PC vendors blame batteries, not notebooks
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(InfoWorld) - Following a series of massive notebook PC battery recalls in August, a group of PC vendors met last week to seek safer lithium ion cells, resolving to draft an improved standard for battery manufacturing and quality control by the second quarter of 2007. About 20 representatives, including people from Dell Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co., Lenovo Group Ltd. and Polycom Inc. met Sept. 13 in San Jose, California, said Kimberly Sterling, a spokeswoman for IPC, an electronics industry group whose full name is the Association Connecting Electronics Industries. Sterling said some additional companies participated, but declined to name them or indicate how many there were. The companies are trying to allay consumer fears afterÂ a handful of batteries in notebook PCs overheated, some bursting into flames and injuring their users. However, their efforts may be hindered by the absence of Sony Electronics Inc. and possibly Apple Computer Inc. as well, since those companies may not abide by the standard without having an opportunity to help draft it. Sony wouldn't commit to following the IPC advice until it collects further information, said Sony spokesman John Dolak. Sony skipped the meeting because it was never invited, Dolak said. Instead, the company has representatives on similar boards; Sony executive Doug Smith is chairman of the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corp., a trade and lobbying group sponsored by battery manufacturers. Apple did not return calls about the meeting, which was run by committee chairman John Grosso, an executive at Dell. In August,Â Dell recalled 4.1 million notebook PC batteries, and Apple recalled 1.8 million notebook batteries.Â Sony made all the faulty batteries and blamed the problem on short circuits caused by a manufacturing flaw that left microscopic shards of metal floating in the lithium ion cell. Polycom, of Pleasanton, California, attended the meeting because it had recalled 27,700 of its wireless conference phones in February 2006. It is unclear whether Sony manufactured those batteries, too. Sony announced another defect in its batteries on Monday, when Toshiba Corp. offered to exchange 340,000 notebook batteries for fear they could suddenly lose power, shutting down the computer without saving users' work. Another hurdle for the nascent IPC standard is criticism from some experts that well-designed laptops shouldn't catch fire even if they do have faulty batteries. If PC vendors had used standard safety precautions in their notebooks, the defective batteries would have merely shut down, not overheated, said Donald Sadoway, a chemistry professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "The technology came out in the mid-90s; we know how to build a safe lithium ion battery," he said. Engineers typically avoid overheating in lithium ion batteries with safety features such as microcircuitry that monitors the charging process, an additive that makes the electrolyte less flammable or a porous polypropylene spacer that melts at high temperatures, automatically shutting down the battery's chemical reaction. Sadoway pointed out that it is PC manufacturers who typically specify requirements to battery suppliers. "So the question in my mind is 'Why are people not building batteries with these safety precautions?' Something is wrong here, and I believe it has to do with human behavior, not electrochemistry," Sadoway said. "In our attempts to bring portable power to the masses, we may have gotten too aggressive in our cost cutting. If you want something that's quickly recharged, delivers high bursts of power on demand, and is cheap cheap cheap, I would say that's over-specified." Sony agreed that variations in PC and battery design can make a difference in how they handle short circuits. After manufacturing, Sony's cells are configured into battery packs by either Sony itself or by third-party contractors such as Simplo Technology of Taiwan. Depending on the contractor, the batteries can use a variety of safety mechanisms, said Sony spokesman Rick Clancy. "Within battery packs, there are different specifications related to charging and voltage, and regulators that monitor temperature to indicate overheating and shut it down," Clancy said. "But we've pretty much agreed with our customers not to point fingers at each other, so I'm not going to get into that." PC designers also make decisions that can affect overheating, such as specifying batteries with a range of 6 to 9 cells, and placing them in various proximity to heat sources such as the processor and charger, he said. Another aspect of computer design that could aggravate faulty batteries is pulse charging, a method of recharging batteries very quickly when they're plugged into a wall outlet, said industry analyst Rob Enderle. Dell disputed that point, saying they are not aware of any connection between pulse charging and overheated batteries, although they do use the technology, according to Dell's chief technology officer, Kevin Kettler. Â
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Concerns over exploding computer  batteries may be heating up, but alternative power sources for  portable devices like laptops, music players and cellphones  could still be up to 10 years away.
