MacBook Battery Fire

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After hearing this “battery exploding” story, it might be time to check your MacBook battery. Normally we like to poke a little fun at Mac users when we get the chance but stuff like this just isn’t funny.

And we are back at the 3am incident. My girlfriend said she heard it hissing like a steam valve, then smoke started pouring out of it and a couple of seconds later, a very large flash fire started. I'm sure you have read about these and seen the dell video. This is what happened to my macbook.
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Tomorrow's Headline:
"To Address the burning battery issues Apple is taking action and giving every new customer a free Fire Extinguisher with their order. Apple customers who have ordered a Laptop within the past 6 months can redeem a 50% off coupon for the Fire Extinguisher which can be purchased at any Apple Retail Outlet.

apple_fire.jpg
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That's what you get for buying a Mac ;) Sorry, I just had to.

Good thing the guy (and g/f / dog / house) are okay. At least worst case scenario, Apple gets to pay for a new notebook, rather than a wrongful death lawsuit here..Assuming everything on the users end is fine (other than a defective battery), and I'm assuming it was. If it were me, the laptop (PC though if I ever break down and buy one heh) would be charged, then unplugged and turned OFF at night..Not Left on sleep mode, plugged in all the while. Obviously a bad battery, but aren't they (in general) supposed to take a charge to a certain point and signal the charger (or something along those lines) to STOP charging? Kinda sounds like the battery just didn't stop when it was full and crapped out.

Am I the only one wanting to see the rest of the fire damage pics, or maybe the bookshelf/magazine collateral damage wasn't bad enough to warrant displaying to the intarweb?
 
kush said:
That's what you get for buying a Mac ;) Sorry, I just had to.

Obviously a bad battery, but aren't they (in general) supposed to take a charge to a certain point and signal the charger (or something along those lines) to STOP charging? Kinda sounds like the battery just didn't stop when it was full and crapped out.
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You are right, it is supposed to stop charging. I think that is the whole reason these things were catching fire. There is a fault in some of the charging circuitry that prevents it from stopping charging at the correct time.. with the end result being a flaming Mac!

LOL, and it’s ok, Apple doesn’t need to replace the laptop. After all, the person bought a Mac so they don’t mind throwing money away.

I also couldn’t resist making a Mac joke.
 
Normally we like to poke a little fun at Mac users when we get the chance but stuff like this just isn’t funny.
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Oh yes, it is, very much so. :p :D
(Sorry, make me number three on the "couldn't resist" list.:))

Any idea what brand battery these were using?
 
Clearly, this was caused by the hot magazine model. Macs are meant for serious desktop publishing and... wait, I think I'm getting my ad characters confused.
 
Heh, "iExtinguisher", or perhaps the "iExtinguish".

I like how the guy's asking for a service center to "fix it". Seriously, what are they going to "fix"?
 
It isn't that bad, all it needs is a new case, screen, motherboard, maybe keyboard (which actually still looks clean in the pic), dvd drive and/or hard drive. Other than those minor things it is still good and can be fixed to be as good as new.
 
You have to look at the positive side of this. Now she has the perfect opportunity to buy a real laptop.
 
After the beating Dell took over it's burning batteries, you would think that other manufacturers would investigate and make sure that theirs *didn't* have this problem.

I wonder if Apple will also do a recall? If these batteries were made by Sony ...
 
As far as I know the new MacBooks have Lithium Polymer batteries which cannot catch fire. By using this more expensive battery technology Apple did everything that is possible in order to prevent fires. Much more than any other manufacturer.
If this news turns out to be true and Li-Polymer batteries can really catch fire then it's gonna be a great surprise for all the battery makers and engineers.
 
Would this sort fo thing be covered out of warranty? If not, and I found myself in this position, I would seriously consider my options in the courts...
 
zzebi said:
As far as I know the new MacBooks have Lithium Polymer batteries which cannot catch fire. By using this more expensive battery technology Apple did everything that is possible in order to prevent fires. Much more than any other manufacturer.
If this news turns out to be true and Li-Polymer batteries can really catch fire then it's gonna be a great surprise for all the battery makers and engineers.
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Any battery with enough power density to run a modern laptop for several hours would seem to me to be potentially hazardous. The problem is probably not in the designs, but in poor quality control.
 
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