Months ago I went crazy out of my mind trying to get my hands on the MacBook Pro and now, months later I’m still having a hard time getting my hands on it. The machine runs so hot that it’s literally dangerous to touch at times. There’s no doubt I could cook breakfast on it while checking my email.

As if the heat weren’t enough, the machine has a high pitched squeal which is obviously tied to screen brightness. The brighter the screen, the more intense the squeal. None of the tricks and fixes found on the Internet help. The only way to avoid the sound when using the machine it to use an external monitor and turn the LCD brightness all the way down (to off) or plug in some head phones. I wouldn’t be surprised if being exposed to the high pitch sound for the majority of the day is dangerous for my ears, and I’m guessing Apple will be defending themselves against a lawsuit brought on for the same reasons. It’s that bad.

I tried liking the machine, but in the past 2 hours I’ve had full crashes four times. No warning, no logs, no special screen, just full blown crashes. My guess is they’re brought on by the heat, and as far as I know, there’s no way to bring down the heat except by turning the machine off.

But the heat isn’t all. The Airport is stupid and wigs out when joining networks, even ones you’ve joined often. Video artifacts stick around on the screen and sometimes resolution independence turns itself on and makes all my menus gargantuan. The machine often gets in a weird sleep state where you have to wait for several minutes while resisting the urge to just power the damn thing off. It’s a mess of a machine and it’s totally not like Apple. If this is the machine they’re hoping Windows users will adopt, Windows users will feel right at home sweet trailer home.

Despite the issues, the machine is very fast and if not for the issues would be my perfect machine. I’m probably going to try getting Apple to replace the machine and hope for the best. I hate the idea of giving up the speed for my feeble iBook. But you know what – the iBook has never crashed. Never. And it runs cool, joins networks, has no sleep issues, is always stable and never gets weird.

I’m seriously disappointed.