xBox 360 Overheating

Looks like my XBox360 might be one of the 3% defective units that Microsoft counters as being defective in regards  to Robert Byers's claim in his XBox 360 lawsuit.  It's hanged on me three times, each during a late night 4 to 5 hour gaming session.   And if you say 3 times isn't that much, well, I've only played with it 5 times since I got it for Xmas and the previous two sessions were only 35 to 45 minutes tops.

I've got the unit vertical up on an un-enclosed entertainment console with  plenty of air flow and the power brick sitting next to it.  The brick doesn't even seem to get warm for me, but let me tell you, if the heat were a little hotter coming off the fan in the back of the XBox, you could cook popcorn. 

So what are my options, send it in, get a refurbished unit back?  Now I don't mind getting a refurbished unit later on, but to get one when I just recently purchased it and all because the problem might be an alleged design flaw (according to the lawsuit) just doesn't feel right.  There's even a website called http://www.xboxoverheating.com/

I've been around electronics long enough to know when a design doesn't have enough air flow., especially when I can remember my Apple ][ days of stuffing all 7 slots and needing two fans, one on each side and even leaving the top off to have a room fan blow on it. 

Now the Apple case is an extreme caused by overloading the system, consoles are closed systems for the most part.  Mine happens to include the hard drive option. While the slim design of the XBox is attractive, stuffing all the power of an XBox360 into it is like your girlfriend trying on her summer swimsuit the first time, it looked good in the store.

Considering that the unit has red LEDs that blink to tell you the unit is overheating pretty much means that Microsoft was aware that there might be a heat issue to begin with.

That, or the Xbox was just telling me it was time to go to bed.