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If your laptop or notebook is performing sluggishly, chances are that it has become heated while in use and there is no venting or outflow of the heat. It could also heat up because of rising atmospheric temperature or by being kept in an enclosed space or the vents being covered up by other material or objects. In order to ensure optimal performance and the safety of your laptop or notebook, it is recommended that you check on the temperature at which the laptop is functioning and take corrective action if it is too high. To learn how to find out laptop temperatures, read through the steps listed below.
Step 1:

Program to monitor the temperature. Most laptop machines have an in-built sensor which tracks the temperature of the processor and hard drives. To get this sensor to report temperature readings, you will need to download and install a free software application known as "MobileMeter". Once you've downloaded the zip file, unzip and run the execute command to install the software. A pop-up screen will show the current processor and hard drive temperatures along with the processor speed and battery power status.

Step 2:

What does the temperature reading indicate? There is no fixed number which indicates a good or bad temperature for your laptop. Based on the model, make, processor capacity and workload the laptop is normally subject to, you can arrive at an approximation as to whether your machine is operating at a high temperature or not. While it is understandable that the temperature will be higher when the processor is running heavy loads, it is disturbing when the laptop is running basic normal applications or is at rest. Watch the temperature monitor once it moves over 80 degrees and take immediate measures to cool it down. Once the temperature has gone up above 90, the performance will become sluggish, or there will be random reboots or the laptop will shut itself down.

Step 3:

Keeping your laptop ‘cool'. Since space is at a premium in a laptop, there is no provision for extra fans as there would be in a desktop. Air vents, through which excess heat is removed, can be located on any side of the laptop, including the bottom. What you will need to do, to avoid a potential meltdown, is to make sure nothing is in the way of, or blocking the vents; no heavy loads such as books or files are kept on the laptop, the sides are not obstructed with any objects, and there should be enough space between the base of the laptop and the surface on which it is resting. Do not keep the laptop in closed and confined spaces; never keep any cloth material such as towels, blankets, etc below the laptop surface as these hasten the heating process. The room in which the laptop is kept should also be sufficiently cool, especially during hot summers, when both you and the laptop can sweat!! Place peripherals such as external hard drives, large USB devices, etc, as far away as possible from the laptop, crowding devices can also cause an increase in temperature.

Just follow the simple steps listed above to find out how hot your laptop is and take the appropriate steps as necessary to bring the temperature down.

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