Palm area and heat on the Studio 15

How is the area around where the palm rests for the Studio 15? I read one review where it said the palm areas get warm. Is this true?

 

The left side of my palmrest gets warm to the touch after a couple hours of continuous use, but it's certainly not hot or uncomfortable.

 

The hard drive is under the left palm rest. It does get warm if you've been using it for a long time. I usually put a piece of paper towel on it so my hand doesn't get sweaty. (Personal thing: hate sweaty hands)

 

No, the hard drive is under the right palmrest. The left palmrest is right above the RAM modules.

 

Using a papertowl to detract some of the heat? This doesn't sound to good. Sounds like there is enough heat to be a inconvience.

Is this with the computer on and surfing the internet? Or is with intensive tasks like gaming?

Would there be a significant difference in heat if 2 gigs of ram was used instead of 4?

 

I think he meant he uses the paper towel to absorb sweat. My palms will get sweaty after prolonged contact with any palmrest, hot or cold. It's not uncomfortably hot. Actually, it feels kind of nice.

I've gamed on this notebook 4 hours in one stretch before (Team Fortress 2, to be precise), and the palmrest heat was still not uncomfortable. Certainly warmer than it would have been if I were just browsing, but it just shows that even under full load for extended periods of time, it's quite normal if you ask me.

Not that I've noticed, and I've had three different RAM configurations on this notebook, ranging from 2GB to 4GB.

 

Yeah, the Studio's palm rest is NEVER too hot, except if you play very intensive games for long hours at a time. Just web surfing, document typing, and HD video watching won't get it hot. It'll get warm, but nothing like an HP dv2xxx if you've felt one before. It's nothing uncomfortable.

 

Haha, my skin grafts are still healing from the time I used my friend's DV2-something or other without gloves on.

 

It is very typical for left palm to be warm.
I made research before couple of days and every user with Studio 1535 reported it.
And Yes the HDD is situated on the right side (under the right palm)!

 

I am using my laptop for long hours frequently and the palmrest can get really hot or rather warm at times. I tried remove the memory slot card and PCI slot card replicas hoping that the hot air can at least exit through the 2 holes but seemed useless. Any suggestions?

 

I suggest leaving it be. Unless the heat is unbearable then there is nothing wrong with the palm rest getting warm. Remember, heat is not a defect. Lol.

 

I have purchased a Studio15 early this year (Dec 08), and I have been using it for a while without problems (during the winter, during the coldest winter in 13 years). However, a few months ago, when the weather started to get better, I notice the left palm area is uncomfortably hot.

I contacted the technical support, it asked me to update the BIOS and do a Dell system check (via the BIOS software), everything passed. The problem still not solved. So, I handed in the notebook to Dell, they replaced the heatsink (according to the report I got). When it arrived back, the same problem still exists. I contacted them again, and they said that their report mentioned they have changed the heatsink and motherboard. I said the problem is still around. They asked me to send the thing back again. I did, and this time, the report said they changed the motherboard. Still the problem is still exist. Just some normal programming, web surfing makes the left palm rest warm enough that long exposure (few hours) of working on it is unbearable.

I'm surprised that that particular area is hot. As mentioned, there is nothing under that area, except for the RAM (mine is 3GB is it matters). And, the interesting is that, the RAM and the palm rest is separated by the Express Card slot, which should allows most of the hot air to escape before reaching to the palm rest. But noooooo.. it is still quite hot, IMHO.

I then thought that it maybe the RAM that is hot, and the intake air does not passed through the RAM, which causes the palm rest to be come hot. Hence, I even tried blocking the air intake just under the fan, hence it will need to take in air from all around the bottom of the notebook, including the big slots near the RAM, and hope that it will get the heat off there. But, it doesn't really work (i.e. cannot feel any difference)

Unbearable is very subjective. I accept that notebook gets hot, but it has to be hot at some other area. For example, if the notebook bottom gets hot, that's fine, I can put it on a table and it won't matter. I even have a notebook cooler for that purposes. However, I am very surprise that the hot area is an area that you would have no choice but to put your palm there. And, when what you said 'heat is not a defect', is still subjective. I mean, say, a 100oC surface is definately a defect. 95oC still is. 37oC, that is not. So, where would the cut off line (i.e. temperature) be to consider it to be a defect. I'll do a review later on with temperature readings and stuff. I hope you guys with the same problem can do the same. I suspect it maybe a design flaw.