I use a cooling pad w/my laptop. Important to keep in mind is if one is used, make sure that the fans (computer and pad) don't work in conflicting directions.

And, the HD - along with the RAM - on one of my laptops completely fried only a few months after I received it (as a gift). The manufacturer replaced the parts, yet I had to be totally assertive and go up the "food chain."

The machine wouldn't do a darn'd thing - to enable recovery of data - until I purchased a program that works as a boot from the CD/DVD drive. Before replacing the HD, etc., I recovered everything I wanted and kept/packed the old drive.