I have a first gen MBP (3 years old now and still going strong) and I've been running it almost at 90% uptime the entire 3 years.
I sent it in to Apple once to fix the whining + too much thermal paste problem in the first few months of owner ship and it's been working fine ever since.
The internal temperature is about 71C to 80C most of the time and the outer shell does get pretty hot. A lot of my friends complain/critic on why does the MBP get so hot, but they don't know that it's engineered to expel heat through it's aluminum case so that the insides don't get cooked.
I have never used any laptop coolers as I think it's a big waste of money and there isn't enough documented proof that it significantly improves performance. The MBP is a more of a notebook desktop replacement, NOT a LAPtop, as the heat expelled through the aluminum case would like burn/scald most laps.

Hope this helps. Only downside to my macbook pro is that it's now a desktop replacement and isn't exactly mobile. I'm currently looking for a 2nd hand Macbook I can torture and lug around.

Yeah I know, but sorry to say that my baby is invaluable to me and I would die if anything were to happen to it. Like get stolen or had coffee spilled all over it.