What should I watch for?

[Tosca]

Earlier today, a heavy animal model fell onto my laptop keyboard from maybe two-three feet. There's no obvious physical damage, but it hit several keys at once--causing the screen to spackle with pink, black, blue, and yellow pixels, like a half-lost TV signal. It also beeped loudly every three seconds. I panicked and unplugged it (it was fully charged), and the screen went black. I'm pretty sure it was an emergency shutdown or something, because I restarted it in Safe mode (it's a Mac) and it ran alright. I've now restarted it normally, and it's running fine (apart from a browser crash), but is there anything I should be watching for? I'm backing up data today and there are no non-essential processes running.

I'm *really* not a computer-savvy person; the extent of my knowledge relates to Adobe products, which isn't much help here. And I can't afford for this computer to be so badly damaged that it's unusable. So, really, is there anything else I could be doing to check that there isn't any permanent damage? (It's a Macbook Pro running Snow Leopard, ftr.)

I'd really appreciate any help; kind of panicked when I thought I'd lost it. D: Thanks!

[Neox]

You may have just shaken a few connections within the computer.  Keep close tabs on the battery, check that it's not overheating.  I think that would be my #1 worry.  Those lithium ion batteries don't like being agitated too much and they're really nasty if they explode.

Just try using it as you normally would, keeping an eye out for oddities in function.  If it starts up fine, and you're currently using it, you might be alright.

[Sasha]

Keep close tabs on the battery, check that it's not overheating[...]agitated too much[...]

Each cell should have thermal shutoff, safe modes of failure and protection with this exact abuse in mind during their design (drops, etc.) Lithium-iron-phosphate batteries are newer and much safer being abused, however you probably will not see them in consumer laptops for now - but with proper handling circuitry and using genuine batteries all protections should be in place to prevent the battery from running out of condition.

but it hit several keys at once--causing the screen to spackle with pink, black, blue, and yellow pixels

This could have depressed the plastic and caused any number of problems, stopping a fan causing the video card to over heat until it is reset for example. If it turned on again without the issue I would be optimistic.

If it had an aluminum casing under the keyboard and was designed sturdy, then it may have knocked the fan off or any number of things. I haven't looked inside many laptops before.

Tigerface.

[Tosca]

Thank you guys! It did run extremely hot for two days or so initially after the hit, but an icepack helped cool it off and slow the fan down--as weird as it was using that on a computer. :U It hasn't done that since, at least not any more than it did before. Unfortunately, it also appears to have caused some minor damage to the disc drive. Discs will still run, but something's grinding against the top of them while they do so. I'm going to clean it and see what happened. -facepalm- As well as moving everything heavy off the shelf in the first place!

If it had an aluminum casing under the keyboard and was designed sturdy, then it may have knocked the fan off or any number of things.

It's an aluminum case, yes, and it seems quite sturdy considering that I've sat on it by accident before with no ill effects. The fan still works, though it takes a long time to slow down, and I'm watching it for any other sort of bad signs. Nothing so far.

Those lithium ion batteries don't like being agitated too much and they're really nasty if they explode.

EEP. Okay, no, nothing's exploded yet and everything else is running fine. So hopefully it's mostly good. :P Thanks again, guys!