“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
“Real scientists have called Gore’s “movie” a joke.”
QUITE the reverse. Quite unanimously. Good science with good conclusions. Hate the man, but don’t hate the facts. Unless that is, hate makes you DO something to improve them.
(What makes you want SO much to put your head in the sand instead of educating yourself? What to you gain by this?)
To make it easy you should buy a Dell. If you have’t seen pics of the exploding dell, it is something to see. You could cook brats or burgers with a Dell.
Well, at least the MacBook Pro won’t cause you cancer, like cell phones will! Check out this MUCH MORE IMPORTANT VIDEO of how to fry an egg with your cell phone!! http://rense.com/general72/cellcook.htm
I have a white MacBook and it never gets hot.The fan, which is so quiet only teenagers can hear it, rarely even comes on. It’s also one of the finest piece of computer engineering I’ve ever seen. Small BUT very fast and powerful. We have a PowerBook G4 in our office and it puts it to shame!
O/T: Facts are now partisan. Didn’t you get the memo?
Hey I LIKE the coffee warmer/power adapter idea!
I’m going to try that at work. I’ll make one less run to the office kitchen microwaver for a warm-up! : )
Sorry guys but many scientists believe that we are in a normal heating cycle. They believe that the evidence indicates that the earth goes through heating and cooling cycles. The last cooling cycle being several hundred years ago. The media doesn’t report on that because it’s not headline stuff that fits their agenda. They report what a minority shout about and ignore the evidence to the contrary.
Back on subject.
I sent my MBP in for the heating issue and it came back running cooler. I could actual use it on my lap while wearing shorts. That was about a month ago. It is back to running very hot. I haven’t had any heat related problems. If I had to choose between a hot notebook with great performance or a slow one that is cool I’ll take the fast one all day long.
“QUITE the reverse. Quite unanimously. Good science with good conclusions.”
The inaccuracy of that statement almost gave me a headache.
Be a little more objective, it’s Al Gore for Christ’s sake!
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/harris061206.htm
Don’t put hot laptops on your lap?
Next you’ll be telling us not to hold a hot cup of coffee between our legs. As if someone would do that.
Hey, why hasn’t some idiot sued Apple over a set of toasted testicles. We’re talking family jewels here.
Agree with the normal heating cycle theory. Gore’s little movie pointed lots of fingers without coming up with any real solutions. I think we should shut down all the coal facilities and start building pebble-bed nuclear reactors.
If Al Gore can invent the internet he can invent global warming.
“If Al Gore can invent the internet he can invent global warming.”
That’s true, why do I keep
underestimating people?
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”tongue rolleye” style=”border:0;” />
MW- father (of the internet)LOL
I think we should shut down all the coal facilities and start building pebble-bed nuclear reactors.
Two small problems with that:
1. Coal plants stop polluting when you shut them down. Waste from nuclear plants is far deadlier than mere CO2, and must be carefully stored & guarded forever (10,000 years is close enough to forever for me).
2. It’s estimated if the word switches from coal to nuke plants, there’s only about 40 years worth of uranium to keep them going (roughly the same timeframe as world oil reserves).
So like it or not, coal is our stopgap until some non-combustion power source is perfected (fusion and deep geothermal come to mind).
As for hot Mac laptops, too bad there’s no way to recapture that lost heat energy. Every little bit helps.
lack lung
Pebble-bed nuclear reactors use anywhere from 70-90% less U than water reactors. Water reactors produce the high volumes of waste you correctly pointed out in your response.
Fusion, on Earth at least, will take many, many moons to figure out. There are many problems with controlled fusion, mainly due to heat and reaction physics.
Coal gasification (clean coal) is definatly the way to go. The technology just isn’t ready for prime time yet.
Al Gore probably knows more about why my MacBook Pro runs hot than he does about global warming. His movie was a scientific joke.
Hey, what do you expect, you’re a Mac running on Intel now!
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
Only slightly on-topic, a silly question that’s nagged me for years…
Why doesn’t Apple (or anyone making metal-cased portalbes, really) build these things with a ribbed metal plat ont he bottom? Not as deep as CPU heatsink fins
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” /> but enough to increase surface area and ensure an extra fraction of an inch air space under the thing?
Absolute foolishness.
A Macbook is not a lap top computer.
The temperature needed to “fry” an egg is approximately 144 to 158 degrees Fahrenheit. Does the MacBook actually reach a temperature of 144 to 158 degree Fahrenheit? If it did, wouldn’t some eager and ambitious agent from the Consumer Product Safety Commission place an immediate halt to the sale of MacBook. Is there any scientifically-based corroborative evidence to this “story”?
Bare skin exposed to water at 130 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 seconds will cause a burn sufficient to warrant medical care. Bare skin exposed to water at 160 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 second will cause a burn sufficient to warrant medical care.
Oh, yeah, make mine over easy, journalist.
Observation:
Why is it that when you watch the Discovery channel/TLC etc., you see a show about Global Warming and the next week a show about the coming Ice Age?? Happened just this last week. From the information presented on these shows, all I can gather is that Hell is going to freeze over.
Observation:
Why is it that when you watch the Discovery channel/TLC etc., you see a show about Global Warming and the next week a show about the coming Ice Age?? Happened just this last week. From the information presented on these shows, all I can gather is that Hell is going to freeze over.
Fire and ice: I guess the theory goes that if the Greenland glaciers melt fast enough, they will interrupt the northward flow of the Gulf Stream, thus leading to much colder climates in northern Europe, and the rest of the northern hemisphere, which could be what triggers the next ice age. It’s a theory, but if it’s true, this could all happen fairly quickly in geological time, like overnight. Maybe not quite in our lifetimes, but I’d hate to be a kid born today facing that future…
Bottom line: it’s all a theory, but it somehow feels like gambling by simply saying it’s all BS. How prepared are you to lose the gamble, if you’re wrong, and the theory is right? Food for thought. Let’s just hope it’s about science in the end, and not about politics (as usual.)
MDN magic word “horse” – as, quit horsing around with my kid’s future.
At least Mac owners can train for their likely next job.
Would you like Fries with that, or to see my home movies and photo album?
“but it somehow feels like gambling by simply saying it’s all BS”
That’s the problem with most alarmists, conclusions
are based on feelings rather than fact. It’s the ultimate
form of FUD.