just got my Z63a, love it! but..

is the bottom right of the notebook (on the bottom, under the right wrist) really meant to be THAT hot?! its almost painful to the touch! and the transformer on the powercable is really hot too?! what gives?

 

The underside of the HDD is the hottest place on the Z63 / W3. Somebody in Asus must have decided that the heat was acceptable, but most users would prefer to have better cooling around the HDD. I have been living with this heat since April, with no ill effects, so far (but I don't use the computer resting on my bare skin). Consider the head to be a side-effect of having a quiet fan.

The PSU gets reasonably hot under normal use and hottest when charging the battery. It is advisable to not let the PSU get buried such that natural cooling is reduced.

John

 

the bottom right is where the hard drive is. that sucker does get hot, sometimes even moreso than the CPU. ASUS really insulated the heat well on the palmrest, but not from the bottom it seems.

 

looks like ill need to get one of those lappy pads if im going to be using it in the car or in my lap at all! any suggestions?

 

This "problem" exists is other (ASUS) notebooks as well... my M6Ne also gets very hot on the bottom where the HDD is located.

We should also keep in mind that it IS summer right now (if you're in the northern hemisphere)...so the ambient temps will be hotter than usual. In the other seasons, the notebooks shouldn't get quite as hot I would presume...

 

Guys the hdd in the z63a is right smack in the middle right under the touchpad.

 

lol...so now the real question is...what's REALLY causing all that heat?

 

I think you guys are just uncomfortable with a warm notebook. This is not your 2 inch thick dell. These centrinos fo get hott. They are thin and they work hotter then most chips. What your seeing there is withing normal range. I just have to get used to it. Obviously resting it on your lap is not a great idea.

 

Yea, this seems to be the case.

The Sony S series also gets very hot, so it is not just Asus laptops.

 

this has nothing to do with the pentium M's.
we're talking about the heat produced by the hard drive, which I see no solution to except to downgrade to a 4200rpm drive.

coming next year, we may see hybrid hard drives from samsung, which may help with the heat issue, no definite answer on it yet. Longhorn is suppose to feature optimized support for hybrid drives.

 

This has everything to do with the cpu. The heat is not only produced by hdd's but also by the cpu and alot from the ram. Though it does get warm/hot i can say that it will not scold you as some people claim. The bottom of the notebook where the hd is will not get hotter then 50C and the cpu area will stay about the same temp. This is not scolding hott temperatures. Ofcourse some drives are hotter then others. Yes 60C is uncomfortable to the touch however anyone that has ever been in a steam room or sauna knows that the wood and ceramic tile you rest on gets even hotter then that. If your laptop extremities get much hotter then 60C you should seek the aid of your dealer. My m5n gets even hotter then that ander hi end use. As long as the cpu does not overheat you have nothing to worry about. 85C for centrino is tops. If my notebook got that hot i would have good reason to worry.