Is this normal? Fan running high while idle

[California King]

This happens to my Macbook almost all the time. My computer will be idle and the fan goes up to the max. I check the activity monitor and it shows that 1 program is using a lot of CPU...programs like Firefox, MS Word, or iTunes. This would happen even if Firefox was just sitting idle on any webpage..it could be google.com and it would do this. On MS word, just a document would be open. On iTunes, just the library is open, but no song playing.

I don't remember my Macbook always being like this, but don't exactly remember when this started.

[Ryan T.]

This happens to my Macbook almost all the time. My computer will be idle and the fan goes up to the max. I check the activity monitor and it shows that 1 program is using a lot of CPU...programs like Firefox, MS Word, or iTunes. This would happen even if Firefox was just sitting idle on any webpage..it could be google.com and it would do this. On MS word, just a document would be open. On iTunes, just the library is open, but no song playing.

I don't remember my Macbook always being like this, but don't exactly remember when this started.
I don't think I've had my fan turn on once since I bought this. I'd say something is definitely up with one of your processes.

[cigartender]

The fan on my new unibody MB constantly idles at 2000rpm, it never stops, although it is amazingly quiet. The fan will rev up accordingly when the temperatures go up, that isnt the problem. I talked to a service technician and he said this was normal. Is this true?

[aethelbert]

The fan on my new unibody MB constantly idles at 2000rpm, it never stops, although it is amazingly quiet. The fan will rev up accordingly when the temperatures go up, that isnt the problem. I talked to a service technician and he said this was normal. Is this true?
The fan never turns off. It's not supposed to.

[tubbymac]

The fan running high while idle is not normal at all. The fan never stopping, however, is normal. I'd get your machine checked at the Apple store if possible.

[silverblack]

First, which model of MB do you have?
Do you have iStat Pro installed? What is the CPU temp with the fan rev up?