A computing device (500, 600) comprising: a chassis with an external surface (502; 602) and one or more internal components; a temperature sensor (510; 610) positioned to track a temperature that corresponds to a temperature of the external surface; and one or more computer-readable storage media including instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by the computing device (500, 600), cause the computing device (500, 600) to perform operations including: generating a thermal profile of the external surface (502; 602) of the device; identifying a hotspot on the thermal profile of the external surface (502; 602) of the device; generating a thermal profile of an internal component of the device; comparing a thermal profile of the hotspot on the external surface to the thermal profile of the internal component of the device; identifying a region of the internal component whose thermal profile correlates to the thermal profile of the hotspot; tagging the region of the internal component to be used for the temperature sensor; detecting via the temperature sensor (510; 610) a temperature of the external surface (502; 602) of the computing device (500, 600); determining whether the temperature of the external surface (502; 602) meets or exceeds a threshold temperature; and in an event that the temperature of the external surface (502; 602) meets or exceeds the threshold temperature, implementing a procedure to control the temperature of the external surface (502; 602) of the computing device (500, 600), wherein the temperature sensor (510; 610) is configured to detect an internal temperature, and wherein the operation of detecting via the temperature sensor (510; 610) the temperature of the external surface (502; 602) of the computing device (500, 600) comprises calculating the temperature of the external surface (502; 602) based on the internal temperature and the temperature profile of one or more of the external surface or the internal temperature. a chassis with an external surface (502; 602) and one or more internal components; a temperature sensor (510; 610) positioned to track a temperature that corresponds to a temperature of the external surface; and one or more computer-readable storage media including instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by the computing device (500, 600), cause the computing device (500, 600) to perform operations including: generating a thermal profile of the external surface (502; 602) of the device; identifying a hotspot on the thermal profile of the external surface (502; 602) of the device; generating a thermal profile of an internal component of the device; comparing a thermal profile of the hotspot on the external surface to the thermal profile of the internal component of the device; identifying a region of the internal component whose thermal profile correlates to the thermal profile of the hotspot; tagging the region of the internal component to be used for the temperature sensor; detecting via the temperature sensor (510; 610) a temperature of the external surface (502; 602) of the computing device (500, 600); determining whether the temperature of the external surface (502; 602) meets or exceeds a threshold temperature; and in an event that the temperature of the external surface (502; 602) meets or exceeds the threshold temperature, implementing a procedure to control the temperature of the external surface (502; 602) of the computing device (500, 600), generating a thermal profile of the external surface (502; 602) of the device; identifying a hotspot on the thermal profile of the external surface (502; 602) of the device; generating a thermal profile of an internal component of the device; comparing a thermal profile of the hotspot on the external surface to the thermal profile of the internal component of the device; identifying a region of the internal component whose thermal profile correlates to the thermal profile of the hotspot; tagging the region of the internal component to be used for the temperature sensor; detecting via the temperature sensor (510; 610) a temperature of the external surface (502; 602) of the computing device (500, 600); determining whether the temperature of the external surface (502; 602) meets or exceeds a threshold temperature; and in an event that the temperature of the external surface (502; 602) meets or exceeds the threshold temperature, implementing a procedure to control the temperature of the external surface (502; 602) of the computing device (500, 600), wherein the temperature sensor (510; 610) is configured to detect an internal temperature, and wherein the operation of detecting via the temperature sensor (510; 610) the temperature of the external surface (502; 602) of the computing device (500, 600) comprises calculating the temperature of the external surface (502; 602) based on the internal temperature and the temperature profile of one or more of the external surface or the internal temperature.