Are these normal temperatures? 55 degrees HD, 71 GPU, 50 CPU

I bought a used laptop, Asus S62j for a good price. The specs are in my sig.

This is my first time owning a laptop computer, and I made my desktop temps pretty cool.

I swapped in a new Seagate Momentus 5400.3 ST9160821AS 160gb HD in there, which is said to be quiet and cool.
I cleaned off the 1.5 year old thermal paste from the copper and CPU and applied a fresh layer of Arctic Silver 5 in my laptop.
I cleaned off the fan and no dust.
After I reformatted my laptop, the CPU clock is 1.0ghz, not 1.66ghz
I also downloaded Notebook Hardware Control, and set it to AC: Dynamic Switching, which says my CPU is undervolted from 1.3v to 0.95v
Bios is updated to the latest v.209


So when I turn on my laptop, the temps in degrees celcius are:
HDD: 26, CPU: 26, GPU: 39

After about an hour of idle or light internet browsing, the temps are:
HDD: 55, CPU: 50, GPU: 70

Another 1/2 hour later, temperatures start to settle, but at:
HDD: 56, CPU: 50, GPU: 71

This is on my computer table, with no laptop cooler.

Is this normal? Laptops are supposed to heat up like this?

 

Intel speedstep is probably downclocking your cpu.
Your cpu is fine but the HDD and gpu look a little high to me for idle temps.
Have you tried playing any games? What software are you using to monitor temps?

 

I don't play any games.
I use Everest Ultimate ed. and Notebook Hardware Control to monitor temps.I guess the hard drive and gpu heatsink are close together, so maybe that's why the temps are a bit high? see the pic

 

The S62 is a 14" box, and the GPU and HDD are generating plenty of heat on their own regardless of their physical location to each other. Your starting temps are fine, from a cold start, and even the light use numbers are OK - however, given the age of the notebook I would strongly suggest that you clean out the fan and vents to get out any dust and gunk that could be pushing up the temps a bit.

For comparison, my 14" W3a temps after an hour of light use are cpu ~42-45, HDD 50-55; there is no dedicated gpu. You can't expect or get temp numbers comparable to what the folks with 15" notebooks are reporting, because the 14" chassis has more restricted internal airflow patterns and so the temps will be a bit higher. What you currently have is well within operational limits and is NOT dangerous to your notebook. Just clean it out and you'll be fine -- enjoy your new toy .

 

Yeah, that makes sense/ My brother's 17" Acer laptop has cooler temps. Since 14" laptops don't have much room inside, it should have higher temps.
BTW, I don't feel or hear my fan moving during idle, is there a way to control fan speed as well?

 

your gpu is pretty high at 70+ degrees for idle/light weight work

even for a 14" laptop i don't think it should be that hot if it isn't being pushed. you should probably compare with other owners of the same laptop model.


my f8sn-c1, which is also 14", after several hours of browsing and light weight work i get temps of around (i also undervolted but i only noticed drastic changes when gaming):

cpu: 45 gpu: 55 hdd: 45

 

It all depends on the specific notebook. I agree, clean our your vents. However, using the temps of other models to judge your own isn't a good idea: My G1S is a bulky big 15.4" with an 8600M GT that, despite the size of the chassis shows the following temps:
Idle/load
CPU 60/85
GPU 69/100 (I'm not kidding. I've seen 105 under stress before.)
HDD 45/55

Ambient temp is at about 20.
It's been at these temps since i purchased it so no, no dust.
Just clean yours out and let it be.

 

i would clean out the vents, get a cooler, and monitor temps when doing intense work (ie gaming) to be on the safe side.

 

But I would skip getting the cooler in the first phase. Just clean and see how much that improves, if it's enough then no need for a cooler.

Also, make sure your fan is actually working. E.g., does it start when the notebook is pushed (using e.g., Stress Prime or Orthos if you have dual-core CPU).