasized the Hurricane statistics, but 90%+ of the movie was spot on. So shut your mouth, your not a real scientist and nobody care to hear how ignorant you are.
Instead of doing something stupid like that why doesn’t this guy get on the horn with Apple’s service reps and get his laptop repaired because that’s not normal. Now he may have voided his warranty.
I seem to recall stories about a year or two ago about people getting burned by their Dell notebooks, but I’ve used several MacBook’s and there’s no way they get hot enough to fry an egg on them in any reasonable amount of time. Maybe if you ran it full throttle for an hour or more with the vents covered up, but it would still take a long time. The MacBook Pro’s aluminum case would make it much better suited than the MacBook’s plastic case anyway…