Just for the record, I recollect that Toshiba incorporated a lid cooler in some of their laptops several years ago so it is not a new idea.

so why not just have the mainboard behind the screen with a wide aluminium plate over it acting as a heatsink, and tuck the drives etc. under the keyboard? surely its easier to thread cables than a vapour release cooling system?

Certainly that keeps laptops cool enough to actually be used in your lap is a good thing, but there is just one little thing bugging me. What will all that heat in close proximity to the LCD do the the screen? 

I'm sure plenty of you guys have used laptops with the lids closed hooked up to external monitors, so I'm sure you're familiar with what happens to the parts of the screen that are in closest proximity to the bits of the machine that get the hottest.

... cooler laps!

Whilst I agree I would worry about heat damage I don't see this as a problem with this form of cooling, the heat is evenly dissipated over the entire surface of the carbon/copper/aluminium rather than concentrated in hot spots that would cause damage.