Dell Inspiron 1520 get's hot at bottom of the screen

Hi there, I noticed recently that my 3 year old Inspiron 1520 is quickly getting very hot at the bottom of the screen right where the silver DELL logo is, I also noticed that the screen is much less brighter than other laptops I've seen, so is this normal or might it be a malfunction? And if so what should I do?
A little help from the experts would be appreciated very much, thanks in advance.

 

How hot is hot? If it's not like burning you, it's probably normal. It could also be a dying inverter. Hard to say for sure as the 1520's CCFL display is naturally going to be dimmer than many of the LED displays found in newer machines.

 

Yeah, the 1520 does get a bit warm around there. I'm not sure exactly why, but I wouldn't worry about it. I first noticed it around a year ago, but I figure it probably was that way ever since I got it in 2007 (I can't think of any reason I would have touched that area of the laptop while it was running, so 2009 may well have been the first time I did). One reason the Dell logo itself is warmer than the surrounding bezel is that it is somewhat metallic, whereas the surrounding bezel is all plastic.

That's assuming it is indeed not burning. The Dell logo on mine is somewhat cooler than the bottom of my laptop after having been at 100% CPU load long enough for the temp to stabilize (which happens to be to 70 degrees Celsius, internally on the CPU, with the current ambient temperature).

As for the screen, make sure it is the maximum brightness (hit Fn+Up Arrow to increase it). But if it is, yeah, the 1520's screen isn't super bright. LCDs also gradually become less bright as they age, so a 3 year old laptop's screen probably won't be as bright as when it was new, though this can be tough to notice since the chance is so gradual. It could also be the particular model of screen you have - there were at least 4 screen options for the 1520, and Dell shipped several different screens for several of those options (so if one supplier had a shortage or a high failure rate, they wouldn't be caught in a bind). Only owning one 1520 (my only laptop actually), I can't tell you which particular screens are the brightest on the 1520.