Daniel Dourvaris:
One afternoon as I was lying on my bed browsing the internet, my MacBook Pro suddenly turned off. I turned it back on and within a few seconds there was weird hissing sound, followed by white smoke and thin flames coming out of from the back.
I got up and ran with the laptop for the bathroom where I could put it on the ceramic tiles. Not more than ten seconds had passed and already the heat from the bottom of the laptop burnt my middle and ring fingers so badly I had to let it drop.
And:
There was a bang as I backed away causing the back to pop and smoke kept pouring out. It kept sizzling for a few minutes and then finally it stopped.
The house had filled up with smoke everywhere, the acidic stench of melted plastic made my eyes water.
Look at the pictures. Amazing. Looks like melted modeling clay.
This is scary.
It’s long been known that Lithium batteries can swell up inside a computer case, causing problems with, for example, the trackpad in some older designs, as they are being pressed from beneath. But that’s nothing compared to the danger of a situation like this.
[Via DF]
Laying a MacBook Pro on sheets, soft-top mattresses or other soft surfaces does many many bad things to heat dispersal and ventilation in a MacBook Pro. He blames the battery: I would blame the heat generated by blocking most of the different means used to cool to the processor and fans. As fast as it self destructed, I think the battery was probably the victim of excessive internal heat here.
In other words you are saying this is the 2017 version of ‘You’re holding it wrong’.
While it is probably a defect in this particular battery, in general, there are thermal checks to prevent such occurrences. In fact, if the vents are blocked, Intel CPUs are designed to under-clock to unusable slowness and then shut off with excessive heat so it shouldn’t even reach temperatures that affect the battery regardless. Using a computer on a bed is a very common use case so if you claim that the computer should explode if placed on a mattress or bedding, then that is a design defect.
It’s long been known that Lithium batteries can swell up inside a computer case” – it’s also long been known that Lithium-Ion batteries can combust spontaneously when under stress (e.g. temperature, vibration,…) or when only slightly damaged. That’s probably one of the reasons only small ones are allowed on airplanes. That’s also why lithium batteries are sometimes even inspected by x-ray by the manufacturer – they are not inherently safe, so they are manufactured with care (mostly – ask samsung what can still go wrong). still, as they are produced by the millions, failures are bound to happen – so if you’re paranoid, it’s a good idea to keep a class-d fire extinguisher at hand and not leave them next to something combustible. but if you’re like anybody else, just live with the risk – in the end it’s not that big.
Is anyone out there working on a replacement for lithium batteries? Please?