I have a macbook pro that gets pretty hot. Not as hot as Gabe’s, but hot enough that well, it’s uncomfortable to put it anywhere near my lap.
Even just web browsing it can get very warm. So, in order to get past this, I looked online for any sort of utility to measure temperatures.
What I found instead was an app called smcFanControl. I ran at the default settings and it reported that my machine was getting up to 140 degrees. (Fahrenheit)
I upped the rpm to around 4000 and now it runs at a more lap friendly temperature of 100 degrees, and 40 degrees really does make a difference in comfort. The machine overall even feels cooler, and although I know I’m losing fan lifecycles, I would much rather the machine ran cooler than it has been.