Dell has a "Hot" new feature in their laptops....

[christopher_wolf]

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=32550

Apparently, Dell laptops can double as an IED; I think that Dell is trying to promote some combo of ultra-secure data disposal, theft deterrent (on top of the fact that a Dell laptop is already enough of a theft deterrent in and of itself for most purposes), and self-destruct device (once the user decides that a Thinkpad would have been better, wants to get rid of the dell, but would have to pay more than the Dell is actually worth to have it recycled.). Daba and I were talking about it just today.

Note the T4X Series Thinkpad in the lower right hand corner of the second photograph.

[Kyocera]

Note the two guys in the background grabbing thier lappies and getting the H@@# out of dodge.

[christopher_wolf]

Note the two guys in the background grabbing thier lappies and getting the H@@# out of dodge.

Well? What else would you do when a laptop next to you suddenly explodes and catches fire?

[AlphaKilo470]

Holy smokes is all I can say about that computer which, by the way, is a Dell Latitude for those who haven't figured out.

I remember reading another post on this forum about a year or so ago about some college professor getting severe burns to the "sensitive" areas from his Dell laptop and now I hear about this; I wonder if these two accidents go hand in hand.

[DIGITALgimpus]

This seems to be an issue with many newer Intel Core Duo laptops.

Likely because they all rushed to ship units so quick, and didn't bother to much on thermals.

[christopher_wolf]

This seems to be an issue with many newer Intel Core Duo laptops.

Likely because they all rushed to ship units so quick, and didn't bother to much on thermals.

That would have to be one hell of a thermal problem (no pun intended).

I don't think this was a Intel Core Duo laptop; since when has explode-and-catch-fire been a common issue on Intel Duo Cores?I have heard of the HCF (Halt-and-Catch-Fire) bus contention instruction, but that would be plain ridiculous.

Plain old Dell Latitude.

Oh, and for those of you wondering about the burn? Yeah...It was a Dell Latitude and it gave the scientist a severe burn over his private parts; and *yes*, he was wearing pants whilst using it. See;

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/11/22 ... th_laptop/

There was also a girl in africa that had a Dell explode while she was using it.

[AlphaKilo470]

It was after reading that article about the guy with the burns from his Dell that I quit complaining about the 1st degree burn my old 760ED once gave me when I used it in a recliner while wearing shorts.

[GomJabbar]

Most likely a faulty battery I say. Either that, or something shorted out the battery. The other parts of the laptop would not explode into flames like that. Dell is not the first company to have battery problems that cause fires. Those lithium batteries are dangerous little things.

http://www.synthtopia.com/news/06_06/Ma ... Flame.html

Laptops do sometimes burst into flames. There are at least 43 reported incidents in the last two years. In 2004 and 2005, Apple, Dell and Hewlett Packard collectively recalled more than 300,000 laptop batteries “due to fire hazards.”

[ipark]

ohhhhh krap!

[AlphaKilo470]

Dell is not the first company to have battery problems that cause fires. Those lithium batteries are dangerous little things.

Back in 1995, when Apple was about to start shipping the then new PowerBook 5300 series laptops with the then new to them LiIon batteries, they had to push back the release date so they could swap all the remaining laptop batteries with NiMH because there was a defect in the batteries (fault was actually with the maker of the battery, Sony) and these laptops were exploding and catching fire in the warehouses and factories before they even shipped out.

[christopher_wolf]

Dell is not the first company to have battery problems that cause fires. Those lithium batteries are dangerous little things.

Back in 1995, when Apple was about to start shipping the then new PowerBook 5300 series laptops with the then new to them LiIon batteries, they had to push back the release date so they could swap all the remaining laptop batteries with NiMH because there was a defect in the batteries (fault was actually with the maker of the battery, Sony) and these laptops were exploding and catching fire in the warehouses and factories before they even shipped out.

Yes indeedy, I actually remember that; although it was most likely the battery, other things were involved as well. Probably the HDD and the rest of the palmrest on that dell overheated. It can't be written off to just the battery; especially if the battery had no damage occur to it.

Apple can be cut some slack because it was primarily the battery maker's fault and they caught it early enough to rectify it. I won't say the same of Dell, because this is the third incident I have heard of their laptops exploding, and HP, which had several massive recalls and still didn't fix all the problems they were supposed to.

Funny, though; IBM has never recalled any systems due to battery explosions, imagine that. IBM recalled the Delta power supplies once (and the recall + fix to the T30 memory mounts), but that was it.

