# Does your laptop computer get HOT??



## greenlight (Jul 24, 2006)

I put a 12" fan under mine to help with the cooling. The bottom of the computer stays cool, but the top is uncomfortable to touch. I'm ready to buy a usb keyboard so I don't have to touch it. 

Is there something wrong with my computer, or is that common?

I have a toshiba satellite celeron 15.4" lcd.


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## greenLED (Jul 24, 2006)

How many processes are you running? 

Mine used to get *hot* (even uncomfortable to the touch) when I was running SETI permanently. Now that I don't, it gets warm. IIRC, I have a P4-M in mine.

Regardless of heat, I'd encourage you to get an external keyboard - laptop keyboards are horrible for your wrists.


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## gorn (Jul 24, 2006)

I have a Dell XPS m170 laptop. I use a usb cool pad that has two fans built into it. That helps cool it down but it still gets hot. I also have an Alienware laptop with a standard desktop processor. It gets so hot it could sterilize you.


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## shifty646 (Jul 24, 2006)

I got a Toshiba, it gets hot just like any other laptop.
I also use a USB cooling pad. It's aluminum and has 2 fans inside it. They suck the air from under the laptop out through a slot in the back (not bottom) of the pad. since the laptop rests in 4 rubber stops on the pad, it is raised approx. 1cm off the pad, and the fans sucking create an air flow through the bottom of the laptop. This keeps it significantly cooler to the touch, and the CPU and HD sensors measure 10'C less, which is a lot.
Best of all, the pad cost ~$30. Worthwile investment to extend the life of your components.

Oh ya, I got a Centrino CPU. Celerons get really HOT, I hear.


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## will (Jul 24, 2006)

I have a thinkpad (IBM) that used to get very hot on the bottom, eventually the motherboard went. not sure which happened first - the heat build up which damaged the motherboard, or the motherboard having a cooling problem that led to it's demise. There is a small fan that cools the processor, sometimes you can hear the fan running, sometimes not. For sure - you should be able to use the keyboard without burning your fingers.


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## greenlight (Jul 24, 2006)

Mine's centrino, too. Does it matter if the fan is blowing in or out?


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## will (Jul 24, 2006)

greenlight said:


> Mine's centrino, too. Does it matter if the fan is blowing in or out?




I always thought they blew out, essentially sucking the heat out..


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## Trashman (Jul 24, 2006)

I use a Targus Chill Hub (same as the Chill Pad, but with a USB hub on the side), which like the USB cooling pad mentioned above. They're not all the same, though. The one I have works like the one in the Shift has, where it sucks the heat from the bottom of the laptop and blows it out the back of the cooling pad. These things really work. The bottom of my laptop used to get pretty warm, or hot if I put it on my bed, but with this pad it stays cool. Some are USB powered, and some (like mine) are powered through an AC outlet.


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## offroadcmpr (Jul 24, 2006)

Mine gets pretty hot too. If I I am playing a game or something similar, it will get hot enough that the computer starts to run really slowly, sometimes to the point that it freezes. Right now I just use a small 5" fan that is constanly blowing on it to keep it cool enough to use it.


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## James S (Jul 24, 2006)

If you're actually using the processor it will get very hot. If it's that hot when it's just sitting there then something other than you is using up a lot of processor time. Could be a virus or other malware too so make sure you're up to date with all that.

It's funny the things that use up a lot of processor time on this Mac. Right now while typing this it's getting hot because of all those little animated smilies over to the right. I dont know why it doesn't like the smilies, I can have dozens of other pages open and never have the fan come on, but the reply page on CPF does a number on it. If I take more than another minute or so the fan will startup.

But normally, it's quite reasonably warm, but not hot.


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## charliek (Jul 25, 2006)

greenlight said:


> I put a 12" fan under mine to help with the cooling. The bottom of the computer stays cool, but the top is uncomfortable to touch. I'm ready to buy a usb keyboard so I don't have to touch it.
> 
> Is there something wrong with my computer, or is that common?
> 
> I have a toshiba satellite celeron 15.4" lcd.



I have yet to run across a laptop that does not get hot with use. the processor is usually heat-sinked to the bottom of the unit, and the battery also generates heat as it discharges. It's normal.


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## DUQ (Jul 25, 2006)

Laptops always run hot. May I suggest this--->http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=75004


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## cy (Jul 25, 2006)

my new HP laptop with dual core proccessor bare gets warm...


