Illustrative embodiments of the present invention are directed to a computer that has a housing with walls that form a substantially sealed interior cavity from an exterior environment. The computer includes a plurality of computer components within the interior cavity. The computer also includes at least one heat sink for dissipating thermal energy into the exterior environment. A cooling element is thermally coupled to the heat sink and at least one of the computer components to transfer thermal energy from the computer component into the heat sink and the exterior environment.