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New iPad momentarily loses its cool

After the new iPad breaks sales records, some users complain that it runs too hot -- and then the whole thing gets declared a nonissue. Also: JOBS Act clears Senate, and Angry Birds orbit.

Michelle Meyers
Michelle Meyers wrote and edited CNET News stories from 2005 to 2020 and is now a contributor to CNET.
Michelle Meyers
4 min read
 
Seeking heat with the Heat Seeker, an infrared thermometer. James Martin/CNET

week in review Apple kicked off the week on a roll, announcing it sold 3 million iPads over the weekend, not counting preorders. That handily beat previous iPad launches, and put the debut of the third-generation device close to the launch of the iPhone 4S last year, from a sales perspective.

Following that announcement, and news that the company will tap its $100 billion cash pile by paying a regular dividend to stockholders, Apple stock hit the $600 mark and finished above it for the first time.

But things started to heat up amid reports, including one from influential Consumer Reports, that the latest iPad runs on the warm side compared with previous models. Apple maintained that the new model's heat is "operating well within our thermal specifications," and CNET Labs started running its own tests.

CNET concluded that yes, the new iPad runs warmer than its predecessor, but it's no hotter than your average laptop, and the temperature is is not extreme enough to change our overall favorable opinion of the device.
•  Too soon to call warm iPads 'heatgate'
•  LED backlight a likely culprit in iPad heat issue, says expert
•  Has Apple lost its design edge? Not quite
•  New iPad not quite running circles around iPad 2
•  New iPad's battery life (nearly) the same as the old iPad's
•  15 best free iPad games
•  Cracking open the new iPad

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