Laptop is overheating and running slow! Why/ what can I do??

[chowee21]

I use my laptop as a desktop. It is hooked via HDMI to a 22" monitor. I have it closed and leaning up vertically (such that the bottom is facing me). What happens is the laptop will run (even while justsitting there with nothing up and running besides background functions) a little loud (mostly the sound of the fan running). When i am doing something that takes more "performance", it will begin to run really hot and while tryin to stream videos, it will not play correctly and all other functions will run slow as well. What is going on? What can i do?

Here is my setup:

Dell Studio 1558
i5 M430 @2.27ghz
8 gb ram (2-4GB) (G.Skill DDR3 SO-DIMM 1333 PC3 10600)
64bit windows 7 home
Samsung SSD 830 ATA
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 545v

 

[popatim]

Check out where the vents are. it will have intakes and exhaust vents that must be unobstructed for the air to flow properly. Other than that maybe its time to clean out the heatsink & fan thats inside it. This will mean taking it apart so if you are not comfortable with that then seek a trusted service center to perform the work.

 

[chowee21]

Check out where the vents are. it will have intakes and exhaust vents that must be unobstructed for the air to flow properly. Other than that maybe its time to clean out the heatsink & fan thats inside it. This will mean taking it apart so if you are not comfortable with that then seek a trusted service center to perform the work.

Thanks for the response.

I recently removed that back for cleaning and no issue with dust buildup etc.

My ram memory seems to get super hot as well.

 

[Saberus]

Laptops have a big problem with heat and airflow, there's just not much room to move air through the system, and often only the CPU and chipset have any active cooling, via a heat pipe to a small heatsink with a blower attached. The RAM and hard drive are left to fend for themselves, by radiating or convection instead of the more pro-active conduction like the heatsink provides.

You may want t consider a laptop cooling mat, and also making sure the laptop sits right-side up. What little airflow is generated for teh RAM is designed around the laptop being in the correct orientation.

 

[Recycled]

Opening the laptop will help. The surface of the screen acts as a heat radiator. The keyboard does the same thing.

Put as much of the laptop to sleep as possible. I don't know if Your screen is on or off, buy try to turn it off...maybe by pressing FUNCTION + some key to switch to the external monitor only.

Clean out the vents. This may involve taking the laptop apart to get at the fuzz inside it.

You can use a laptop cooling pad to blow air across the bottom of the laptop. Be careful to match the cooling pad with the vents on the bottom of the laptop, if there are any. Don't have a cooling pad that sucks air out of the laptop's air intake. Make sure there's a fan blowing into the intake or sucking air out of the exhaust.

I understand the theory of turning the laptop on its side to allow air flow, but laptops are not designed to work that way. Hot air inside the laptop may be rising AGAINST the direction the (weak) fan is trying to pull it.

As has been noted, clean off any dust that might be near the laptop. Especially with increased airflow, it might get sucked into the laptop.