Some Users Report Overheating Issues With Surface Pro

Microsoft may be having a pretty hard time satisfying demand for the 128GB variant of its new tablet, the Surface Pro, but the company is hurrying to bring more units in stores as soon as it can.

Nevertheless, a few users who have got their hands on the sleek tablet have started reporting some software and hardware issues with it. This latest one to pop its head is overheating.

According to some complaints, the Surface Pro rapidly overheats when running some specific high-performance apps and games like Defense of the Ancients 2, Counter Striker: Global Offensive, and even an old title like Diablo II. One user reported:

“Idle temperatures for me are typically around 52c. I can hit 60c just surfing the web with the display brightness on the second lowest setting in a room that is 58 – 62f. If I try to do anything above the basics or have two applications running the device averages 60 – 65c. Now I’m not talking anything crazy here, some streaming music off Slacker or Digitally Imported plus some web surfing will do it.”

And another one wrote on the official support forums:

“I’m having the same problem with mine. Mine idles at around 53C-58C, and will shoot up to the mid 70’s with just a little usage. Playing a game will cause it to throttle after about 3 min when it hits 80C.”

Idle temperatures are standard for a device of this type, at slightly over 50 degrees Celsius, but spikes of up to high 70s when launching intensive games not only make the tablet uncomfortable to hold, but also takes a toll on performance making the device unusable.

The Surface Pro houses a lot of the standard PC components, and if anything, packs them together in such a small space that some heat up is expected.

Luckily the issue is not widespread and Redmond believes these are just some defective units, so exchanging them with new ones from Microsoft Stores is the only way to go.