So I thought I was in the clear..

Well I got my MBP today and I couldn't be happier. Everything was going great, I noticed no whine and no heat issues. I left the house and came back a few hours later and i hopped on the MBP and was just basically surfing the net and found that the MBP was getting EXTREMELY hot. This was also after I did the firmware update. So OK, I can deal with the heat, but then i went and unplugged the AC adapter and noticed this high pitch fuzzy noise. Oh great, this must be the infamous "whine". So I thought I didn't have either of the problems, only to find the firmware didn't fix the heat, and I do have a whine problem. It isn't that big of a deal I don't think. The whine is not a big deal because I am rarely in silence, but the heat is getting pretty hot, I can actually hurt my hand when touching certain parts. I just feel kind of bad that I spent $2100.00 and have some problems right off the bat. Oh well, hopefully apple will just come out with some sort of fix for all this. At least thats what im praying for. Other then that, I LOVE this machine, hope the bugs get fixed on these machines though.

What does you serial number begin with (ie. W8608, W8611, W8616)?

It sounds like you got one of the early ones. Take it back to the Apple Store and have it replaced, assuming that's where it came from. People have been taking them back for overheating, mooing noises, squeeky lid hinges, and dead pixles. Also, some of the earlier ones had to much thermal paste applied between the processor and heat sink causing the over heat condition. The thermal paste is used to transfer heat from the processor to the heat sink. Having too much applied causes the opposite affect, becomes an insulator.

odd, my "whine" cleared up after the firmware update, haven't noticed a problem since.

It says W8616. Also last night, I saw a dead pixel, but this morning it was gone. The only noise I hear from the MBP is when I unplug the AC adapter, there is a slight hum / staticy sound. It really isn't a problem. I am just concerned about the heat issue. I am going to see how bad it heats up for the next few days before I go ahead and consider taking it back. I really don't want to, considering I love this machine so much I dont even want to go a day without it. And I just got it!

what serial numbers are known to be the defected ones?