LOL yea my DH has permanent reddish marks on his legs from sitting on the couch/& in bed at home and sitting w/ it on his legs at school on the benches and floors. he spends 6-8 hrs day/7 days a wk studying (engineering grad student) all of his classes have mandatory online video streaming, programming & homework submissions all online etc... i bought him a nice wood lap desk w/ adjustable legs, LED light and adjustable mouse side, it's under the coffee table right now LOL. i do think his cheap 15" Acer runs ALOT hotter than my HP 17" widescreen, i have to have a pillow underneath it when i use it. i do not use mine nearly as much as he uses his thou... ~ liz

It only took one time of it getting warm on my lap. LOL! I put it on a pillow.

My DS said that even though they are called "lap" tops, they shouldn't be kept on one's lap. He said they can overheat that way and the battery can be damaged. Actually, he told me that because that's what happened to mine.

I think it's best to run a laptop on a hard surface where it can vent properly on the bottom. I'm certainly not an expert, but it would seem to me that sitting on carpet, upholstered furniture or anything like that would allow the device to overheat. Just my 2 cents, could be wrong. But those vents on the bottom have some purpose, right?

I had some burning with my old laptop. Heat could mean dust buildup inside the case, and the fan could be going bad.
Do NOT put anything flammable under it - heat buildup could cause a fire.

I bought a laptop cradle that had a built in fan, think it came from either Walmart or Best Buy - works great, but I eventually bought a newer laptop because I think the problem was the fan.

My family gave me this laptop for Christmas...I went right out and got a little stand that has a fan built into it because hubby warned me they will over heat.

i guess we've been pretty lucky w/ the 4 we've had, never had a single over-heating problem despite using mostly on the couch and bed lol. mine is going on 5 yrs old and was badly abused on landscape installation jobs, i once got it soaked from irrigation but it dried out and came right back on hehehe. i know my dh's had fallen on the tile atleast a dozen times (i knocked it off the table this wkend even) LOL it's 3 yrs old.

my dh's first degree is in puters and so far he's fixed every problem on his cheapie and hasn't encountered an overheating issue. we're both on original batteries still too...our first two were thinkpads that we actually have thrown in some closet, they held up for many yrs too. they are really built to take abuse...alot of overheating has to do w/ fans breaking and users not realizing it quick enough, since it can take only seconds to fry some high performance models. ~ liz

Laptops have their vents on the bottom. Using a pillow can burn them out quicker. Use a cooling mat for the purpose. It's a cheap investment.

I like the Logitech lap desk without the fan. It has a built-in mouse pad too.

"Laptop" is a misnomer, the "laptop" unit wouldn't fit well on someone's lap. Today's "notebook" computers are more convenient to use on the lap but of course need ventilation, especially more powerful units. Much depends on the processor and the unit. I have a tray that my notebook sits on and I have the back legs propped up to give more airflow. Older units used to have flip out legs to do this. I just used a couple paint sticks under the back feet and a few weeks ago added a couple bottle caps to lift it another 1/2" or so. Works great, simple and free. It has the added benefit of putting the keyboard at a better angle for typing. A hard surface will help dissipate some of the heat. Or get a cooling pad.

People are incredible. They'll turn on heating pads until they burn themselves, leave computers to overheat and burn themselves. Guess there's just a lot masochists out there.

Rubbermaid make a really nice stand that gets if off the table at a angle, but hubby said if your computer runs hot, you still need a fan. Those stands are hard to find.

I use a Thinkpad (laptop) for my primary workstation at work. It sits on my desk nearly 100% of the time and I've never had a problem with overheating. I actually just now felt the bottom of it and it's not even warm (although it's been on all night). I guess there must be a lot of difference from one model or brand to another.

You should never put your laptop on anything soft....a pillow, the couch, your bed etc. They can overheat and cause a fire....seriously. The vents should never be blocked.
I even have the felt sticky pads under my laptop to raise it a bit higher, where the vents are. It's amazing how hot these puppies get.

Mine is on all day, and it sits on a cuttingboard, and the whole thing either on my desk, my lap, or the coffee table, or foot stool, wherever I happen to be and I want it.