Apparently, it is completely 100% normal for a year-old MacBook Air to get so hot that it can scorch your skin. It is also totally and completely normal for the fans to run all day, even after it was put to sleep, going at 6800 RPMs, all fucking day.
Yes, according to the Apple – who would not replace or fix this machine that burned me – there’s nothing wrong with this happening. Special thanks to the Genii at Woodfield who would neither apologize for this issue or offer to investigate.
Morgan Aldridge
on 14 Apr 10Ouch. My 1st gen MacBook Air was like that and the performance was abysmal.
When the 3rd gen MacBook Air came out the performance benchmarks implied that the 2nd gen was comparable (or faster, in some cases), so I picked up the 2nd gen at that time. I’ve not had the performance or heat issues since.
It’ll get very hot and the fans will kick in if I use it in bed with all the vents blocked, but the fans don’t kick in and it doesn’t get overly warm if it’s just on my lap or on my Road Tools CoolPad on my desk.
It’s a shame that you’re running into these issues and even more so that they wouldn’t even look at your machine.
Stephen
on 14 Apr 10I’m pretty sure Apple has a strict policy regarding machines that burn customers, or at least did a couple of years ago. Once you got someone on the phone and said the word burn in the context of a hot machine, you should have been passed on to a supervisor, who should have asked you to bring your machine into an Apple Store. Most of the time they replace them.
Once again, that was a couple years ago.
For shame Apple. For shame.
Robert
on 14 Apr 10What the hell do you expect? You should feel lucky to even have the privilege of using an Apple product.
jamie
on 14 Apr 10not a big deal
John
on 14 Apr 10Perhaps you do not program in native C or objective C, and you are being punished.
SH
on 14 Apr 10FWIW, the supervisor at the Apple store disregarded the burn because I did not bring him “a doctor’s note”.
Kenny McCarthy
on 14 Apr 10Maybe it’s Flash running? I use ClicktoFlash on my MacBook Pro and it really keeps the heat down.
But then again, shame on that Woodfield store – I hope the Regional Manager has already placed the call to the Store Manager. Good luck and let us know how it works out.
Ian
on 14 Apr 10Sarah, let me know if I can help. I’m the Apple Services Manager at an Apple Authorized Service Provider.
Adam J
on 14 Apr 10Email [email protected] and I bet you will get some results. That is not acceptable
Jason Green
on 14 Apr 10I see nothing wrong with calling this out on a very public and popular blog.
But, if they fix it, I hope you’ll put in an update to let us know.
Neal L
on 14 Apr 10Just out of curiosity – did you just brush your hand against it and get that scorch or did you leave your hand on the laptop as it got hotter and hotter, only to realize that you were slowly being sizzled?
SH
on 14 Apr 10Ha, good question @Neal. I got this burn an hour into working Monday morning, after picking up my machine from the desk to walk it to a different room. I picked it up with my right hand, set it on my left hand and in the crook of my arm as I grabbed the cord, and almost immediately dropped it because it was so hot. So probably a few seconds of contact led to a burn mark that’s still there 3 days later.
But I don’t have a doctors note! And this is normal!
Robert
on 14 Apr 10Let’s try this again:
I’m not really surprised by this. Every time I have to deal with Apple’s support, they all act surprised that you would ever have the audacity to complain about one of their products and expect everyone to feel fortunate just to be allowed to purchase and use their stuff.
I’m sure whoever you talked to thought it was your fault for getting too close to the heat outtake on the laptop.
Apple makes some rockin’ gadgets but their support is as bad as their gear is awesome.
Ross
on 14 Apr 10Trying to create a public outcry over something like this is pretty irresponsible and childish, IMO. Just email someone else, don’t storm to the internet to extract revenge because one person didn’t reply as you would’ve liked.
Rob
on 14 Apr 10Ross, I think that this is an absolutely perfect forum to express opinions on the service of a brand. i saw no intent to extract revenge (and wonder where you found it).
