Brand new Surface Laptop 4 Getting hot, Fan running -- while nothing running in the background???

Not planning on suing anyone unless the damn thing burns my house down. But it is called a LAPtop and that’s how I work. Sitting on the couch with it on my lap 8-10 hours a day. I’ll add a layer between my legs and it but that may not be always possible. I have literally worked on planes trains and in taxis with a towel over my head to block the glare from the sun. I do not always have the luxury of a “hard surface”. Microsoft needs to fix this. I “upgraded” from surface pro to get more power but so far not at all impressed.

I just got my new Surface Laptop 4 today and the bottom is insanely hot. This is NOT normal. I was working with it for a few hours today but I've not had it on my lap for 30+ minutes and my legs are still red so yes, those are first degree burns - that actually hurt. I now have coasters between the laptop and my legs, and will be looking at other "hard surfaces" to put between my skin and the bottom of the laptop. I've had probably 20 laptops over the last 30 years (first one was Bondwell that weighed 13 lbs in 1991 so I KNOW laptops - this is NOT right.

Hi whatisComputrons,

Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft Community and posting your inquiry.   

Do you happen to have your device plugged in most of the time? If yes, kindly avoid having your Surface plugged in 24/7. The device could also be on the process of completing all the necessary downloads, updates and sync of data.

You can visit this Clean and care for your Surface article about Battery health and other information related to your Surface device. 

Also check the Safety information for Surface page that mentions the following:

Furthermore, your device may become very warm during normal use. It complies with the user-accessible surface temperature limits defined by the International Standards for Safety (IEC 60950-1 and IEC 62368). Still, sustained contact with warm surfaces for long periods of time may cause discomfort or injury. To reduce potential heat-related issues, follow these guidelines:

• Keep your device and its power adapter in a well-ventilated area when in use or charging. Allow for adequate air circulation under and around the device.
• Use common sense to avoid situations where your skin is in contact with your device or its power adapter when it’s operating or connected to a power source. For example, don’t sleep with your device or its power adapter, or place it under a blanket or pillow, and avoid contact between your body and your device when the power adapter is connected to a power source. Take special care if you have a physical condition that affects your ability to detect heat against the body.
• If your device is used for long periods, its surface can become very warm. While the temperature may not feel hot to the touch, if you maintain physical contact with the device for a long time, for example if you rest the device on your lap, your skin might suffer a low-heat injury.
• If your device is on your lap and gets uncomfortably warm, remove it from your lap and place it on a stable work surface.
• Never place your device or AC adaptor on furniture or any other surface that might be marred by exposure to heat since the base of your device and the surface of the AC adaptor may increase in temperature during normal use.

Additionally, the device is designed to shut down automatically if it reaches pre-determined temperatures that are well below international regulatory safety thresholds. When it turns off, please give it time to cool down. 

The fan of the Surface devices are equipped to adjust their fan speed (which most of the times will produce noises) to stabilize the temperature of the CPU to perform as expected while there are several things running in the background process.

You can also adjust on how you want your CPU to perform, by selecting the battery icon on the task bar and adjusting the power mode. Setting the power mode to Recommended throttles the CPU and helps keep it running cooler with less need of assisted cooling. While a setting of Better performance or Best performance will allow the device to run more quickly, it will also allow the fan to come on more often to keep the CPU cool and performing it's best.

I only plug it in when it needs charge, then disconnect to avoid keeping it at 100%. (edit (clarification): I avoid charging to 100% and especially don't keep it full)

My room is at around 24 Celcius, and I keep the laptop on a flat wooden table with no obstruction to the fan.

Again, the question was more about "Why is the computer running so hot just at a third of its CPU potential".

I'm not running graphically/computationally intensive programs here. My web browser, and my programming stuff (which even while compiling should not be pushing the computer to its limit).

The computer is brand new and I'm not treating it like a desktop to run multiple things.

The windows search filter host is currently running again with a "Very High" power usage.

I also have just purchased a Surface Laptop 4 - 13.5in, i7, 16GB, 512GB, and it is having the same excessive fan issues, even from a standard startup with no apps (other than Chrome) running and all up to date. Something is not right.