# why don't laptops overheat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 16, 2003, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-laptops-overheat/188806 "2003-07-16T03:44:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ardoriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@ardoriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ardoriel)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-laptops-overheat/188806/1 "2003-07-16T03:44:48Z")
How come it takes so much fan-cooling to keep a desktop computer cool, and they still have many overheating problems, when laptops of the same or greater power, in such a more confined space with more intricate parts, don’t seem to require as much fan-cooling? _boggled_ ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-laptops-overheat/188806/2 "2003-07-16T04:14:39Z")
The main reason is that laptop processors and BIOSes are engineered from the ground up to use less power and “clutch down” to much lower CPU clock and bus speeds the instant the system senses that full power is not needed. Also FWIW the vast majority of modern, major manufacturer desktops do _not_ have “many overheating problems”. Based on my practical, hands on expereince with both notebooks and desktops over the years overheating related problems are just a s big a problem in notebooks as desktops, if not more so. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-laptops-overheat/188806/3 "2003-07-16T04:36:07Z")
As far as I know overheating problems are only common in desktop systems when you start overclocking… and laptops overheat when you overclock them too… ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-laptops-overheat/188806/4 "2003-07-16T05:13:34Z")
Laptops use processors that run cooler. They do not perform as well a desk top computers. Seriously, that is the answer. Laptops sacrifice performance for low power. In lots of applications this is OK in others it is not. If you look on the web you can find numerous cases of where the balance was not quite right and laptops get to hot. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-laptops-overheat/188806/5 "2003-07-16T06:55:46Z")
It’s true. Your laptop has less raw computing power than the average desktop, and even if it’s advertised as the same, it likely doesn’t go “full speed” all the time. Also, your video card (one of the few other heat-sinked components in a computer) is unlikely to impress, partly to help the heat budget. The card in even a mid-range computer can far outperform most any laptop. Besides which, I dunno about yours, but my desktop is A-Ok, and my laptop _is_ super hot. Todays laptops are carefully designed to use the entire case as a heat sink. (Watch your [willy!](http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/28245.html).) It’s the leading problem in souping up laptops; some new ones have [liquid cooling](http://radio.weblogs.com/0105910/2002/08/03.html), with the heat being radiated through the large surface behind the screen. Run some taxing program for a while on a desktop and a laptop (I recommend Warcraft III!) and you’ll think your laptop is gonna melt. 😉