Laptop cooling

[houdinii]

is there any options for aftermarket cooling for a laptop.

mines a few years old and it starting to get really hot really fast are there any heatsinks on the market??

all my fans or the fan is working also. the only place it gets hot is in the back where theres a vent and a radiator looking thing and i know thats where the cpu vent is so thats got to be the problem.

its an hp pavilion dv2000 with athlon x2 geforce go 6150 its had its fare share of wow playing for long long raids so did i screw it up or is there hope.

 

[crznazn991]

Dust can collect quickly in the radiator. In some dusty environments, a week or two is all it takes to clog up your radiator with dust.

Turn your laptop off and take it outside. Using a can of compressed air (or an air compressor, if you have one), liberally spray air into the radiator, across all the grilles in a sweeping fashion. Don't hold it in one place for too long, as you may damage the fan bearing as it spins with the airflow. A lot of dust may come out, especially after a few years of usage.

As long as your fan is working, your heat issue should disappear after clearing the inside of dust.

As far as aftermarket options: short answer is no. Laptops use proprietary parts for cooling. However, there are plenty of options for external cooling (ie cooling pads).

 

[dndhatcher]

Depending on where you sit your laptop, even a cheap plastic vented tray (sold cheaply at places like frys and microcenter) can give it a little more airspace to help the cooling a little.
examples:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834981005
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834981016

There are lots of extenal, USB powered fans that can help even more.
examples:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834994097
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834997410