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## JasonC (Jul 26, 2006)

My Sony Vaio runs very cool, much cooler than any other laptop Ive owned, unless I'm working in the garden:lolsign:


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## yuandrew (Jul 26, 2006)

I have an HP with an AMD Semperon processor. After running for a good hour, it feels warm to touch on the keyboard area but the left side of the laptop where the processor and hard drive are located seem to get the hottest; it is actually uncomfortable to put on your lap. It seems like most of the heat is comming from the hard drive itself since the area on top feels the warmest.

Now the power adaptor for that same laptop gets extreamly hot when I have the laptop running and the battery being charged at the same time. You don't want to pick it up; I always have to drag it by the cord to move it when it's running at full load.


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## Illum (Jul 26, 2006)

In a desktop...there are open spaces of circulating air...but in a laptop...everything is "micro" and when running extremely busy...itself is a heatsink.

I owned too many laptops so I know...
*Compaq 8000* something....6 years old...fan dies during use, motherboard fried; Intel 2253 [whatever that means ?!, 233 mhz]
*IBM thinkpad 760XL,* Pentium 1 166 mhz no fan...[Made in 1994]
*Dell inspiron*, 4 years old...literally have two fans one on each side...one supposely draws air, the other expells air, but dust accumulation killed the cooling...the design of the Dell required you to take the keyboard off, unhook your ram chips to see the fan, then the fan's wire went to the back of the screen, so you have to take the LCD screen off to take the fan out and clan it....ugh Gave this away, I bought it used for parts....but I was stupid enough to think Dell's parts fit in a toshiba... I think it was a Pentium II, not sure.
*Toshiba A15*...Celeron 2.4ghz can give me second degree burns simply being idle...the Targus cool pad seems to help... [5 years old, now my desktop after the batteries died]

What I currently use is *IBM Thinkpas X32*-2884-A13, runs off centrino...NO HEAT even running at 1005% capacity of 1.6 ghz...its worth the $1600



greenlight said:


> Mine's centrino, too. Does it matter if the fan is blowing in or out?



as long as there is air circulating it should be fine...I cant hear my thinkpads fan even though its working.



will said:


> I always thought they blew out, essentially sucking the heat out..



Some blew in...A friend has a thick HP that has everything you can ask for....Floppy drive, DDV burner drive, card reader, 3 USBs, 2 Firewire ports, and a 12 cell lithium ion that supposed to last 3 hours...[so much for a 12 cell]

his HP has three fans. [Im not sure about three fans, but there are three "grills" on the sides that output air, but one actually blows air into the computer...the only grill w/ no dust on it 




JasonC said:


> My Sony Vaio runs very cool, much cooler than any other laptop Ive owned, unless I'm working in the garden:lolsign:



Vaiops have a notorius reputation for cooking itself to death...3 of my classmates have had that problem with a vaio..."thermal shutdowns" they call it...where the computer litarally powers off but the fans on full blast...


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## Duncan (Jul 28, 2006)

I have a Dell Latitude D600. It gets warm to the left of the touchpad (where your wrist/lower palm rests when you are typing). It also heats up a lot on the lower left quadrant on the bottom of it (if you're looking down on the laptop from the top). Overall, not a bad computer in itself. I think this model is discontinued now. I'll be getting the newer D620 in the fall, hopefully it runs a bit cooler. The one thing I really dislike on it, is the casing, it's been scratched to oblivion as well as getting cracked. And that's only with low to medium abuse with no dropping of it.


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## chesterqw (Jul 29, 2006)

it does get hot...
i think that is the place where the CPU is sitting?


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## Handlobraesing (Jul 29, 2006)

How long has the computer been used? Check for accumulation of dust on fan and internal heatsinks. If it's really dirty and you have access to service manual (Dell and HP makes them available online, not sure about Toshiba), take it apart and clean out the cooling air path completely with a canned duster.


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## BentHeadTX (Jul 29, 2006)

The best laptop I've ever used was a Panasonic Toughbook CF-M 29 with no cooling fans, no vents... sealed everything. Ran over 7 hours on a battery and had sealed doors so it would work in the rain. Then I saw how much it cost ($6,000) and that cooled my enthusiasm.  

