[mleonhard]

If you're worried about thermal damage to your laptop, maybe you can prevent it? Some ideas:

- Leave the laptop screen open. You can turn off the screen by setting its brightness to the minimum setting.

- Power your USB devices from a powered USB hub.

- Point a small fan at the side of the computer.

- Clean the laptop's cooling system of dust and lint. Keep the laptop on a stack of books so the intake vent is raised above any surface that can collect dust.

[discardable_dan]

The laptop is practically new. I keep it standing vertically on its side, with the lid closed, plugged into an external monitor. It's still uncomfortably warm to the touch.