Cananyone reccommend a laptop that does not overheat as fast as some brands?

Windows is good laptops. I have a vista.

It will overheat if you allow it to overheat. My guess is that this other family member uses the laptop flat on the bed, or somewhere that has a soft covering. What this does is blocks the vents, not allowing the hot air to escape and thus, overheating.

I used to own a laptop that would overheat when used on a table top that was covered by a table cloth. Once I started to put place mats under the laptop, no more overheating.

My current laptop gets used on a regular basis, when the outside temp is over 35 Celsius (making it even hotter inside), and whilst I'm coverting video files. The laptop gets really hot, but never hot enough to shut down.

Get a fine, soft brush (a paintbrush is good) and clean out all the vents, in fact anywhere on the outside where dust can gather.

If you want a laptop that isn't going to overheat and is relatively inexpensive I'd recommend anything other than a Dell. My brothers Dell has overheated and shut off to the point where he just chucked it. He now uses a Generic "CyberPowerPC" laptop with plenty of computing power. You can get cheaper ones on there or you could try "PCSPECIALIST"

Try Alienware M14x for the best performance. Panasonic Toughbook that doesn't break easily. Lenovo Thinkpad X series for durability.

not very sure but probably stay away from acer, whilst i have one and it has never overheated, it does get pretty warm whilst not even doing strenuous tasks (probably the compact design). hope this narrows down your decision.