Laptop Cooling Issues

[astonmartinandy]

I've got a Dell Inspiron 8600 laptop, had it for around 9 months or so, but I have serious problems keeping the temperature of the thing down. I have tried slightly raising the laptop to get some air between the laptop and the desk but with little or no success.

Is there a way to better control the amount of heat given off, or a better way to dissipate the heat??

[pharzo]

Well maybe it's within the operating parameters for this laptop to be hot?

From what I can gather, this is a desktop replacement model. Try running SpeedFan to check the temperatures of the components. Be sure to check "DELL Support" in options. It should tell you if the temperatures are outside the normal range.

It's a little atypical for laptops to have cooling issues, because you can't exactly OC them, or do any hardcore mods. Most likely the temp is normal, but feels hot to the touch.

I've got a laptop cooler, doesn't make a huge difference but protects your tables if it gets REALLY hot, my old one used to!! If you are ok at doing fiddly tasks take it apart and clean the fans/ heatsinks/ airways out. But i wouldn't suggest it unless it has got noticeably worse since you had it, mine used to shut off when running intensive tasks. So i took it apart cleaned it out and no more problems, until i dropped it down the stairs LOL

[astonmartinandy]

Haha thanks for the tips, not sure whether I'll try the stairs technique to solve the issue

Originally Posted by astonmartinandy Haha thanks for the tips, not sure whether I'll try the stairs technique to solve the issue

haha not a good idea tends not to work quite so well afterwards, especially annoying if you do it just before xmas when you have work to do for january :roll: amazing how much even today everything just stops till well into january! anyway i think i'm right in saying all modern laptops shut down when temperatures get to high so if your's isn't doing that i wouldn't think its doing any harm

[antonioledesma]

don't worry about your laptop temperature until it starts to shut down everytime or it burns your legs
mine has been with me 2 years. As the processes list grows, also the resources they consume...and temperature also gains some °C

[jakaracman]

Originally Posted by astonmartinandy I've got a Dell Inspiron 8600 laptop, had it for around 9 months or so, but I have serious problems keeping the temperature of the thing down. I have tried slightly raising the laptop to get some air between the laptop and the desk but with little or no success. Is there a way to better control the amount of heat given off, or a better way to dissipate the heat??

9 months ...
Did you tajke it to the service to get in cleaned (the whole cooling system). Mine was too hot to touch (smelled like burning plastic)after 6 months of use, got it cleaned, now i Get it vcleaned every 4-6 months.
You would not belive the amount of dirt in the vents, clogging the fan and cooling ribs ...

[jon_s]

As said above, getting rid of all the dust is probably your best way forward. Remeber to use compressed air if you do it your self; a hoover has enough static to run the thing for a week LMAO.

[PATo355]

A laptop cooler by thermaltake wont cost you more than 50 dollars and will keep it a little low .

[AlienDB7]

Since your laptop has a Pentium M processor, I would check the power management setting. Instead of having the processing running at maximum speed (default for AC power) all the time, set it to "adaptive" so it scales the speed automatically depending on the load. For most people, the change is seemless and you can hardly tell the difference... unless you depend on the cpu heat to survive

Originally Posted by AlienDB7 Since your laptop has a Pentium M processor, I would check the power management setting. Instead of having the processing running at maximum speed (default for AC power) all the time, set it to "adaptive" so it scales the speed automatically depending on the load. For most people, the change is seemless and you can hardly tell the difference... unless you depend on the cpu heat to survive

speedswitch xp is a good tool to use also, if its compatable with your lappy, one setting for mine= permanant 800mhz, for general stuff like surfing, word processing thats fine and ultra cool, then i can set it to maximum performance when i want (little system tray icon)

[pharzo]

Remeber to use compressed air if you do it your self

That's probably the best option. Be sure everythings off though, and has time to cool down

[jakaracman]

And clean it first before trying more resourceful options (cooler, SW, slowin down processor ...)