Hi, I would suggest the 100% permanently is not normal.
a couple of things to check:
1) if you are running windows do you have a power management profile loaded? Ie. Performance, economy etc. This may have an influence.
2) open the task manager (Carl, alt, del last item in the list) and look in the processes tab you should see here if there are any aberrant programs running full bore on your machine.
3) have you made any modifications in the bios? If so perhaps consider a reset to default to be sure there are no errors here.
i hope something here helps