[Nitehawk]

the all new terror technique. exploding dell laptops at confrences..

[christopher_wolf]

the all new terror technique. exploding dell laptops at confrences..

I wish I was joking, but it might only be matter of time before something like that happens on a plane. That would totally ruin somebody's day now wouldn't it? First, survive the laptop, next survive the plane ride, next survive questions by certain agents.

This almost happened to a Prof. of mine; he was going through security at an airport and, when they were inspecting his laptop, they dropped it and broke the battery casing. It started to fizzle, so my prof. got a plastic bag from one of the shops and wrapped the battery in it completely. The slightest amount of moisture that gets into the battery could cause a highly exothermic and kinetic reaction that will simply serve to blow the battery apart.

I suppose that would be even worse; have your laptop mis-handled to the point of exploding by whoever does the inspections, *then* have it go critical when you are on the plane whilst it is on your lap.

[NS]

Well? What else would you do when a laptop next to you suddenly explodes and catches fire?

Of course, i will run for my life. Who else would like to sit there to watch the fire?

[AlphaKilo470]

Whether or not I run from such an event as a laptop fire would depend on whether or not there are marshmallows and hot dogs handy and stakes to cook them on.

[NS]

Whether or not I run from such an event as a laptop fire would depend on whether or not there are marshmallows and hot dogs handy and stakes to cook them on.

Thanks for the joke. Hahaha...

[Huang Zhong Wei (Brandon)]

Well? What else would you do when a laptop next to you suddenly explodes and catches fire?

Of course, i will run for my life. Who else would like to sit there to watch the fire?

I think if that thing really explodes, you will also not have that enough time to run away for your life. I think you will get rooted at your seat and wait for the fire to gobble you up instead.

[Thinkpaddict]

Man, that explosion in the first picture sure looks expectacular. In a 4th of July kind of way

Did they call the CSI team to figure out what happened? My money is on the battery cells. That would explain the repeated explosions throughout a period of 5 minutes. I knew there was a method to my madness (I don't ever leave anything on if I have to leave my house, including my Thinkpads).

I'm sure someone now will blame Bill Gates for it. Oh well...

[K. Eng]

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=32723

The Inquirer is reporting that Dell got ahold of the destroyed notebook and examined it. Dell believes that the battery was the cause of the explosion, and I think that is really the only logical explaination.

[christopher_wolf]

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=32723

The Inquirer is reporting that Dell got ahold of the destroyed notebook and examined it. Dell believes that the battery was the cause of the explosion, and I think that is really the only logical explaination.

Yeah, but does that even matter? If that had been on somebody's lap or if someone was really close to it, I don't think they would care if it was the battery or something else. Personally, though, I could care less if it was the battery that did it or the battery *and* the rest of the Dell that blew up; not far-fetched, not far fetched at all (especially for Dell).

If there is a way to get some non-volatile system to explode (or even get a portal to another part of the universe to worm-hole open spontaeneously) at a critical moment I assure you Dell will, as per their Murphy's Law inducing ways and internal by-laws, find a way for it to happen by the "Absolute Opposite of Good Luck" they imbody....All of my Dell laptops used to adhere to Murphy's Law and sheer randomness; the only reason that those Dell laptops don't do that anymore is that they are gone. There is a reason Dell has a 28%+ return rate for their laptops....a good reason; I like to think it is a primary force of Good in the universe, but it is probably something most people would call Common Sense.

[K. Eng]

28% return rate???

Where did you read that, and how is that compared to the industry average?

I wonder what the same rates are for Lenovo machines.

[GomJabbar]

A bash here a bash there. What's the diff?

[christopher_wolf]

A bash here a bash there. What's the diff?

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3013

^ You call a claim based on real data bashing? That is in total for the industry.

Looking at the numbers I have from the TSW, they sell Dell laptops as well, they actually *do* have at least a 20% out the door failure rate for the Dell laptops they sell.

See;

http://tinyurl.com/hv6jx

http://www.macintouch.com/laptoplife.html

http://business.newsforge.com/comments. ... &cid=76817

^ A few of many.

Also, a friend of mine at UTenn. asked a bookstore staff member, who was trying to sell him an IBM Thinkpad incidentally, what the return rates on Dell laptops were; he said 28% for the Inspirons, a little higher than the 20% I expected, and around 21% for the Latitudes, matching the numbers *I* was quoted. To have numbers from my local campus store matched by another bookstore at UTenn. is a little too much of a coincidence to be accidental isn't it?

