Heat disapation onLappy's, Tablets and SMART Phones.

[gordon_s1942]

I was looking at a recently bought laptop and noting how the shiny black case shows every speck of dust and that lead me to consider the idea on putting some sort of cover over it.
By 'covering' I was thinking of decals or that adhesive material used on desks and tables(Contact)
On closer inspection I realised that it doesnt appear to have a fan or even vents for air circulation and that made me wonder, how do they dissipate any heat generated?
If its by conduction through the casing, putting anything onto the case when its in use might do more damage to the internals that what a few scratches and scuff marks might do to the casing.
Its no great problem to have a padded case to put it in when its not in use but I thought I would ask what members thought about having it covered when in use.

[lsemmens]

Many Lappies do have small fans in them with vents on the side. Sometimes on the bottom, too. If you don't block those you should be ok. If anything only the top needs "protection" in so much as you never look at the underside anyway.

[gordon_s1942]

This is one of those Combo types that opens but doesnt detach the screen from the keyboard and I cant see any vents and certainly no fan visible on the 'underside'