If the laptop has been cleaned out (can of compressed air or something), you can simply have the laptop elevated from the table/lap which will help disperse heat. I have a cooling pad where the fans are useless but just having it off my lap does wonders for keeping mine cooler.

But i can't recommend a specific product...

A laptop fan is not the solution, don't do stuff with the machine that will over heat it is the solution.

Good advice. Reminds me. For windows there's power usage options where you can raise or lower various settings, including screen LCD brightness in order to save power. However depending on how it's set, quite often on my machines anymore i have them on power-save, and rarely bump it up to higher except when needed... Using less CPU power will keep your laptop cooler too.

Really? I was just being a dick because I honestly thought it was a stupid question. :P

Though my comment was sincere. If OP doesn't want it over heating, don't push the CPU/GPU.

Yeah, although computers and especially laptops have come a long way, i certainly don't want to game on a laptop. The screen is too small, insufficient speakers, can't upgrade the CPU/GPU (but you can usually add more memory...). No, laptops are so you can do work while you're on the road, be it reading e-books, doing spreadsheets, writing, watching DVDs/anime, YouTube or something else when you can't take your whole rig with you. If your laptop IS your main rig, then you should seriously consider getting something a little more open and permanent unless you have serious space limitations like living in a camper.

Laptops are also good if you need a cheap PC, IF you get it used/refurbished and it has only a few years left on it (although a few smaller ones a few years back at walmart were great at $200, as long as you plugged in a keyboard and plugged in a TV/Monitor or had small hands). Course I'd recommend something considerably more limited and cheaper if you just need a very basic PC and don't play x86 based games.

I don't know, i never use my laptop except in some cases during trips...

Well said. I only use mine at work and even though I can max skyrim on the thing doesn't mean I should. Treat it better, it lives longer and you get your moneys worth. They have came a long way but have the same problems as any portable computers.

I'll be careful and see where this laptop goes from here. The laptop just came in today.

Yeah! It's exactly the same for me. I only play games on my gaming rig: A modded Fractal Define R4 case, with an Intel Core I7 870 CPU, an Asus GTX670-DC2-2GD5 graphic card, an Asus Maximus III Formula motherboard (with a built-in X-Fi audio chip), 8GB Kingston memory, a 1TB Western Digital Black, Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 2.0 speakers, and a 120Hz Samsung SyncMaster 2233rz monitor. (see this thread for details)

Few years ago, just before Windows 8 came out, I changed my laptop for an Asus K53S. It comes with a Core i7 and a Geforce GT540M. I tried to play Tiny and Big: Grandpa's Leftovers on this laptop, and gave up after only 15 minutes, because the fan was screaming! Now I use it for most of the tasks, except for gaming, and it's pretty silent all the time. nVidia Optimus is configured to always use the integrated Intel GPU by default... So far, I'm extremly happy with this laptop, but I only play casual games that don't heat up the GPU! :-)