Possible overheating issue?

Hi all,

I bought a Dell Studio 1747 last week. The specs are:

CPU: core i7 Q720 1.6G
4GB of ram
ATI Mobility Radeon 4650
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

I haven't made any hardware modifications. I've updated the BIOS and the graphics card driver to the latest versions from Dell.

My problem is, after about 30 minutes of starting up and some idling/web browsing, it starts to get warm on the bottom and a little warm on and around the keyboard where my wrists rest. Then I'll start playing games (new 3D ones, NFS Shift and/or Pro Evo Soccer 2010). These are pretty intensive and the laptop gets hotter. After 1-2 hours the warmth on the keyboard is very evident and my hands are all warm and sweat a bit. It's not the most pleasant feeling.


My last computer is the Dell Inspiron 6000 with Pentium M which has very little heat. I never noticed any heat issues. Before that one I used desktops so keyboard heat is a non-issue.

Is this normal for a) an i7 laptop, and b) a slightly less powerful quad-core laptop like a Core 2 Quad, or a laptop in the same class in general? My dad has a HP Core 2 Quad and he said he doesn't feel any heat when browsing. I just want to see if I have anything to worry about or if I'm over-sensitive.

Also, the bottom gets VERY hot after playing games, feels like my dad's old Toshiba which would crash at that temperature.

As an objective test, I downloaded HWMonitor and Core Temp. The 4 CPU cores are 48 - 62 C when browsing. HWMonitor also shows about 40 C for the harddrive. After playing the games it showed 60s but I'll have to retest that tomorrow to be sure. From what I know, the CPU temps are high-ish, but nothing out of the ordinary..

Thanks