heat so bad it burned my wife's leg and Applecare says "RTM"

A portable fashion does not mean on your lap, while plenty of people (including myself) will put their book on their lap at times the fact is the user's manual which tells you how to use your expensive machine has something in it to protect you from a potentially bad experience.

All other manufacturers are calling their portables notebooks and also warning against lap use for the same reason Apple is.

One of the main benefits of these MBP/powerbooks has always been how quiet and thin they are, and that is due to the method of cooling that uses the case to conduct out heat. They have for quite sometime had hot bottom casings along with the same wording in the user's manual. This is NOTHING new for this line. Why is everyone surprised?

You can use this in your lap if you simply place something flat underneath it, it can be the exact size of the laptop, or any numerous trays you might use to eat a tv dinner on, or a specialized stand.

how dumb is your wife to keep the macbook pro on her
lap and let it burn here leg?? i mean seriously...
when you feel it's getting overly hot.. shouldn't you
take that S@#$ off your lap? to me thats just common
sense

I guess it must have been a really really good film.

how long does it take for your wife to realize maybe it's too hot for her? Call me old fashion, but if something that's on my lap is burning my skin, i would remove it ASAP and why she leave it on her for this long?

it's like walking outside to my car when it's 100 degrees outside, lay my hands on the hood and instead of removing my hand, i left my hands on the hood for 30 minutes.

come on people, use common sense.
also, it's a "Notebook"

There was another lame posting some time ago of a person claiming he burned his hand with his MBP...

There are many types of portables, a notebook is just
one of these types as is a tablet computer.

It's not a laptop, it isn't made for you to sloth
around the house and use as you sit on the couch.
It's made for professionals who need a computer they
can take on the go with them and work from varied
locations (on a flat surface).

Do we have to sit up straight too?

Apples have been marketed to the "creative professionals" for a long time, many (if not most) "sloth around" the Starbucks, sit on the couch, or god-forbid, the FLOOR and put the computer in their lap, and do lots of productive work. (Until the battery dies after 10 minutes at full charge, but that's another story.)

(BTW if apple intended the MBP to be solely a "professional" machine, why do they market iLife and FrontRow on the MBP page?)

There is no excuse for the heat profile of the boxes delivered to customers, particularly when properly assembled (getting rid of the thermal paste spewed all over the processors), the box is no warmer than my old, dear departed Pismo.

c.


MacBookPro Mac OS X (10.4.6) W8607

First I'm sorry to hear about your wife's pain. Due to the poor quality of that picture, that does not look like a burn. Her leg appears patterned, and a warm mac book pro would produce a patch of erythema, as opposed to scattered small patches like in the picture. Nonetheless, regardless of the poor quality photo, it looks like a first degree superficial burn (equivalent to a sunburn) and she should make a full recovery.

First, there's no need to be abusive.

Agreed, but he wasn't, he was stating that the owners manual has warnings, much like a hot cup of McDonalds coffee, that there is significant enough heat production to produce a burn so had fair warning. By the statements made, sounds like she was putting a bare mac book pro on her bare skin... a poor idea for any notebook.

Second, regardless of what Apple's manual says, I
think that you would agree that being told that you
cannot use a portable machine in a portable fashion
is nonsense.

You can use it portably; its portability does not indicate that it should be used for a prolonged duration on a lap. Technically an iMac is pretty portable too, you just don't want to carry it around though.

Imagine for a second that you bought a

new car. You take it out for a spin on the freeway
driving at a normal speed, the engine siezes, and
your car is now--for all extents and purposes--dead,
and you were nearly killed in the process. You
complain to the manufacturer who is refusing to
repair the car, and they tell you that it's entirely
your fault for not reading the manual, which clearly
states that you were not supposed to drive your car
on the freeway. In fact, it's only rated for surface
streets and dirt roads. How angry would you be?

Actually it's much different... Your wife did not experience a near death experience, I don't sympathize nor appreciate your analogy. If you said that they had heated seats, and the manual says May cause buttock burning, I'd totally agree with you... and would make a completely appropriate analogy.

