Is this a problem with my computer's hardware?

[Wummi]

When I play World of Warcraft (WoW) on my laptop computer, it runs normally. However, during summer when temperatures are higher, and I go to some areas of the game (in WoW) where the graphics requirements are higher, or when I join a raid where there are also many players showing on my screen, my game's FPS (frames per second) drops from 35 to about 3. It is very sudden, and the whole laptop starts lagging, not only the game. Then the game becomes very difficult to play and is very annoying.
When I minimize everything and close most of the other programs running on my computer and let it rest (WoW is still open) for about 2 minutes, the FPS goes back to 35 and everything runs normally again and no lag. But, once I start playing it for 10 minutes or so, it happens again.
However, I found out that if I have the air conditioning on, it seems to happen less frequently. I guess it has something to do with the heat. Any ideas what part of my laptop is screwed up?

 

[Ghan]

It's either your graphics card or your CPU. What happens if you turn down the graphics detail when doing that stuff? If you're fine when you do that, it's graphics.
You can also try checking your CPU process graphs in Task Manager when this happens to see if they are at really high load. There are also programs like CoreTemp which will tell you your CPU temps so you can see if they are dangerously high.

 

[Syndrome]

I have the same problem, for me it was my GPU overheating.
Blow the dust out of your fans and turn on the AC, it should help.