In addition to being quite large, my laptop has a little difficulty with heat. It doesn't like it. It doesn't really understand it very well. It doesn't realize that if the temperature is rising, and continues to do so, it will become very very hot. So, because it doesn't notice the 'rising' portion of the equation, when it notices the 'very very hot' it tends to panic. And shut itself off. Without warning. This is why if you ever come to my house you will note that my computer is generally raised off the ground, or being held up in some way so the heat has somewhere to go.

This evening, despite the fact that I am usually quite good about it, I put the computer down with nothing to raise it off the ground, and proceeded to start working on my Important Project. Needless to say, after an hour, it died, taking my notes and document changes with it. Grrr.

A friend of mine here has a special laptop platform that has a couple of powerful yet quiet fans. It also has several extra USB ports. Something like this might help you.

Yeah - I've looked at that a couple of times. I just find it so insane that they built the laptop in the first place with insuffiect cooling. Of course, in the end, I blame intel....

I've seen something similar to what Erik is describing. It was made by Targus. In fact, I used it with someone's laptop and it was quite nice. It was so quiet that I couldn't even tell that the fans were running (but they were)

I've seen something similar to what Erik is describing. It was made by Targus. In fact, I used it with someone's laptop and it was quite nice. It was so quiet that I couldn't even tell that the fans were running (but they were)

I've found, they also REALLY don't like electric blankets... or down comforters... or cats who like to sleep against them for the heat factor.

I can't imagine any cat would want to sleep next to my computer, given how loud it is. Of course, once they were next to it for a fairly short time, it would be perfectly quiet, I suppose....