I know this is an exaggeration, but let's be honest
here: if you get a product that doesn't work in the
way that other similar products do, you're going to
be upset. I can go out right now and buy a Sony,
Dell, or Gateway notebook and use it on my lap
without injury. Why shouldn't I expect to be able to
do the same thing with comparable hardware from Apple?

No, all laptops get hot. All laptops have the potential to create a burn, it's the whole process of physics and distribution of energy.

I know I'm being a jerk, and I don't care. You were warned in the owners manual, and if your wife doesn't have the neurovascular capacity to sense an overwhelming amount of heat that my cause a burn, I suggest she gets checked for some peripheral neuropathy, because most people know to take something hot off themselves if it feels too warm.

And if she thought it felt cold, I suggest she goes to an emergency room immediately to rule out severe neurologic dysfunction.

Good luck with the repair, and be sure to wear some pants and use discretion when placing a warm laptop on your legs.

how dumb is your wife to keep the macbook pro on her
lap and let it burn here leg?? i mean seriously...
when you feel it's getting overly hot.. shouldn't you
take that S@#$ off your lap? to me thats just common
sense

No need for personal attacks.

It is very common to get burns from laptops, since they heat up gradually and the pain receptors in the leg are not as sensitive as those in the hands.

And it's very easy to use the MBP while in one's lap and also comply with Apple's guidance.

Just use a laptop tray. Google that term and you will find there's a big aftermarket selection of them for PC and Mac notebook computers.

A laptop tray will preserve an airspace under the MBP and help avoid blocking the exhaust vents, allowing cooling and protecting the user from contact with the bottom of the case.

I like the KoolSink as when it's flipped over the MBP fits inside it and the two together fit in my carry bag.

my apologies, many times I stated "your wife" and I realize you're not the original poster.

Please consider "your wife" to mean "the complainant's wife"

ilap anybody?

Well being a creative professional, I know quite well where they use their computers. I even admitted sometimes I use mine in my lap, however I have the common sense to have something flat between it and my lap. I also use it at coffee shops (on a table), on the couch (on my table, or on my koolsink on me), and on the floor (on the koolsink). However, anytime Im doing some serious design work I get behing my desk, and yes, sit up straight.

It really isnt hard to find a flat surface for the book to be on.

If you really wanna argue that this machine is not apple's "professional" line, go for it, no one will listen to that nonesense.

No need for personal attacks.

It is very common to get burns from laptops, since
they heat up gradually and the pain receptors in the
leg are not as sensitive as those in the hands.

personal attack? okay maybe a little

but how about questioning one's ability to acknowledge when something on your lap is going from cool > warm > hot > burning skin?

common sense anyone?

I came from the Windows world just recetly.. So I am a switcher. I've already acknowledge that the apple "laptops" are referred to as PORTABLES as apple states... sure you can use it on your lap, what person wouldnt right? but i thinking common sense plays an immense role in this situation

like Randall Jenkins said... is it that hard to find a flat surface?

Also like stated above.. buy a "laptop tray"

I bought a targus chill pad for mine, does wonders!

I understand these computers get overly hot, but not EVERY SINGLE macbook pro gets hot, only some do... and i've ready that in some of the macbook pros, the thermal paste they put on the CPU was done slopply or something like that... and there is a how-to on the net on how to properly take it apart and reapply PROPRELY the thermal paste on the CPU..

matter of fact, here is the link - http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/85.1.0.html

althogh apple will not warrant an end user performing this task as it will void all warranty on the portable

did she not notice that it was getting hot? and it is a portable and not a laptop hence you dont put it on your lap

There is no excuse for a Laptop to Burn anything. I don't care what the manual says. There is no excuse for a Laptop to Hurt anyone,,, And to bad mouth anyone about this issue is bad taste.

I've been burned by my daughter's:
Hairy dryer
Curling iron

My wife's George Foreman grill(s)

My exhaust manifold on my new Scion.

The only one that wasn't on my lap was the exhaust manifold, so the others are my fault, and none of them said to NOT put them on my lap. I guess common-sense should have told me not to put those things on my body.

Scott