My old Dell Latitude D600 notebook was too hot to work on the keyboard all day long. I bought a USB keyboard to use with the D600 to avoid touching it during the day. As you can see, the hottest area on the keyboard side of the D600 got up to 109 degrees F. The more recent D620 (the D630 is the current model) runs a much cooler 84 degrees F. after a few hours of use. The even older Dell L400 (a 4 pound sub-notebook) was in the 114 degree range near the touchpad and a scorching 124 degrees on the bottom (don’t put this thing on your lap!).
Not all newer notebook models run cooler though. My first generation Apple Macbook runs considerably hotter than the older G4 iBook which runs cool after many hours of use and has great battery life.