HP and Dell Laptop Battery Shortages
Posted on April 3rd, 2008 in Battery News | 4 Comments »
With the battery being such an integral component of a notebook computer, the cost of the laptop battery can have a noticeable effect on the cost of the entire notebook.
Reuters reports that Dell announced this week that there was a shortage of laptop batteries because in part of a fire at a major laptop battery manufacturer – LG Chem.
Dell also admitted that prices for laptop batteries sold separately from a notebook system have gone up because of the shortage. LG Chem, one of the leading makers of batteries for laptops, had a fire in its Ochang plant on March 3. Dell says that it is working with other vendors to obtain batteries in an attempt to stave the shortage and prevent price increases for new notebooks from being passed on to consumers.
Dell spokesman Jess Blackburn told Reuters,
“We sell battery packs. The prices of those battery packs for people ordering extra batteries have gone up.”
However, Blackburn didn’t comment on the amount of the price increase.
Dell isn’t the only PC maker looking at laptop battery shortages; Hewlett Packard is feeling the same pinch. Hewlett-Packard spokesperson Mike Hockey said,
“The full extent of the impact to Hewlett Packard and other OEMs is still being determined. We are aggressively working within the battery cell industry to secure additional supply of battery cells.”
Source: DailyTech.com
Dell laptop battery stores:
4 Responses
That would be nice if my laptop’s battery actually worked for more than 10 seconds…. I think I need a new laptop now read more | digg story Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages
When batteries external short circuit, and electronic components are unable to cut off the circuit, the internal batteries will have high fever, causing vaporization of the electrolyte, the battery shell shoring. When the battery to a high internal temperature of 135 degrees Celsius, the divide of good quality paper, will be fine-mesh closed electrochemical reaction termination or near termination, a sharp fall in current, temperature slowly dropped, thereby avoiding the explosion occurred. However, the closure rate of fine-mesh bad, or fine-mesh fundamental divide will not be closed paper, battery temperature will continue to rise, more vaporization electrolyte, the battery shell Chengpo final, or even to increase the battery temperature combustion and explosion of materials.
Dell has identified a potential issue associated with certain batteries sold with Dell Latitude™, Inspiron™, XPS™ and Dell Precision Mobile Workstation™ notebook computers. In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and other regulatory agencies, Dell is voluntarily recalling certain Dell-branded batteries with cells manufactured by Sony and offering free replacements for these batteries. Under rare conditions, it is possible for these batteries to overheat, which could pose a risk of fire.
I am getting more and more questions about the safety of Laptop batteries from customers. It would be to be able to give them a straight answer!
I’m thinking about inlcuding a fire extinquisher with every laptop order.
Best regards,
Keith