My Dell Latitude L400 laptop gets really hot, what can I do?

Question

Are there any cheap and easy things to do to prevent this?

Answer 1

They are NOT laptops, they are notebooks, they dont go on your lap. But to keep it cool, clean vents, turn off unneeded resources (such as wifi when at school or in the office). Don't worry, your notebook wont get too hot. There is a thermo sensor. It will shut off with a specific error message to protect your computer. Just wait a few minutes and everythng will be ok after a shutoff. You can use cooling pads or do what I do, place erasers underthe puter. Cheap, light, transportable and if I lose one, no big deal. With summer coming up, you might want to flash your bios to make sure you have the latest fan settings. Bios controls fan speed

Answer 2

You can't do much since those p3 processors did not have power savings in mind so its does run hot by design. Make sure you do have air conditioning in the house or office and your computer have air flow around the laptop. If you need help with airflow get a small fan and blow in the back of your laptop. You could put a rectangle cake pan upside down under the laptop as a stand since the pan will help absorb the heat from the laptop. I have seen some laptop base stands with fan in them... but the cake pan idea is my cheap answer.

Answer 3

I have the same problem , I have the Latitude D600. I went to Staples or any office supply store, hell even Target might have them. They are cooling plates that have fans built into them and use the power from your USB drive to power it and it sucks the heat away from the computer and disperses it out . It has worked wonders. If you can not find them in the stores I am sure if you do a search on Shopzilla.com or yahoo you can get some results. Good Luck

Answer 4

you can get a notebook cooler usually from an electronics store like best buy or circuit city
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Antec-Notebook-Cooler-75004/sem/rpsm/oid/89840/catOid/-13027/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6211752&st=laptop+cooler&type=product&id=1074788100200

i bought mine from best buy when i saw their ad in the sunday newspaper for about $20 and it works great

the reason why it can get hot is because the vents on the bottom are being blocked and therefore the hot air cannot get out

Answer 5

First of all, Make sure your fan is working. If it is not then go back to the store where you bought it (if its fairly new and have a warrenty on it) and tell them about it. My friend had the same problem, and they told him it was his fan.