Warren
on 14 Apr 10I have to agree with Ross here. This is nothing like the posts I normally expect from SvN. I guess if you guys have anything else to say, I’ll be reading it from News.YC, but I just unsubbed.
Guy Cookson
on 14 Apr 10I had a similar experience in terms of their attitude to issues in relation my iPhone 3GS. It had a yellow screen, a known issue reported multiple times on dozens of boards. But of course Apple Care act like they’ve never heard of such a thing, that whatever colour the screen is it’s (that word again) normal. Fortunately it developed another fault and I got it replaced.
Anyway – not comparable to a burn. But attitude is attitude.
paul
on 14 Apr 10On my macbook pro, I found that when I close the lid to put it sleep and then pull out the usb plug for my mouse that’s when it goes supernova. It was hot enough to…well…you know. :)
fredo
on 14 Apr 10“Maybe it’s Flash running?” <- hahaha
Peter J. Hart
on 14 Apr 10Now we see the reason 37s only hires Mac users: you gotta have thick skin.
I just got a SSD for my laptop that runs on the other OS, and it is so weird to compute with no fan, no disk noise, no nothing. Depending on what I am doing, it might take 15-30 minutes before the fan comes on.
But, didn’t the original iMac not have a case fan?
Eric
on 14 Apr 10Call the support rather than visit the store. I had a lemon of a laptop that I was told by “the manager” at the store that it was somehow my fault that dust got under a sealed display ( pre-unibody ).
The people on the phone were much nicer and got the display replaced with a minimal of fuss.
Chip Ramsey
on 14 Apr 10You go girl.
It’s also apparently no big deal when a Time Capsule craps out for no good reason a little over a year after purchase, even though hundreds of posts can be found around the web of people experiencing the exact same issue.
Hey Apple, it’s much easier to root for the underdog. Your new found dominance in the digital content and mobile space leaves you particularly vulnerable to customer backlash, especially when arrogance seems to be your brand’s defining characteristic. I’d watch your back.
[Note: I’ve been a loyal Apple customer since the release of OS 10.0.]
Kenneth Vogt
on 14 Apr 10You may appreciate this comic that is spot on for your situation: Penny Arcade! – The New Hotness
Jaymie
on 14 Apr 10I’m torn here – this isn’t what I expect 37Signals to push out (especially the f-word). On the other (unburnt) hand, it would be nice to see Apple step in now and make this right.
Jaymie
on 14 Apr 10Actually, to quote 37Signals own commenting guidelines:
:oP
Curt
on 14 Apr 10@Jaymie: I concur, I’m shocked to see the F-word on SvN.
Doug
on 14 Apr 10@Chip Ramsey – absolutely!
I have a problem with an expensive Mac Pro, and Engineering (escalated to them) basically gave me the finger and said ‘tough’. It’s a very strange world where Microsoft starts looking better than (or even close to) Apple.
Lee
on 14 Apr 10I haven’t had much luck with Apple support myself. I’ve found them rather arrogant and generally unhelpful. When my CD drive died in my Macbook Pro, it it took them over 4 weeks to get it back. On the day they got it back, and I went to pick it up, they told me they found something else wrong, and they’d let me know when it was fixed.
Fortunately the manager was kind enough to offer me a replacement. But it was such a headache.
Justin Reese
on 14 Apr 10Yuck, Sarah, that sucks on both accounts. (Burn and bad support.) Best of luck chasing this down.
I don’t understand this “don’t post complaints on a blog” sentiment, at all. Sarah’s Apple product is clearly not operating properly, and she got terrible service from the company when trying to resolve it. Where is it written that “thou shalt not complain about a company until thou hast bent thyself over backwards to make up for their mistakes”?
Might be overkill to write her senator or report to the BBB or something, but just a blog post? Jiminy.
James
on 14 Apr 10This blog is probably read by a lot of Apple execs, goodbye Genii.. you’re fired.
