Why is my laptop getting hot? Latest Guide 2022 | Laptopsgeek

Ahhhh…Again? Why is my laptop getting hot?

Why my laptop is getting hot? You have arrived here because you are one of the affected users.

You have come to the right place where all your queries will answer.

Laptops do get little heat up while using and it is perfectly reasonable. Especially, when you are performing heavy-duty tasks like graphics designing, video editing, and playing games with heavy graphics, etc. You should only be alarmed if it gets overheated quickly and remains overheated all the time. It can cause various problems ranging from the blue screen of death, hardware issues, and even male infertility.

It means before buying a laptop, the cooling system of the computer should be an essential consideration for you.

Usually, we see that aging laptops get overheated, and most often we are not sure, how to fix it. But I will help you to figure out this BIG, BIG, and BIG problem.

Overheating laptops can cause a lot of problems, from seemingly random blue screen crashes to data loss. It is essential that you should know the maximum temperature of hardware components like processor, video card, motherboard, hard drive, and graphics card. To aid this, either you can download the dedicated software/gadgets, which will keep you informed about the temperature of different components, or install adhesive rubber feet.

Also, adding a notebook cooler (cooling pad or cooling fan) can also help in keeping the temperature regular.

Most often, live streaming laptops possess the best cooling systems.

The big question that comes to mind is, why on earth, is my laptop getting hot?

Temperature gadget for windows 10

Why is my laptop getting hot?

The root cause of laptops’ heat up is the non-working of fans or malware is also caused by overheating.

Because of their size, laptops have a less efficient cooling system than desktop PCs. All the components are tied closely to make the size of the laptop compact and smart allowing less to no breathing space. And due to the lower consumption of energy, the cooling unit is not that efficient in many laptops as compared to the cooling unit of desktop PC.

Most common reasons for laptop getting HOT:

  • Bad quality laptops (Sony Vaio has specific reports of burn hazards)
  • Insufficient Cooling because of the non-working fan.
  • Exhausted ports restricted by dust.
  • Malware attack
  • Hardware failure
  • Incorrect laptop placement.
  • Thermal grease that develops between the heat sink and the CPU has degenerated. This may contribute to the overheating of the laptop.
  • Temperature above from 95° Fahrenheit (35°C).

Indications that your laptop is getting heated:

  • When your basic tasks such as opening a new tab of a browser ( IE, Google Chrome and Safari, etc.) does not work.
  • The random program shows mysterious error messages.
  • When lines are displaying on your screen, it means that your video card is overheating.
  • Abruptly shutting down of laptop preceded by increasing cooling fan sound
  • Fan constantly running
  • Computer frequently freezing

How to Fix an Overheating Laptop:

  • Take a break from using it.
  • Keep its position flat and on the hard surface
  • Replace the battery
  • Turn ON power save mode
  • Blow out the dust
  • Keep the laptop cool
  • Use software designed for this very reason
  • Keep a close watch on processes that are consuming maximum resources.

Quick Fixes to Cool your Laptop:

Queries answered for you:

Q: How to prevent a laptop from overheating?

 A: Fix the root cause and make possible internal cooling.

Q: How can I reduce my laptop heat?

 A: Keep the laptop on a hard and flat surface.

Q: Can a laptop explode from overheating?

 A: Yes, if the atmosphere is humid and hot enough, it can cause short-circuit and can result in an explosion.

Q: Do laptops overheat on a bed?

A: When your laptop is on a soft surface it blocks the airflow preventing the fans from cooling it down. Hence, overheats the laptop

Q: How can I cool down my computer while playing games?

 A: You will need to install rubber feet at the bottom of the laptop.

Q: Do laptops shut down when overheated?

 A: Expect a sudden shutdown, which is a default mechanism. Otherwise, hardware components will suffer.

Q:  Why is my laptop fan so hot?

 A: If these vents become clogged, or if heat-generating parts become covered

With dust, the fan cannot cool the components properly and result in getting hot.

How to Test your CPU’s temperature:

Best Temperature Scale and Danger Zone:

The optimal operating temperature is 50°celsius ( 122° Fahrenheit )or below, but according to new temperature monitoring programs, many new processors are comfortable roundabout 70° (158° Fahrenheit ).

The maximum temperature for processors is 100° celsius (212° Fahrenheit ) range.

How to keep a close eye on heavy-duty processes:

While using your laptop, keep an eye on your taskbar, it will show tasks and applications in process. Keep it minimum by closing applications that you are not using because it has a direct impact on your laptop’s temperature.

You can also open up the task manager by pressing Ctrl+shift+Esc or right-click on the taskbar and then click on task manager.

When you click on it, it will give you a screen like below. It has a list of all the tasks/ processes running and also how much memory each one is consuming.

Why is my laptop getting hot

If mac (OSX) user then open up activity monitor which can be found under application/utilities and then check the processes tab

Alternatively, you can use a spotlight search by pressing Cmd+spacebar and searching for an activity monitor.

Based on this, you can decide which applications to close. Prioritize applications that are consuming more resources and that you don’t need anymore.

Which Softwares can Aid our problem:

The software helps you to control the temperature of laptops. There are lots of monitoring software programs available that monitor the internal temperature. Although, this software does help but is not sufficient.

HWMonitor is a hardware monitoring software that reads your PC systems’ core health sensors, including voltages, fan speed, and temperatures.

This software supports most computer peripherals such as graphics cards, processors, hard drives, and ACPI. Regarding processors, even modern versions, including Intel Core i5 and i7, are compatible with HWMonitor. When a scan is complete, the information gathered will be displayed clearly via the software’s intuitive interface.

Speed fan is another software but is intended for Windows only. Mac (OSX) user SMC fan control. These are temperature monitoring programs for fan speed, voltage, and processor temperature. It has access to info that helps to evaluate your hard disk’s temperature.

Core Temp is a tool for the laptop as well as for all desktops. It shows the temperature of each core in colored numbers in the notification area.

Real Temp is specially designed to determine the temperature for all Intel Single, dual and quad-core processors. It tracks out all the lowest and highest temperatures since when you opened the program.

CPU thermometer When we start the windows, it starts monitoring the temperature in Celcius and Fahrenheit.

System Monitor is a specially designed software for macOS. We can see it on the menu bar for its activity monitoring. It shows the temperature on your Mac with processing load, Ram consumption, storage space, and disk activity.

Repurpose the Laptop:

If your laptop is still heating up, even after applying all those solutions stated above, then the best option is to repurpose it. Install a lightweight version of Linux in it and use it for tasks that are not CPU -Intensive.

Summary / Conclusion of all the solutions enlisted:

  1. Internal fixing which includes cleaning dust and dirt from fan, grills and exhaust ports, etc.
  2. Use a flat and hard surface to make sure your pillow, blanket, etc. are not obstructing airflow.
  3. Purchase cooling pad (cooler) which has fans that ensure keeping your laptop cool.
  4. Last, but not least, do use software and gadgets to keep an eye on the laptop’s temperature. Although it will cost you some bucks, I guess it is worth it.

Hopefully, this article will help you clear all your ambiguities regarding the heat-up issues. But if it’s continuously making problems then make sure, you are not using the laptop in your lap, on pillow or blanket, etc. You can reach us via our contact page or drop us a comment below, in case you are still facing issues, have questions, or want to add anything to it.

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Best wishes,

Spencer.