Abstract: A manufacturer determines a maximum ambient temperature for an electronic device to be manufactured. The device preferably has a data processor equipped with a utilization monitor. A test unit of the device is manufactured and placed under test at the maximum ambient temperature. The manufacturer during this test stage runs the application software for the electronic device at this time, in the test state. The temperature of the processor and its utilization reading are observed. The processor temperature, and hence the temperature of the junctions within it, are predictably higher than the ambient temperature due to the temperature differentials inherent in the device. If the processor temperature increases out of range, then the software should be changed to utilize less processing capacity of the processor and, correspondingly, cause the processor to dissipate less power in executing the necessary tasks.