My MacBook Air Cooked Itself

You are lucky it did not catch on fire or explode! The exact same thing happened to me when I had a MBP. I too was concerned about any long term issues, but I would think that you are okay and will know soon after... but who knows. This probably has reduced the life on the battery though because of the heat. Also, why there is no auto shutdown if temperature reaches a certain point is beyond me!

I called Apple when it occurred to me and they said that I should be doing a complete shutdown while in transport. But this is not practical for me and kind of defeats the purpose of this feature. I now use a MBA, and I still carry it around in sleep mode (except when on flights and going through security). But I'm extra careful with my new MBA to make sure it is in sleep mode before storing it in a case and that all fans have shut down.

As long as you have AppleCare and document any issues or problems that you may believe could be related (i.e. loss of battery life, random crashes, hard drive, random startups!), then you should be fine. You also have the option of getting it serviced/checked and they will run a full diagnostics test to make sure nothing has been damaged and that performance specs are within allowances.

Pagemakers2 wrote:
Got to work today only to discover my MBA had somehow turned itself on from standby and had been running at full tilt in a sealed back for several hours.

The machine was physically too hot to hold when I removed it from my bag.

The exact same thing happened to me yesterday. I think I know why it switched on: I put it to sleep and then removed a USB hub, and put it to my bag. However, now I realize removing USB devices tend to turn it on, although it usually also turns off again. Fortunately, it was only about half an hour before I realized it, and it was not burning. Next time, when removing a USB device, I will make sure it switches off before putting it to my bag.

I am a new Apple adopter and my transition has been anything but smooth. I have had as many problems as I did with Windows, but they are just different problems.

I'm also new from Windows. I have to say that I like the OS X interface much better than windows (why I switched), but one thing about Windows: at least to me, 2000 and XP were extremely stable (not much experience with Vista). I had my computers running for months, while I have to restart my Mac from time to time (this morning: two times).

"Got to work today only to discover my MBA had somehow turned itself on from standby and had been running at full tilt in a sealed back for several hours."

What is your question?

I disagree about the battery. Apple uses lithium ion batteries which, unlike the old NiCads, can withstand extreme heat over 100 degrees. I would take it in to have the mac experts look at it though.

The problem is not that you bought an Apple laptop running the Mac OS, it's that you are an early adopter with first-generation technology that you are comparing to what were likely well-established models of whatever brand you had before. Might I ask why, when you chose to transition to the Mac OS, you chose to buy the least powerful, but most expensive model?

I have an MBA too and no problems with crashing or whatever. I also own a MacBook Pro and no problems with that either.

Although I have had this happen to me once or twice over the last five years with various laptops I have never had that happen with the MBA. Do you happen to have any bluetooth devices paired with the machine and/or have bluetooth on? Have you set the machine so that bluetooth devices can wake the computer?

I have both MAC and Windows laptops.... I have had similar problems with both platforms. You should always check that your notebook has fully gone to sleep or shutdown before placing it in a bag. I have had Toshiba and Sony laptops that didn't properly sleep or shutdown and nearly overheated in an enclosed bag.

In any operating system, a process could prevent the machine from shutting down or sleeping properly.

Overall, I have found the MAC platform to be much more reliable and faster in going to sleep and waking. On MACs, however, I have found that unplugging a USB device after it has been asleep can wake it up again.