Direct from Apple’s own Forums.

Apple’s MacBook Pro is known to run quite hot. The exterior of the MacBook Pro’s casing has been documented by a laser temperature gauge to hit 142 degrees farenheit, or 61 degrees celcius. According to standard burn safety protection measures, a 3rd degree burn can occur after only 5 seconds of exposure to 140 degree heat! While there have been several reports floating around on the Mac-web regarding burns, I had yet to see photographic evidence of it, until now…

Ouch! Apparently this woman was watching a DVD with a MacBook Pro situated on her lap. To Apple’s credit, they do warn against using their ‘notebook’ on a lap or uneven surface, but does it seem reasonable to receive a burn from using a laptop computer? Even worse is Apple’s response to the customers complaint about heat and the resulting burn:

“I call Applecare this morning… and John (the Specialist) actually said “In the manual, it says that the device shouldn’t be placed on your lap.”

I’m not sure if telling an injured customer to basically ‘RTFM’ is the best customer service, but you can form your own opinion on that one.

Our report from yesterday indicates that Apple is paying attention to the heat and lap usage, but moreso in terms of rearranging their marketing and sales to coverup the ‘laptop’ image of their new line of portable computers. Unfortunately Apple still includes photographs and suggestions on their website indicating the MacBook Pro’s usage as a laptop, despite the tech and customer service reps demanding it is a notebook…

I wonder if the MacBook Pro using “engineering student” has a burn on his leg?

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