Apple will probably contact you soon in regards to this, replace you with a free one, give you something extra, and ask you update this blog with how they responded.
SH
on 14 Apr 10@James, I’m not looking for a freebie here. I’m not trying to shake down Apple and get a new or undeserved machine. I simply want my 10 month-old $2,000 computer to be fixed. And I’d like it to be fixed without fighting someone for it. If Apple ever responds, fixes the machine, or helps me out, I’d be happy to report here. But I don’t have a doctor’s note, so…
Ralph Haygood
on 14 Apr 10Being King Steve, or one of his minions, means never having to say you’re sorry.
Scott
on 14 Apr 10I hope they fire Genii and she becomes homeless as a result.
Tom Brow
on 14 Apr 10Guys, I think “Genii” is the plural of “Genius”, not some eccentrically named ingenue who just blew her gig at the Apple Store.
Tyson
on 14 Apr 10If a user emails 37signals with a support request and it isn’t handled to their satisfaction after the first response, would you prefer that they write an angry blog post instead of contacting you again? Is that the best way to get a problem resolved?
I suppose that’s how I’ll start handling my support requests with you guys. If you don’t respond the first time to my satisfaction, I’ll write a blog posts filled with impotent rage.
Anonymous Coward
on 14 Apr 10Tyson, if 37signals ever physically harms you (ie. BURNS YOUR FLESH) then maybe you have a point. Until then, a to-do list bug is not the same thing as physical bodily harm.
Christopher Lee
on 14 Apr 10I guess it depends on why your Air is getting hot. My first gen MacBook Air would consistently overheat, and in doing so would cause the 2nd CPU to shut down (You’ll see kernel_task taking up 150% of your CPU in Activity Monitor.) My experience with the Apple Genius Bar was similar. They were incredulous that I could complain about a core shutdown and refused to look at the thread on the apple support forums.
One solution is using the undervolting tool CoolBook (www.coolbook.se), but unfortunately, last I checked, it did not work with SnowLeopard :( (but it looks like there is a new update on the website as of April 3rd).
I loved my Macbook Air, and if I could have gotten 4GB of RAM into it, I would have kept it. Otherwise, I’m even MORE in love with my new 13” MBP, and I suspect I would like the latest from apple with the 10 hour battery to be even better.
SH
on 14 Apr 10@Tyson, I would certainly hope that if Basecamp physically hurt you, that you would be outraged. Please don’t think this issue is me simply being upset by the way someone spoke to me, or because I didn’t get what I wanted. A defective product not only singed my flesh, but the people who made it refused to acknowledge or fix the problem. Let’s keep things in perspective.
Adam
on 14 Apr 101st – I have never been physically hurt by Basecamp.
2nd – I’ve had really good luck with the Genii at the Northbrook store which is not far from Woodfield. They fixed the fans on my old MacBook Pro 3 times [until it was out of warranty :( ]
-adam
John
on 14 Apr 10You shouldn’t have to get a fucking doctor’s note for a burn that small.
Unnecessary layers of complexity.
Loic
on 14 Apr 10I thought it was your foot for a while…
merle
on 14 Apr 10Get some of those little round plastic things that you put under furniture legs and use them to lift your computer off the desk for a little airflow.
Bob
on 14 Apr 10I remember some lady (successfully) sued McDonalds for having coffee hot enough to scald her when spilled. Now, coffee is supposed to be hot…
Mark
on 15 Apr 10Sarah, maybe you should run your mac in the store for a while and then pass it to a Genii ?? see what happens when they get burnt in real time !! oh yeah, take a doctor with you so the Genii can at least get a certificate for some time off work to recover from the shock of being burnt at work by the piece of art they sell..
Basecamp has never hurt me either ;-)
Luca
on 15 Apr 10not that I have any love for the folks at the Apple Store, but still. if you walked in with that attitude you aren’t going to get any favors. Especially since defeats don’t tend to wait 10 months to show up. So either this was the first time or you were too lazy to bring it in before. Also, you say nothing about what you were doing with the machine, what tests they ran etc.
