This seems to be a common problem these days. I noticed it myself with a new MacBook Pro 13″. Laptops are becoming more powerful, with faster CPU’s (Intel Core 2 Duo for the MacBook Pro, and quad-core for some PC laptops, as of this writing), more graphics intensive video chipsets, etc. But, these do not by themselves contribute to hotter running laptops. Below are some reasons why your laptop might be running hot:

• Some laptops get very hot at the bottom. If you have the laptop sitting on a desk and left on for any length of time, there will be no way for the heat to dissipate from the bottom. Plus, the heat vents for your laptop may be clogged.
• Internal fans for your laptop may have stopped working. Or, the fans may not be spinning fast enough to keep the laptop cool (see below for nifty tools for this).
• You may be working in a hot room. I don’t mean a greenhouse, but a room that is hotter than the average Yogi Berra cave. External temperatures can have an internal effect on your laptop.

And here are some ways to keep your laptop running cool:

• Find the heat vents for your laptop and spray some high-pressure canned air to free up clogged vents.
• Speed up the internal fan a little, by using a utility like the free smcFanControl for Mac OS X, from http://www.eidac.de/?cat=40. I’m sure you can find a similar utility for Windows, e,g, http://www.pbus-167.com/. When I used the smcFanControl utility on the MacBook Pro it had an immediate impact. Default manufacturer settings are for ideal conditions.
• If you can’t work in a cooler room, then maybe have a small desktop fan blowing towards your laptop. This will at least dissipate the heat.
• Check the power settings on your laptop, e.g. set your laptop to go to sleep mode when it is not being used. Also set your screen to blank after a set period of inactivity. Check the power settings within Control Panel on Windows or System Preferences (Hardware/Energy Saver) on the Mac.
• Lastly, raise the laptop using a stand with vents at the bottom. There are lots of laptop stands available from the local computer stores such as NCIX, London Drugs, etc. I think the laptop pads are overkill, and noisy, but if you want you can get one of those too – a better alternative might be a pad such as this one, which you can throw into your laptop carrying bag: http://www.forevergeek.com/2009/05/liquid_cooling_pad_keep_your_laptop_cool_without_electronics/

Have a laptop? Keep it cool.

(tech tips by Steve Atwal)