An exploding laptop! ... not very encouraging....

[Mycanid]

Here is the link:

http://www.itnews.com.au/newsstory.aspx?CIaNID=34060&src=site-marq

Apparently one of the Dell laptops exploded in a ball of flames at a conference in Japan. Err ... not a very encouraging thing....

 

[KenM]

Great, just great.

 

[Mycanid]

Sorry Ken ... didn't specifically have you in mind ... but now that I think of it, got that extra suit of plate mail in the garage still?

 

[DaveMage]

We have a Dell laptop that has not exploded.

(I'm sure that ticking sound is nothing to be alarmed about...)

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I heard of a new MacBook that caught fire but now Exploding Dells? They refuse to be outdone.

 

[KenM]

I had my Dell laptop for 1.25 hours and so far it has not exploded.

 

[Falkus]

I actually got an e-mail about this months ago from Dell. Not this incident, but rather, a flaw with a certain line of Dell batteries that could result in laptop fires and explosions. They recalled the batteries, I guess that guy didn't get the message.

 

[KenM]

My Dell did not come with a manual, just a quick start sheet. It camw with a book, but that covered the warrenty, not a user guide. Warrentties for cars are not as thick. This worries me.

 

[werk]

We were discussing this on my other board and it is just an issue with battery quality.

"This is an example of that happens when the barriers inside a Lithium-Ion battery are faulty, it causes internal shorts --- which then melts the barriers more --- causing more metal - to metal contact (in the battery), causing the whole thing to go up in flames from the heat of the short and "pop" from expanding gasses."

Dell has battery recalls all the time, but always on only one specific (faulty) model of battery. Other companies do this too, but Dell seems to be the only ones that catch on fire or explode. The Mac batteries just get a little puffy and quit working.

My favorite about this story is all the guys standing around in the conference room watching a lithium ion battery burn and billow smoke. HELLO, SUPER TOXIC GAS! Don't breathe that you idiots!

EDIT: KenM, all Dell systems' user guides are available online via their website. The excuse was that users would always have the most current version of the book, but it was really to save money on printing/shipping.

 

[KenM]

EDIT: KenM, all Dell systems' user guides are available online via their website. The excuse was that users would always have the most current version of the book, but it was really to save money on printing/shipping.

Big surpise there. I also have to call Dell to get them to send me recovery CD's. They have a recovery partioned on the hard drive, but if something happens to the hard drive, you're screwed. I went though the same issue when I bouth an HP desktop.