thats whats happening to me, my computer blasts hot air into my hand and it's really uncomfortable.

I tried to stop my computer from overheating in the first place and gave it lots of space, kicked out all of the dust bunnies, and whatnot, but... it turns out that my computer is operating perfectly and that was regular for my computer.

Then I tried to put something between my hand and the exhaust port without actually covering the hole but the heat rebounded from the book and then the computer started overheating.

I cant get a desk with the pull out thing (where you place the keyboard and mouse while the monitor stays on the top).
No money (damn...)

My desk is pretty small so I can't put my hand and the mouse away from the port, and no, I can't suddenly turn into a lefty. I'm usually on my computer for long periods of time so I need some elbow room to type and to use the mouse while my elbows are on the table.

My laptop model is a Dell Latitude D400 (with the exhaust on the RIGHT side )

On the bottom of your laptop is the intake fan. When the laptop is on the desk, it's not getting enough air.

Best bet is to build a cheap, custom stand like one of these.

its not the amount of air the computer sucks in, but the placement.

What's happening is that not enough cool air is being brought in, meaning that the output air is hotter.

When I have my laptop on a stand, the output fan isn't hot at all. When I'm on the couch and I'm literally suffocating my laptop, then the output is very hot.

Would it be totally rude to say, "dude, you got a Dell"?

Anyways: here's the easy fix to that... move the mousepad down. If you're really crazy about keeping it off your hand, folding a thick piece of cardboard and doing something like taping it to the bottom of your mouse pad would work. Seems that you just want to deflect the heat. There's not really anything else you can do about it, though. The laptop is not modular in that way and, let's face it, it's old. Any laptop will get quite... warm... from ancient laptops to netbooks to high-end gaming laptops. They all run hot by design. Replace it if it really bothers you. And redmonke; if a sufficient amount of air is being pushed out, physics says that a sufficient amount of air is being pulled in. Keeping it on a cooler surface will work, but then you're only looking at a few degree temperature delta at most. They do make cooling pads for laptops but they're extra hassle. A hard-cover book does the job as well.

Here's a little example of how intake versus outtake works.
Air going into my computer was 50^oF. My processor runs at 118^oF.
Air going into my computer was 72^oF. My processor runs at 122^oF.
Air going into my computer was 90^oF. My processor runs at 131^oF.

Lowering intake temperature will help but a lot less than is normally thought. So long as it's not on your lap (damn, that's uncomfortable!) or something like a pillow, you're probably getting the air as cool as you can already.

Short of skipping clock cycles (which you'd notice thru instability), 1 watt = 3.413 BTU. A 20W mobile processor puts out about 68.3 BTU whether ambient is 1^oF or 100^oF. Now your air conditioner may work better at 100^oF, but your computer's heatsinks do not function like an air conditioner.

EDIT: Nevermind