re: heat dissipation

[phr@netcom.com (Paul Rubin)]

I find the high temperature of my 755cx somewhat alarming and
it sounds like it might be worse with the 760.  I had thought
the purpose of the feet was (a) to tilt the keyboard and (b) to
provide airflow under the machine for cooling.  The 760 has
a tilt mechanism under the keyboard itself and got rid of the feet,
so I thought they had somehow made it run cooler.

I *do* use my 755cx on my lap all the time, usually while sitting
up in bed.  The high temperature isn't that uncomfortable but
it does make me fear for the machine's reliability.  I use one
of the Silicon Sports palmrest/laptop pads or else the heat would
really get to me.  Once I tried putting the sleeping bag I use
as a blanket over my lap and the laptop on top of that, but then
the laptop got *really* hot (the sleeping bag is a good insulator
so there was *nowhere* for the heat to go, not even into the air).

Right now my 755cx is on loan to a co-worker for a trip, and I'm
typing (in bed) on an old Toshiba T1000SE, which is almost the
ideal laptop for this type of use.  It's a shame nobody makes
anything like this any more.  The T1000SE is an 8086 based
laptop with a very good keyboard, nonvolatile ramdisk, one floppy,
and *no* hard drive to make noise.  Plus, it runs very cool.
(The most annoying noise comes from the LCD backlight, maybe
I need to squirt some RTV sealant into it or something).  
You'd think with modern technology they could make something
comparable but nicer, but they keep messing it up :-(.