Do a little more searching on the web, as I did, and you will find many of the same claims.

Having, unfortuanately, used Dell laptops as long as I did in conjunction with my Thinkpads and Powerbook I can say I believe in those numbers simply based on the utter failure of all of my previous Dells to simply operate in exceptional condition. It got to the point that, if I could resume my Dell M60 and it *worked*, I was shocked. Based off of all of that, I don't find a 28% RMA/DOA far fetched, not far fetched at all.

The only thing that I have seen Dell add to the laptop industry is the definition of the lower extrema of cheap and low quality; that's it.

I, for one, suggest that Dell change it's slogan from "Dude, you're getting a Dell!" to "Dude, you're getting a skin graft!" when it comes to their laptops; morbid yes, but slightly more accurate. (During operation, my Dell M60 and Latitudes would get hot enough to discolor the paint over the HDD bay; thus stated, I have *never* wanted to use a Dell laptop on my lap after feeling the heat that came from them.)

[christopher_wolf]

In related news; http://www.theregister.com/2006/07/08/dell_oft/

Unaccetpable Ts&Cs? Dell avoiding trying to fix problems? Bad customer service from Dell?

Who would have guessed?

[K. Eng]

I'm not laughing... customer service in general has gone down the tubes everywhere.

One need only look at the number of complaints here on this board concerning Solectron to know that Dell is not the only company in trouble.

[christopher_wolf]

I'm not laughing... customer service in general has gone down the tubes everywhere.

One need only look at the number of complaints here on this board concerning Solectron to know that Dell is not the only company in trouble.

It has been going on far longer at Dell and has been far more widespread there than here, that is for sure. The number of complaints here about Solectron have been, thus far, quite minor compared to other manufacturers and service depots. Having experienced the quality of recent IBM/Lenovo support first hand and the lack thereof in Dell support I think I can say they brought it on themselves. They used to have very good marks for customer service a year or so ago; not all that long ago.

[K. Eng]

If what has been going on at Solectron qualifies as 'minor', I'd hate to see what other service depots are doing

Of the last three times I sent my T40 in for service, Solectron managed to do something wrong every single time. I had a screw loose inside the case, missing rubber feet, and bezel plastics not installed correctly. Others here have had the wrong system boards installed, or gotten back machines that still didn't work properly after repair.

Now IBM and Lenovo proper have always been great. IBM was always prompt in sending parts, and Lenovo's technicians did a fine repair on the old T40, but even if Solectron is doing a better job than whoever Dell hires, its still not good enough.

It has been going on far longer at Dell and has been far more widespread there than here, that is for sure. The number of complaints here about Solectron have been, thus far, quite minor compared to other manufacturers and service depots.
...

[christopher_wolf]

Having had a few dell laptops since 2000 as well as Thinkpads and HPs really allowed me to compare them. Dell's service, originally, was good on the customer rep part and OK when it came to fixing or replacing stuff, HP was better, and IBM was the best.

Then, Dell got to the point where I had to send in a certain Latitude four times for increasingly bigger, and technician caused, problems. First, the Latitude went in for hinges and came back minus one stick of memory, the next time it came back with new hinges and a flexed dell LCD, the next time it came back with only two screws, one on the lower left and one on the lower right, holding it together on the base and the rest *loose inside the chassis* of the Latitude; which makes me think somebody stopped caring about that Latitude long ago. Next, the Dell M60 "Precision" which apparently had firewire for looks only as well as a BT icon on the clearplate but no way to get any LED or upgradable BT card in it. I finally stopped and dropped Dell for good and all when a particularly nasty support tech kept blaming and yelling at me for all the problems the thing was having and when the floor manager started repeating the tech. Then HP's service went down slowly, to the point where they didn't ship me the recall replacement battery for the ze5170 nor the memory sticks to replace the ones in the ze5170, as per their letters.

I really hope that Solectron isn't headed that way.
I do, however, think that we are still a long way from the worst it could get....I hope.

[tfflivemb2]

Looks like Dell is finally admitting to the problems, and are recalling the batteries.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/08/14/technol ... tm?cnn=yes

[Orevin]

The story is not over yet:

Apple Pulls Sony-Built Batteries

Apple Computer on Thursday recalled 1.8 million Sony-built laptop batteries that could overheat and catch fire.