Dell laptop goes up in smoke

Oh no, not again

By Tony Smith • Get more from this author

28th July 2006 09:46 GMT

Another Dell laptop has undergone spontaneous combustion, prompting the evacuation of the office it was situated in and the urgent intervention of the local fire brigade. Pictures of the incident point to a battery meltdown as the cause of the conflagration.

Here's a picture, but there are plenty more over at Tom's Hardware Guide, the website the shots were sent to first. Judging by the screen damage, the laptop was closed at the time of the fire.

Details are scarce, but it's clearly a Dell machine, and the battery compartment is now just so much cinder. The battery's in an even worse state.

The report follows an incident last month in which a Dell laptop caught fire in Japan. At the time, Dell said it was investigating the cause of the blaze, and it's certainly going to want to take a look at this latest case too, which appears to be just the latest of quite a few such incendiary events.

Dell documents leaked last week suggest the company has reports of dozens of lit-up laptops on fire (surely 'file'? - Ed.)

But what about other vendors? Surely Dell doesn't face this problem alone? Let us know... ®