Surface devices overheating? Microsoft is planning a cooling dock that could help
Surface products could benefit from a dock designed to cool them down, at least if a Microsoft patent ever becomes realized as a finished product.
As with any slim portable, cooling the hardware components inside can be challenging, and one way to help do this is with an external accessory such as one of the best laptop cooling pads.
The patent filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office and spotted by German tech site Windows United is for a ‘thermal dock’ specifically designed to better cool Microsoft’s products.
The patent describes a dock housing which uses magnets to keep the device in the correct place – much like the Surface tablet hooks up to its detachable keyboard via a magnetic connector – and in close contact with the dock’s fans and a heatsink, or other thermal management components.
Clever cooling?
Communication between the dock and the device being cooled is also mentioned in the patent, so potentially that could be hinting at a system whereby different levels of cooling could be applied as and when necessary.
At any rate, how this one pans out remains to be seen, and indeed as with any patent, this potential innovation may never make it past the research stage into development.
Of course, Microsoft already makes a Surface Dock, but it’s nothing to do with cooling – rather it brings a whole new world of connectivity to Surface devices (additional USB ports, Ethernet and more). In fact a sequel to this accessory was recently unleashed alongside the new Surface Book 3 and Surface Go 2.
Via Ubergizmo