Laptops: not for beds or laps
Earlier this week, a woman in Seoul, South Korea, received an unpleasant surprise when her Samsung laptop computer spontaneously combusted.
A Samsung Electronics Co. official confirmed the accident, saying that
it might be caused by overheating, because the laptop computer was used
for a long time on a pillow, which apparently blocked ventilation of
the machine."Since the woman used the computer on a pillow for
hours, it could block a ventilating hole below the model," said the
company official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
There’s been a spate of burning battery stories in the news over the last few years. Sony, Dell, Apple, LG and others have had to recall faulty batches of lithium ion batteries. There was even a report last month that a South Korean man was killed by an exploding mobile phone battery.
Here’s a great video showing what actually happens when a laptop’s lithium ion battery catches fire:
Luckily, catastrophic failure doesn’t actually happen all that often, when you consider just how many of these batteries are around the place: there must be a hundred or more lithium ion batteries in the Reevoo offices alone, and none of them have blown up so far — touch wood.
Still, you’d be hard pressed to find any manufacturer referring to their portable computer as a ‘laptop’ these days. Sure, we
the buying public call them laptops — we even use them on our laps —
but the makers are afraid of the liability of encouraging this
behaviour, selling ‘notebook’ or ‘portable’ computers instead.
It’s
perhaps not particularly surprising, given the high energy density of lithium ion cells and their tendency to burst, burn,
or even blow up when overheated. Blocking your computer’s air vents
with bedding is one way to make it overheat, as is placing it on a soft surface that restricts its ability to dissipate heat — trousered legs, for example.
Gentlemen have something else to worry about, too: using a computer on your lap may affect your fertility!
Blog posted on Wednesday, February 27th, 2008 at 10:59 am under Computers, Mobile Phones, News. Leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.
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