How Delicate is the Macbook Pro

I can answer part of your question. The surface of the MBP scratches fairly easily, one night i was unplugging my Magsafe and let it slide across my lid, which put a nice size scratch in it, sadly. Also just recently i was moving a glass jar by my Mac and the lid slid off and hit right next to my touch pad and dented it, although this lid was pretty heavy the dent is not too bad. I have the marware on, so you cant even see it.

As for over heating that should not be an issuse, if it does your macbook will shut down, at that point i would go search the forum and look for fancontrol it is a app that someone recently compiled to control the fans, but I would hold off on using this till you have a problem. These computers will get hot there is no way around that but there is no need to mess around with fans till you have a problem. I say this from experiance as well.
Hope this helps,
Mike

How delicate are they things

These things are as delicate as you treat them. If you treat your MBP poorly it'll be "delicate". Essentially the MBPs, have pretty much the ther same contructions as the Aluminium PowerBook and you'll find that many of these are looking as good as new.

Why'll they're not as delicate as rice paper they can take quite a deal of "abuse". The best advice, is to use your common sense.

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
The most important thing is to remember not to drop the thing.
Do not let cables dangle in such a way they might be tripped over.
If you use headphones, detach them before you move away from the computer.
If you have pets or small children keep the computers with their lids closed and far away from any edges that might be tipped over.
Don't eat near them. Food and water can damage the keyboard and internal part of the computer.
Don't let the cables bend more than 10 degrees, as they may fray.

you shouldn't even think about putting your MBP directly into your bag, eventually you'll get scratches. you should buy a fitted sleeve for it, then you can put it in your bag with far less to worry about.

There's no problem with putting an MBP directly into a bag as long as it's protected from other hard objects in the bag. Most bags designed for a laptop will do this. My PowerBook G4 Aluminium had few scratches after 3 years and I never took any specific care of it.

If you want to put it straight into a backpack (or other bag) though then do as tbirdparis suggests and buy a sleeve. I use a sleeve/backpack combination when travelling as I don't want to advertise the fact that I'm carrying a laptop.

Just get a brenthaven Laptop Bag. These bags are made of Balystic Nylon and Have an inch or more padding on all sides of the laptop and its corners. The websites claim you can drop this bag from 6 feet in the air with No damage to the laptop whatsoever. It will fit your MBP like a glove, really. I sometimes get sweaty palms, which looks horrible on the macbook pro's palm rest. So i usually carry a small Laptop Cleaning rag in my bag or by my desktop to treat it like a baby after I'm done using it each time. Just be careful and It will last as long as you take good care of it.

> I am panic struck about damaging it.

Get a MacTruck case for it 🙂

Based on the pictures, I'd be bit worried the power cord might come too close to the ledge on that case when plugged in. Notice how it almost is blocking the power port. Poor design, unless you can slightly slide it down away from the ledge.

the macbook pro is pretty sturdy. of course, it's not cheap, so i wouldn't go tossing it around without care. the frame is very solid and it is very hard to damage the body of the computer. my experiences with mac laptops and damage: i've seen an ibook dropped from chest level onto a tile floor, and it continued to work without any problems. i've seen a macbook get stepped on while closed, and it continued to work fine, but the screen was damaged. i've seen a powerbook that was being used in a car that was in an accident. the computer was fine, but the hinge became bent.

so i guess what i've seen is that the only part that tends to get damaged is the screen/hinge area. also, with both my ibook and macbook pro, i used to carry both in my bag without protection, and they were both fine (biking across town, or walking long distances in the city). it is still wise to get some sort of padded case for transporting it, just in case. and don't throw your keys and stuff in there with it. they won't damage it, but it may get scratches, although, in my experience, my MBP hasn't scratched easily at all. sometimes what looks like a scratch can actually just be wiped off with a washcloth or towel.

as far as the heat thing goes, i do a lot of audio and video work, and mine doesn't even get hot enough for the fans to go above 2500RPM (out of a max speed of 6000). the only exception is if you set the machine on a soft surface where it is not well ventilated, then you may hear the fans. if your machine gets too hot, it will first use the fans, then, if that's not enough, it will cap your processor speeds. if it still gets too hot, then it will shut down before any damage can occur. the processors can survive temperatures above 200 degrees F. if your computer gets hot enough where it needs to shut itself down, then it is defective and needs to be returned.

My MBP (first generation) is a workhorse! My MBP replaced a three year old PowerBook G4. I have never dropped my MBP, but I did seriously damage my PB when it was one year old when it flew out of my backpack as I was running to get in the car to catch a airline flight. My PB flew through a broken zipper about six feet. It hit a concrete curb, bounced around several times, end-to-end, and it was so dented that I had to pry the optical disc drive slot open with a screw driver. The entire case was warped as a result of that accident.

Despite that bad drop, plus another time when I dozed off on another flight and I accidentally dropped it, my PB continued to work fine for one year, when it eventually failed. The motherboard bent and eventually broke due to the warped case. I was three thousand miles from home when it failed on me. I took it to an Apple store near the hotel where I was staying and they said they will send it out to be fixed, but it would probably not be repaired free under my Apple Care warraty. I told the Mac Genius that I just wanted a repair estimate.

Much to my surprise, when I arrived home from the airport three days later, my PB was already delivered to my home and it was fully repaired. Most of the dents from the time I dropped it were fixed. There was a full page of items that were repaired or replaced, including a new motherboard. Net cost to me? Zero! Despite my having dropped my PB twice, Apple fixed it for free under my extended warranty, and it worked fine for a year after the most recent drop before it failed.

I have my old PB sitting right next to my MBP and they look virtually identical. I imagine if my old PB can take such abuse, my MBP can too, although I am trying to avoid finding out from first-hand experience!