Jul 29 2006

Beware the Exploding Laptops

Posted by Jack as Computers, Hardware, Notebooks

And now, in the news–yet another exploding laptop. All right, this may sound downright silly, but the issue of exploding laptops has surfaced again and again in some of today’s popular gadget and tech rumor sites, particularly The Register and even Gizmodo.

Is this a reason to fear buying laptops and using them right where they’re supposed to be–on your lap?

Probably not. Exploding laptops are isolated cases. They’re the exception rather than the norm. And the theory that they’re caused by overheating processors doesn’t hold water either. It’s mostly due to flaws in the battery or power supply circuitry. In some cases, this is due to poor design, and laptop manufacturers have been quick to recall faulty batteries.

Here are some tips to avoid the possibility of your laptop exploding. Okay, you’re not supposed to be worried about your laptop exploding, but these tips are for general battery maintenance. Hey, it helps to take care of your laptop. We wouldn’t want thousands of dollars of equipment–and even thousands more of data and information–down the drain would we?

Follow the manual. Your laptop’s user manual would indicate what type of batteries your laptop has. Most probably, it’s Lithium-Ion (save for some that use thinner Lithium-Polymers). These don’t exhibit “memory effect,” so you can charge and recharge even without waiting for them to run flat.
Stay cool. Heat is an enemy of all types of battery chemistries. So be sure to charge your laptop in a cool environment. Excessive heat would degrade battery life significantly, because power cells tend to change chemistry if they become too hot.
Use only certified equipment. As much as possible, purchase original accessories. If you decide to go for aftermarket battery packs, you would likely be voiding your laptop’s warranty. If you must, be sure you purchase batteries from reputable sellers.

There you have it folks. Just take care of your equipment well, and they’ll take care of you the same way. We do hope we won’t be experiencing any laptop explosions ourselves!

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11 Responses

Quimby
30|Jul|2006

They are isolated cases, but haven’t they all been Dell’s? I’ve never heard of any other brand exploding before. Are there other cases?
Mr Butterscotch
30|Jul|2006

You know, this is really quiet frightening, especially as I just bought a new laptop. On the other hand, it is a very high spec Toshiba that runs supercool. I hope it doesn’t burn me later!
Jackzooki
30|Jul|2006

HP had a huge battery recall program once:

http://www.laptopical.com/battery-recall.html

It has something to do with some batches of batteries outsourced from a third-party manufacturer that used defective parts.

I know other manufacturers have recalled faulty battery packs. With HP’s case they just asked their users to return the battery packs and not the entire laptop.
Jackzooki
30|Jul|2006

What model do you have, Mr. Butterscotch? I’m in the market for a new laptop myself.
Mr Butterscotch
31|Jul|2006

Yo Jackzooki,

I got a Toshiba P100 188 - I dunno if that translates very well to model numbers in the US, but essentially it’s a 1.83 gig dual core, 100 gig hard drive, 256meg 7600 graphics chipset harmon kardon speakers, 17inch hi def display etc. Very nice, not cheap but definitely worth spending a bit more on. Review to follow
Quimby
01|Aug|2006

Mr. Butterscotch,
You left out the most important feature (for a total system performance)! How much RAM?
Mr Butterscotch
01|Aug|2006

Hmmm so I did, I wonder how that slipped by!? It ships with a standard 1024 meg of ram - but this is upgradable to 4 gig. I’ve stuck in a bit extra already. Re performance, Half Life 2 running on 1200 x 1024 in full widescreen looks pretty damn impressive with all the visual bells and whistles. Oh yeah, and the HDR works as well. I’m going to pick up Oblivion soon too, I’ll feature graphics performance in the review.
Jackzooki
01|Aug|2006

That’s sweet! Wait, 4gigs of RAM max? There are two DDR slots, right?
Mr Butterscotch
01|Aug|2006

Yep, two DDR slots. I’ve seen someone use a home cooling solution to overclock their processor so I have an eye on that too for the future. Right now though, it is running like a sweet dream. Half Life 2 this evening for a few hours I think…
Quimby
01|Aug|2006

How much did you shell out for the system?
Mr Butterscotch
01|Aug|2006

It was around £1,000 all in - pretty much the benchmark price you pay for a top spec thing here in the UK. I really love it - I just need to find the time to make the most of it!

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