Your post comes off like you marched in, slammed it down and yelled ‘this is a piece of shit, I want a new one GDit and I want you to transfer all my stuff for me for free’. And that ‘tude will get you no where when it comes to Apple.
As for the burn, of course they are going to want something. If they take you at your word they are setting themselves up for a possible lawsuit because they admitted guilt. And yes some folks do pull stunts like that. Their legal department would force them to ask for such things because they don’t want anyone admitting guilt over something that wasn’t. Cause based on that photo, maybe you did burn it on your computer, maybe you burned it doing your hair. They wouldn’t be able to tell.
Anonymous Coward
on 15 Apr 10No, actually, it doesn’t. That perception is coming from you, not the blog post.
Don Schenck
on 15 Apr 10Go Sarah.
Dan
on 15 Apr 10Get over it, you wimp. your Mac had a hiccup. Reboot it and find a bandaid.
Vasily Myazin
on 15 Apr 10Somebody call wahhhhmbulance. Shit happens.
GeeIWonder
on 15 Apr 10Yes, please do let us know if Apple decides to help you because you called them out on a very public and popular blog that is traditionally very pro-Apple.
It’s very important people without one know that’s how Apple decides who gets the best service.
Regarding the doctor’s note—it sounds like a big mistake to ask for that. As if a doctor’s note (which should bea pain, but not terribly hard to get) would suffice for liability purposes to show they were at cause. They may have opened an interesting door for you there.
Jaymie
on 15 Apr 10I’m surprised Apple haven’t intervened yet, given the prominence of the SvN blog.
Does this post mean that SvN will champion other complaints where the user is hurt? Will there be unanticipated cursing in future posts?
I appreciate Sarah is narked (understatement of the year), but I expect better of 37Signals, even when they have a complaint such as this. Things have always been handled with decorum and panache, not base call-outs.
I’m not a prude – I swear daily. I just don’t push that out to thousands of subscribers.
David Reuss
on 15 Apr 10I’d sure like a replacement machine as well.
My 1st gen MacBook has abysmal performance when running with an external screen. Even though several firmware upgrades promised to better those issues.
When it runs as supposed it’s really a killer machine even at it’s 1.6GHz, and 2 gigs of ram, but heat-issues are killing it.
Right now, it’s getting painfully slow just sitting on my desk at work, with nothing but USB ethernet adapter plugged in. This is just with rather casual usage, i’m not looking forward to when summer hits, where it just almost gives up a few hours after booting.
In Denmark where i live we don’t have any real Apple-stores (yet) only we-don’t-do-support retailers, so my hopes are not that great for ever getting this fixed.
It gets really hot by normal usage as well. I’ve actually “felt” scorched in my hands after a long day of work, just because it gets so hot.
Sleep issues i believe exists with every mac so far. 80% of the time i shut the lid on my laptop after work, it doesn’t go to sleep for real, and the fans just run wild. I’ve found that when opening the lid a few seconds later, the fans stop fully, and then i can close the lid again, keeping the machine in proper sleep state.
But it’s still the external monitor issue that bugs me the most. That i can’t even set a 20” inch screen to this computer without it being unusable within the better end of a half our, is just not acceptable. 1st generation products are just not battled tested enough, which is perfectly understandable. If they acknowledge it, and do something about those bad units shipped.
Sweet burn though. :-)
Jay
on 15 Apr 10I love that people “expect better” and are “shocked” in terms of cussing on a blog that includes DHH… Haven’t been long time readers have you?
Let it go! :)
G
on 15 Apr 10I had some problems with a 2G Macbook, and the Woodfield store was really helpful. I was a week past the end of my warranty and they still fixed it.
Chad
on 15 Apr 10Wow!! More evidence of Apple going down the tubes! They used to be all about the user experience, but apparently that’s not the case anymore.
