iPad Temperature

Temperature tests by Consumer Reports show that the new iPad can reach a temperature of up to 122 degrees in its hottest spot after continuously running the game for 45 minutes. By comparison, the iPad 2 hit 112 degrees at its hottest location in the higher-temperature tests. That temperature difference is close to the 12-degree gap we found between new iPad and iPad 2 in our past tests, at 72 degrees.

But we also duplicated as closely as possible the iPad tests on two Android tablets, and one, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, had a 121-degree hot spot in the same conditions. (The other, the Asus Transformer Prime, reached about 117 degrees.)

With use of a laptop, evidence suggests that a temperature on the bottom of its case of 120 degrees risks damage to bare skin with prolonged contact. But we think the same temperature on a tablet is more a potential inconvenience than a concern. Tablets are typically held differently, with less prolonged contact to areas of skin and greater ease in avoiding the hottest spots.

Further, only serious gamers playing with the screen at full brightness are likely to hit those temperatures on a tablet. When we measured the new iPad playing a video in a 72-degree temperature, at full brightness and plugged into the charger, its hot-spot temperature reached about 105 degrees; and surfing the Web, it reached about 107 degrees. We then turned the screen brightness down to two-thirds instead of fully bright. At that setting, the new iPad reached only about 100 degrees when running the game and not plugged into its charger.