Ina Fried

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This iPad Is Too Hot, This iPad Is Too Cold

While some people say the new iPad runs too hot, at least one person is pleased to see things heat up a bit.

DisplayMate chief Ray Soneira said that his biggest temperature issue with past iPads is the fact the aluminum-backed device is cool to the touch and sometime downright cold in his chilly New England locale.

“That aluminum back is there to help with the power heat dissipation of the electronics, but metals at room temperature often feel cold to the touch because of their high thermal conductivity,” he said in an email. “So when the iPad is on its additional warmth helps take the chill off.”

Of course, no one wants to be scalded by their tablet, either. Consumer Reports said this week that its testing shows the new iPad running as hot as 116 degrees — a full 13 degrees hotter than the prior model. Soneira said he, too, has noticed the new model runs hotter than past ones, particularly when running at full brightness as Soneira often does during his testing. Apple, for its part, maintains that the new iPad runs within its thermal guidelines.

I guess the lesson for those designing tablets is to aim for Goldilocks as the target customer: Not too hot, not too cold. We like our tablets just right.

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