Rudiger
on 15 Apr 10After the latest MacBook Pro updates, I’m convinced Apple is a phone company now.
Huge
on 15 Apr 10All I have to say is, keep buying Apple products, more iPods, more iPads, keep using the app store only, keep developing only with the tools that Apple gives you, keep on not using Firefox, Suicide Girls and everything else that is bad for YOU on your iPhone, and now iPad and soon iMac and eventually iYourself.
Anyways, I am getting carried away, but the best medicine againts an over-stretched giant is to close your wallet.
SH
on 15 Apr 10I got a call today from Apple Executive Care to tell me that they’re really sorry, however what I’m experiencing is expected. I really wish I could update this with better news, but it’s time to move on.
Justin Reese
on 16 Apr 10That’s astonishing.
If anyone at Apple is listening: I was very much considering an MBA as my next laptop, but there’s no way now. Not if this is “expected”, and particularly with a toddler in the house.
(Of course, that just means it’ll be an MBP instead, so you win either way. But seriously, this can’t be good marketing!)
Ken Glanton
on 16 Apr 10No mention of whether or not you have Apple Care. I have been told that not being a card carrying member of the Apple Care scam will lead to “no Love” in the Apple Store. I have also read this on numerous forums- that the real value of Apple Care is that they make an attempt to help when you have a problem, but if you did not purchase Apple Care you get blown off in the Apple Store.
That said i am very unhappy with Apple these days- the war with Adobe, the war with Google, the war with HTC which is really the war with Google, etc. What I want from Apple is to continue to innovate, but it appears that Baby Boomer syndrome has finally set in on Mr. Jobs and he is all about the money. Greed nevers makes for great products and service, and I own 2 macbooks, 2 iphones, every generation of ipods, airport extreme, and apple tv. I have to say that Apple TV is a complet pile of shit- very much like what Steve Jobs called Flash- except for Flash works well and the Apple TV doesnt. It may be time for Mr. Jobs to start worrying with making great products with the marketing “baked in” as Alex Bogusky says.
*sorry for the 2 part long comment
Anonymous Coward
on 16 Apr 10What I want from Apple is to continue to innovate, but it appears that Baby Boomer syndrome has finally set in on Mr. Jobs and he is all about the money.
What? Look at the products Apple has released over the last few years. iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, App Store… Each one a significant innovation miles ahead of the rest of the industry.
What have you done in the past few years?
Michael
on 17 Apr 10Sarah. MacBook Air is a machine that doesn’t work properly without $10 coolbook software (coolbook.se) and if you don’t have it installed on your Air, do it now.
I know. I’ve had both 1st Gen and now 3rd Gen Air. Coolbook works on both Leo and latest Snowleo 10.6.3 and it makes my Air work quietly and it runs a lot cooler. Also there are no overheating or kernel_task issues. It’s my main and only computer and I love it. Before Coolbook I wanted to throw my Air out of the window. It wasn’t usable. Now I love it. Email me if you need guidance setting this up, I’ll gladly help.
Alex M
on 18 Apr 10This can only be the result of poor quality control and use-case testing. It’s that simple.
Apple is known for avoiding this type of testing, as heat issues have always plagued their products as far back as the Mac Mini. They knew about this beforehand for the AIR and pushed forward anyway.
I just don’t understand the cult of Apple and this notion that their products have superior engineering and design. I love Apple and I use OS X. But, my HTC blows the iPhone out of the water in regards to usability, features, innovation, etc.
Apple brands itself as innovative. Doesn’t mean they are.
Anonymous Coward
on 19 Apr 10Apple as branding iron. That’s not a bug, it’s a feature ;)
iMac off 2x daily
on 20 Apr 10“A defective product only singed my flesh, blah, blah, blah..”
seriously? you can’t even see the “scorch” without putting a big yellow circle around it. and why was your laptop on your foot in the first place? were you standing on it?
wait, are you the nerdy guy from the apple commercials with red toenail polish on?
This discussion is closed.