CPU too hot? Thinkpad X220

Hi,

I have a question regarding heat and the Thinkpad X220. Is it normal for the CPU to reach a temp were you cant even keep the "laptop" on your lap? For example; below are the temps I got just doing some random surfing while having a video from youtube running for five minutes:

Maximum: 97 on one core and 96 on the other.

This is on "balanced" mode. If I keep it on "power saver" I´m getting an average of 65 degrees.

It´s been like this for a a while now and I cant remember it getting this hot before. The laptop is about 2 years old and I´ve thought of opening it up and getting rid of dust etc, though it turned out too difficult actually opening it (didnt dare).

 

with 720p video and web surfing, my X220 with the i7 CPU on balanced mode doesn't get much higher than 50 degrees C, and the underside is around 34 degrees C during summer (and about 25 degrees or so on cold day, nice lap warmer). My CPU would only reach 85 ~ 89 degrees C, only when i do CPU + GPU benchmarking.

Your fan needs a cleaning, and/or heat sink needs to be repasted with thermal paste if the cleaning doesn't work.

 

Thanks for replying.

Is this something I can do on my own or does it require handing the computer in for service? I tried once but gave up, though I cant remember exactly why I didnt continue - might have been not beeing able to remove something that needed removing=/

 

Or you need a fan of the new generation. Check out my thread here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo/734699-x220-new-fan.html

 

Comes down to how confident you feel around electronics. It's normally not a difficult job if you have the right tools. You will want a can of compressed air to help clean your fan, some Isopropyl alcohol to clean the old thermal paste and some new thermal paste. Lenovo normally have very good technical manuals, not sure where the X220 one is but it shouldn't be too hard to find with Google.