Cars sometimes overheat and catch fire and we never read about that ...

... or don't most Dell laptops have the battaries at the back (under the join of the screen)?

This laptop appears to be burning from the front right... near the optical drive.

Also, that red thing in front of it looks suspicously like a lighter in some of the high res pics... though like a tube of pritstick in some others

Maybe its those evil chinese PLA hackers we have all be hearing about trying to destroy the evidence >80)

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Martin

Why do I get a strange feeling of satisfaction whenever I see a Dell laptop set on fire? >:D

That laptop looks very much like a Dell Lattitude -Either a D800 or D810

Either way, that is NOT where the battery sits. The site of that fire is the drive bay, and although you can fit a 2nd battery into the drive bay, none of the drive bay batteries have been subject to a recall.

Apart from the onlookers, stood calmly talking about the weather, doesn't the laptop look a little too conveniently placed on a tray where it doesn't seem to be putting anything on the desk at risk.

The machine appears to be a Latitude D600 and so would possibly have been shipped with a battery covered by the recall. Quite a lot of ours were.

Nick

... because this isn't a site about cars.

All the Latitude x00 or x10 series laptops at Dell did in fact have the battery on the front-right hand side of the base. I know as we have a number of each of these models in service at the moment, and I had to check them all for the battery failure.

But I agree, this does look like a set up! Who rests their laptop on a fire-proof tray like that?

"But I agree, this does look like a set up! Who rests their laptop on a fire-proof tray like that?"

Well, if this does by some miracle turn out to be genuine....... then most Dell laptop owners will :)

"...Who rests their laptop on a fire-proof tray like that?"

Dell owners, obviously :-p

Oh and mac book owners who don't enjoy being burned alive...

The red thing is a Pritt Stick. See here: http://www.zebra.waw.pl/shop/products/klk028.jpg

And my friend uses their laptop like this, so entirely possible :) Still, nice to sit and watch it happen guys

Ah yes, the Sony battery recall story - recalls from Dell, Acer, Toshiba, Apple, Lenovo, Panasonic and , er Sony. Quiet day in the office El Reg? - The exploding battery story a perennial favourite - that said this one does a little more little petrol enduced

I present you the Ford Pinto of the 21st Century: The DELL LAPTOP. Exploding on a desk near you!

That laptop is on a tray like a sliding keyboard tray, I.E. mounted under the desk and pulled out when needed and the fire is in the same place as another reported Dell fire;

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/07/28/another_dell_laptop_burns/

Alternatively, maybe the user tried to access a falun gong website and the authorities took 'firewall' a bit too literally?

Of course, there are a lot of non-official batteries available for all sorts of machines all over Asia - I don't think Dell will be organising any recalls unless they prove the battery really was an official one!

Well, the colour of the flame in the first picture appears to be the reddish-violet that lithium gives off... and the angle it's sitting on in the tray could just be how they work on it.

is the grimace/grin from the man opposite the camera however I hasten to add that some people always do that when there is a picture taken and this looks to be a flash moment. It's normally frowned on to burn stuff like laptops in most offices and this looks to be an office if it

is a set up they are really brave pranksters.

"But I agree, this does look like a set up! Who rests their laptop on a fire-proof tray like that?" - M

"And my friend uses their laptop like this, so entirely possible :) Still, nice to sit and watch it happen guys" - Henry Williams

First off, it's clearly a keyboard tray. Secondly, when all I have available is a keyboard tray on a too-tall desk, I've been known to use my laptop like that, too. So that's at least two data points (me and Mr. William's friend) for you.

Hi Guys,

This laptop in question belong to one of employee in my company. The location is in Shanghai industrial area.

The model is Dell Latitude D610 (We have a couple hundred of them). And in contrary to a lot of your guys think the battery location is where it caught fire.

The Red think as "M" point out in front of the laptop is a lipstick glue (Manufacture by Pritt)

And the fire proof tray is a standard keyboard tray that can be found in most of computer desk in China. although the use for a laptop is a bit unusual I admit it.

Now the fire it self. Although I do not know the owner of the laptop personally but I can guarantee you that it is genius and not fake.

The laptop was in the batch Dell suggest to replace and it has been replaced. The firework comes from the new battery !!!