If It's Meant To Be A Laptop, Why Is It Too Hot To Put On Your Lap?

ya it sucks. i guess you have to have a place to set your laptop. i never got a burn on the lap. i guess i never had it on my lap long enough to have a burn.

That is a very good question. To counter this, I always put a pillow on my lap before I put the laptop on it. I can take it for maybe a couple of minutes without a pillow but then it totally starts burning.

The heat is the by-product of using the computer, the electronic components give off heat. It was not designed that way. You can buy a base with a fan underneath to cool the laptop. BTW...keeping the lap top cool will extend it's life.

I am wandering the very same thing. Someone made a discussion earlier and said a laptop caused a fire when someone left it on their bed. I think it does say to use them on a hard surface though. They are dangerous.

I have often wondered the same thing. I know I can't put my laptop on my lap for more than a few minutes. And you don't really want to put a pillow under them because then the little motor gets too hot from lack of air. Doesn't make much sense to me...

Yes, it puzzled me, too, so I bought a laptop cooler fan. But it is almost the same w/ or w/o cooler fan. My laptop sometimes too hot, sometimes it is not. If it is too hot already I shut it down and take some time off to cool down my laptop.

A laptop needs a hard surface to stand on, there is a ventilation on the sides and it does not work the right way in a bed or in the lap.. I suggest you place a briefcase or some other hard surface under the laptop it you want to use it during traveling.

There have been issues and some recalls because of this overheating problem,and even fires as a reault of over hot batteries..I'm not actually sure they're meant to be used on your lap..it's just that they're referred to as being lap sized,like non-portables are desktops..what about notebooks or netbooks? You wouldn't hold one of those like it was a book..some accessory makers have come up with tray type items that'll sit under the device and help radiate the heat away better,others have created fan assisted units that'll sit on top of your legs..I don't fancy my giblets being toasted..I'll stick with my desktop for Now!

This is so funny! I do the same thing. It gets so hot when I am sitting with it in my lap! I finally bought a lap desk to sit it on and the lapdesk gets hot too. There has to be a solution I am sure. Good discussion and God bless you!

Laptops are prone to getting really hot because they dont have much space inside for cooling. I find that when i use mine for a long time unless i use my cooling pad under it (it has several fans) it gets too hot to sit on my lap. I do know also that having a cooling pad actually increases the length of a laptops life as well.

Good question, I'll ask Billy Gates. I guess they can't call em desktops because that would mean that they are a PC and not a laptop. I've had to get used to a laptop since we are staying in a hotel for two weeks, my PC is in storage and I miss her dearly. I guess you could put a blanket in between you and the laptop.

This drives me nuts too! My last laptop overheated so bad I had to have a small fan blowing on it constantly. My current one is better but it still gets warmer than I would like...

Yes, it does seem odd that its called a laptop and you can't use it on your lap. lol. I think maybe I would try putting a towel on my lap underneath the laptop. But I think it would wind up burning the towel. So I just have to put it on a table if I want to use it.

I couldn't agree more. That's the ONE thing I really hate about my laptop also. I feel like I'm in a sauna because I get so hot with it on my lap. I finally got a lap table that works good for it.

Yeah, I have to do the same thing. After seeing the story on the news about the lap top catching on fire because it was sitting on a couch that didn't allow the fan to ventilate, I put a book underneath my laptop on my lap. The part of the lap top where the fan is was hanging over the side of the book allowing it to breath. This is why they sell special lap top lap tables. I thought it was just a way to get you to buy another apparatus and spend more money.

That is a very good point, why are they called laptops if they burn your lap? That's crazy, you'd think some smart geek would do something to fix that problem! Maybe someday, heh?

Funny you mentioned this, I have started a post on this actually. It said on last nights news a house burnt down, cause of fire was due to a laptop that had been left on the bed. There are ventilation openings on the bottom and they said we should always place our laptops on a hard surfice at all times.

age old question, why are they called laptops when you can't use them on your laps? well, mostly because their size is such that you might be able to do so... try putting first a pillow, then a hard surface, (so the pillow doesn't cause the machine to over heat) on your lap, then you can use it on your lap - lots of people use them on kitchen tables.

Yeha, I have thought about that too. I don't have one, no use for one, but they are pretty cool things, if I had extra money I'd buy one just to have it (something I have NEVER done before in my life!!!) But when this heat thing came out few years ago, I noticed they started calling them Notebooks, more than laptops. But now that there is a similar item, specifically called a Notebook, which has no internet access on it... they have gone back to laptops. I see too that in store they sell laptop pads....something you put on your lap first, then the laptop. But the whole point of a laptop is carry with you and workable in small space and the like... but if you have to carry a lap pad with you, it starts to become cumbersome and complicated...so most just don't bother with the lap pad. Few years back I remember hearing on the news stories, that men shouldn't use laptops very much or on a regular basis as the heat could effect their "performance".... if you know what I mean. Guess it wasn't a problem tho, cause I see men carrying a laptop around whole lot more often than I see a female carrying one! But it only stands to reason... might be a thin little thing... there is a very strong battery in there...batteries always get hot, no matter what they are used for. I wonder if they even thought about that when they made them so thin and small. BUt apparently it isn't an issue to consumers, cause laptops are one of the few items that this recession didn't seem to effect much.

lolz Danish...nice thought there! you have a point! i guess all laptops are designed to burn! they do get hot easily! and it does something to the speed when we overuse it..... i now use the laptop cooler... i never thought of it before... but there were days my laptop smelled like burnt hair or something, I got a cooler, and it solved all the overheating problems!