I am now in the market for a laptop in the $1,000 to $1,700 range. The MacBook looks very good in that there are no vents or air intakes on the bottom, they go from the sides and out the back. My wife will be using the laptop and likes to use them on the bed sealing off the air intakes of most laptops. The MacBook does not have that problem. She also wants the camera/microphones built in, likes the slot loading burner, remote control and stout construction. 

The MacBook initially had problems with cooling due to improperly applied thermal compound (way too much applied) and incorrect fan thermal speeds. This has been fixed so I wait for the "20% faster and 20% less power" Merom dual core so the MacBook will run cooler still. Figure September/October for the 15.4" screen MacBooks with merom dual cores to appear. 

Dual cores in a laptop makes sense since they are generally not used most of the time so your laptop should be running very cool. Things are getting better on the laptop front so I am keeping watch to see which one would be the best when it is time to lay down the cash.


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## greenlight (Aug 4, 2006)

Ok, my laptop doesn't get hot anymore. I ran antivirus and anti-spyware progs, and that seemed to do the trick. I can touch my computer now. 

Now the menus and windows are acting slow. Sometimes it takes 10 seconds to open the start menu. What's up with that?


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## JasonC (Aug 6, 2006)

Illum_the_nation said:


> Vaiops have a notorius reputation for cooking itself to death...3 of my classmates have had that problem with a vaio..."thermal shutdowns" they call it...where the computer litarally powers off but the fans on full blast...



I must just be lucky then! My vaio's on 24/7 (16 hrs a day usage by me, the rest backing up and maintenance) and has been for the last 18 months and it's never let me down


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## PhotonWrangler (Aug 6, 2006)

I worked on a Dell Inspiron for a friend and found that if the CPU fan gets even a little bit of junk in it, the machine overheats and shuts down to protect itself. You've got to keep those things meticulously clean.


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## chamenos (Aug 7, 2006)

Duncan, I have a Dell Latitude D620 (just got it a month ago), and the hard drive is located on the left of the palm rest where you described. I'm not sure if the layout of the D600 is similar to the D620 but if so, that would explain the heat. Mine never gets more than warm, and I usually leave it running 24/7. The vents are on the back, so it doesn't get blocked when you're using it on your lap/cushion/bed.

The D620 uses the centrino duo, so the only significant source of heat is the hard drive which isn't that much anyway. I got a 5,400rpm hard drive (100GB), so it probably doesn't heat up as much as a 7,200rpm unit.

Is the case of your D600 metal or plastic? I got the D620 mostly because of the metal casing, which I thought would do away with any problems with cracking or excessive flexing.


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## Brighteyez (Aug 7, 2006)

Even at normal operating temperatures (don't know how hot yours got), the seemingly mild heat from the battery and power supply are enough to cause mild burns to your thighs (even through pants) or whereever the computer is resting. For that reason, most if not all companies marketing laptops now call call them "notebook" systems. There's only about 3 manufacturers of notebook systems, and they're all in China, so there's no need for them to worry about liability, that's assumed by the company whose name is on the system.



greenlight said:


> Ok, my laptop doesn't get hot anymore. I ran antivirus and anti-spyware progs, and that seemed to do the trick. I can touch my computer now.
> 
> Now the menus and windows are acting slow. Sometimes it takes 10 seconds to open the start menu. What's up with that?


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## thehappyman (Aug 9, 2006)

I am running a 2.13 Gigahertz P770 Centrino in my Sony A600 and it barely gets warm. A great processor and a great computer. The 1920 x 1200 Xbrite display is the best Display I have ever seen on any laptop (or desktop).

You might want to download the free "Centrino Hardware Control" program which will tell you the exact temperature of your CPU and Hard Drive (among other things).

And check out the Notebook Forum at
http://www.notebookforums.com 

Cheers
Thehappyman


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## afultz075 (Aug 9, 2006)

PhotonWrangler said:


> I worked on a Dell Inspiron for a friend and found that if the CPU fan gets even a little bit of junk in it, the machine overheats and shuts down to protect itself. You've got to keep those things meticulously clean.


My Dell laptop has been doing the same thing for the past year and a half, only whenever I try to play a game or DVD, or burn CDs in rapid succession. I've just lived with it since then since I don't fell like dealing with Dell tech support or paying an overpriced third party computer repair company lots of money to look at it. How exactly do you get to the fan on these things to clean it?


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