My client's laptop has been overheating a lot.
She says when she has it on her lap it burns her leg, when she has it on a table, it gets very hot as well.
Disk tests and memory tests are fine, and the Event Log says there's nothing out of the ordinary.
Because it's a Dell Inspiron 1200, lots of CPU performance monitors don't work with it, so I downloaded the one specific to Dell.
The CPU temperature is 60C, the disk temperature is 38C. With that software, I can force the fans to run at double speed, but then that hampers performance.
She only uses it with the power supply plugged it.

Systems specs:

Windows XP SP3
768MB RAM
40GB HD
Dell 0FD381 motherboard
Dell A05 21/6/05 BIOS
Intel 915GM Chipset

Laptops can get that hot, especially some AMD Turion64 laptops I've seen. Tell her to get a laptop cooler so the lappy stays cool and she stays safe.

My Gateway has a dual core Turion and it reaches 90 degrees Celsius, my friend with a HP has the same core and it reaches almost 100 degrees. From what I can tell they must be designed to do this. And ya it will burn your legs if your not careful, maybe even hamper ones ability to have children.

You can buy laptop coolers. some models do run real hot. Not much you can do except keep it clean and well ventilated plus get a cooler.