Apple Care's Solution is to Keep it off my Lap...

I was using my MBP last week when the fan came on. I wasn't doing anything unusual in terms of computing power, so I thought it odd, especially since I hadn't heard the fan come on in the two plus months I had been using it. Then I felt the bottom of the machine, and that sucker was hot to the touch.

I shut down the machine as a precaution, waited for about a half hour and turned it on again. After about 20 minutes the fan came on again and I called AppleCare.

I explained that I generally work with the MBP on my lap with a lap pad from Laplogic to protect me from heat (which is why I didn't feel the heat more acutely). I was then told that the MBP was not intended to be used on the lap.

"It's a notebook," the technician told me, "not a laptop." Oh, I can see the clear semantic distinction there. He went on to suggest that I only use it on a flat surface and avoid using it on my lap, but if the fan does come on, it's safe to keep working. The OS will warn me to shut down before it gets so hot, it would damage the components.

I hope he's right. I really love this computer. I would hate to learn at this point in the courtship that it actually turns out to be one of those high-maintenance relationships.