Heat issues on a future gaming laptop

First off, I haven't actually taken the plunge, but i'm going to be in the market some months down the road for a 17'' laptop fairly capable at gaming. Presently, i'm a prospective customer of a Sager reseller. More important however are my concerns with the combined effect of the CPU and GPU heat output and their combined effect.

I've been looking around at threads for software to monitor the temperature of such components, but even with those tools I really wouldn't know how to use them effectively in keeping my future laptop cool, and, in turn, long-lasting.
(I'll need it for the next 3 years as a thrifty college student.)

So my question, in a nutshell is, with a 17'' notebook featuring an Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2 GHz or so (and as i'll be waiting, on the Centrino Pro chipset (800 MHz FSB)) with 2 GB of RAM, but more important, an nVIDIA card with at least 512 MB (at least a Go 7900), would I be better off;

a. trying to determine if my machine is a lemon by running a series of CPU and GPU intensive games at their maximum settings?

or

b. taking it as easy as possible, lightly gaming in short blocks of time with some kind of elaborate external fan-setup to augment the notebook's internal cooling capacities?

I'm really unsure, as I'd like to be able to play some more recent games, and not always be worried about the temp. of my computer. Again, i'll be needing it for a decent period of time (3+ years, ideally). Further, it'll be my first computer all to myself, and the first with dedicated graphics (integrated in every machine prior to this).

So any help in the right direction is appreciated.

 

Then I guess you will be looking towards the Clevo D900C (desktop Core 2 Duo, SLI DX9/DX10, 3 HDDs) or Clevo M570RU (Santa Rosa, DX9/DX10) if you want a future proof 17" gaming notebook.

Sager has already announced and is taking orders for the D900C, but the release date is yet to be known for the M570RU (speculation shows it to release within Summer 2007).

I would not worry about heat as a problem, its just comes with the territory when you get such a powerful system.

I have had my notebook for pretty much a year now, its got a 7800GTX in it and only needed to swap the videocard once (in about 4-5 months after receiving it) due to heat damage, which was a defect from my testing. Now its a champ, I game on it hours at a time and it never misses a beat.

Although I am getting a bit geek-jealous about it becoming phased-out for the upcoming high-end DX10 videocards (8800 Go) in the new Clevo models, I know it will easily last another 2-3 years.

I am VERY adament about taking care of my rig, because like yourself, I am a frugal college student. After the whole overheating thing with my videocard, I devised the best way to prevent that from happening:
- use RivaTuner to monitor the GPU temps at all times (even during in-game)
- use Notebook Hardware Control to monitor the rest
- always use a notebook cooler
- (for Clevo notebooks) always use the Fan Speed Toggle (Fn + F2) to switch the fan speed to either Auto Speed or Max Speed. Toggle it to MAX while gaming.

With that, you should have a very healthy gaming notebook that would last for years... given that you dont drop it or sit on it.

 

Undervolt. 'Nuff said

 

Use the notebook for gaming outdoors during winter. it will sure keep it cool.

Lol, get a cooler pad for the laptop and have a fan /airconditioning to keep the temperatures down.