Hottest and Coolest Notebooks

Even when it was performing low-intensity tasks (such as downloading a Firefox installation file), the Envy 15’s metal chassis reached high temperatures. While surfing the web, we measured the palm rest at wrist-roasting 103 degrees Fahrenheit, the touchpad at 100 degrees, and the keyboard at a more reasonable 95 degrees. Air bellowing out of its vents reached 110 degrees.

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Toshiba’s attempt to squeeze ATI graphics into an ultrathin case led to higher performance scores, but much warmer temperatures than the original T135. After 15 minutes of playing a Hulu video, the touchpad on the 13-inch system reached 101 degrees, the middle of the keyboard clocked in at 97 degrees, and the underside measured a lap-toasting 105 degrees. Don’t stick your hand near the exhaust vent; it rose to a whopping 125 degrees.

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In January, Dell released a refreshed version of its popular 10-inch netbook, complete with a low-power Intel Atom N450 CPU that allowed it to last more than 9 hours on a charge, Unfortunately, the notebook’s cooling abilities aren’t as good as its battery life; we measured the keyboard at 100 degrees, the touchpad at 95 degrees, and the bottom center of the chassis at 108 degrees. Even worse, the bottom of the front lip reached a groin-grilling 120 degrees.

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What a difference proper cooling makes. Like the burning-hot Dell Inspiron Mini 10, the MSI Wind U135 features a Pine Trail Atom N450 CPU. Unlike the Mini 10, however, MSI’s 10-inch netbook remained a temperate 83 degrees on its bottom, 88 degrees on its touchpad, and 88 degrees on its keyboard during our testing.

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ASUS’ K42F proves that high performance and high heat don’t have to go hand in hand. This 14-inch notebook’s 2.53-GHz Core i5-540m CPU provided blazing-fast performance at super-cool temperatures; the touchpad measured an acceptable 90 degrees, while the keyboard and chassis bottom only reached 91 and 94 degrees, respectively.

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This 10-inch netbook has a loud fan, but its 10-plus hours of battery life, fantastic keyboard, and comfortable temperatures made us forget about the noise. Its keyboard, touchpad, and chassis bottom stayed comfortably between 89 and 94 degrees.

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