Do you happen to know exactly which MBP your friend has? I'm just a little surprised since mine (13" MBP 7,1) has never actually overheated no matter what I throw at it (gaming, heavy compiles etc) - the worst I've had is that the fan gets louder and the case warms to touch. When running normally it's cool and the fan's practically silent, as you'd expect.

Agree on Linux preinstalled; that's pretty rare full stop. Dell had a few at one point but IIRC it was not across their whole range.