keeping a cool head

I recently purchased an Alienware 17 R3 with the M.2 boot drive and 16GB of Ram. With the laptop on my laptop on my lap, I noticed that it would get uncomfortably hot. I soon purchased a Laptop Cooler cooling pad, which did help to cool the plastic covering over the M.2 drive and ram slots, and it kept the laptop off of my legs...., but as for keeping the M.2 drive any cooler, I don't think it helped due to the plastic plate covering the drive and ram slots.

After doing some research on these M.2 drives I found that they will throttle back speed to reduce heat, thus reducing performance. Along this same issue, the M.2 drive with multiple severe heat fluctuations will surly have a shorter lifespan. 

In an effort to keep the M.2 drives and RAM cool, I did what Dell should have done from the start.

I cut open the back access panel above the M.2 drive and RAM slots and added some mesh screen. This allows the air from the cooling pad to flow onto the M.2 drive and RAM, helping to keep them cooler.

No doubt the below image has been reduce for the sake of this forum. Here is a link to the Photobucket page where you can see the full size image:

FULL SIZE LINK

I had an older style laptop stand laying around that had a metal mesh grill. I cut this up, and doubled the mesh (folded it over) and then used epoxy to hold the mesh grill in place. This little Redneck setup has done wonders for keeping the back side much cooler. Sure, it may not look pretty, but it functions great. If I decide to sell it I'll get another access panel and the laptop is back to the stock configuration of cooking the M.2 drive and RAM chips.

Here is the cooling fan I'm currently using, which an be had off ebay for cheap, under the displayed name and other names. It really is a great fan and does a great job at keeping the M.2 drive and RAM cool.