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By Kyodo News International, Tokyo  Sep. 4--TOKYO -- Japan's battery makers plan to set uniform safety  standards for lithium-ion batteries used in laptop computers, following a  large-scale recall those made by Sony Corp., the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported  Monday.
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Strong sales of notebook computers and a massive battery recall are causing shortages of many key components.
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PC maker says it is looking into a fire incident on a Lenovo laptop PC equipped with a Sony battery.
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Hewlett-Packard is making a high-stakes bet that it won't get burned by a bad battery. Dell, Apple, Lenovo, Toshiba and Fujitsu are recalling 7.7 million laptop batteries made by Sony. The batteries can, in rare instances, overheat and catch fire. HP uses Sony battery parts, too, but it is not recalling them. The company believes it is safe because it reviewed and rejected Sony battery parts for nearly a year before buying any, spokesman Mike Hockey says.
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(InfoWorld) - Acer, the world's fourth-largest PC vendor, is in talks with Sony over joining its voluntary laptop PC battery recall, but said Acer users haven't reported any problems so far. "Previously, we believed there were no problems with our batteries, but now we're in discussions with Sony, just to make sure," said Stella Chou, an Acer representative in Taipei. Acer has not received any complaints from users over laptops overheating or catching fire, she said. Sony's battery woesÂ started in August whenÂ Dell recalled 4.1 millionÂ laptop computer batteries due to a potential fire hazard caused by Sony-made lithium-ion battery cells damaged during production. Other companies soon followed Dell's lead, includingÂ Apple Computer,Â Lenovo Group, andÂ Toshiba. Sony has already agreed to pay at least some of the cost of the battery recalls, telling investors in August that the Dell and Apple recalls could cost it between Â¥20 billion and Â¥30 billion ($169 million and $254 million). The Japanese electronics giant has not updated the figure since then. Late last week,Â Sony announcedÂ a global battery exchange program due to growing user concerns. Over 6.6 million laptop batteries have been recalled since mid-August.
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Notebook PC makers are stretching the  boundaries of light-weight and low-cost computing, rolling out  ever slimmer tablet PCs and mass market models costing as  little as $200 in their quest to find the next big thing.
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Colorful, lighweight Inspiron consumer notebooks use flash memory instead of hard drives.
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Dell says that millions of notebook power adapters could put users at risk. Also: Office flaw could allow attacks.
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Apple has had to recall up to 28,000 notebook batteries that were sold for use with their 15-inch PowerBook. Apple reports that faulty batteries sold between January 2004 and August 2004 can overheat and pose a fire hazard.
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Can you sip solar energy to juice your electronics? Yes, for smaller gadgets and batteries, but laptops are trickier.
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Thousands of rechargeable batteries for use in Apple&#39;s Powerbook G4 laptop are being recalled. The batteries can overheat, posing a fire hazard. However, no injuries have been reported.
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As more computer buyers turn to laptops, lesser-known companies that produce PCs will have a hard time keeping up with the big guys.Photos: White-box choices
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(InfoWorld) - Although a report indicates the world's largest PC vendor may be cutting back on some orders to PC manufacturers for the third and fourth quarters of this year, an executive at the company said the problem isn't in laptop PCs. A report published last week by Goldman Sachs Group said Hewlett-Packard cut orders to supply chain partners "mainly in desktop PCs and to a lesser degree on the notebook side," adding that the downward revision was "mainly from the U.S. with some from selected emerging markets, but so far no impact from Europe." The investment banking firm offered several reasons for the order pullback, including possible over-ordering, concerns of a potential end-demand slowdown attributed to the subprime problem in the U.S. and efforts to manage inventories ahead of the holidays. But a senior HP executive said it's business as usual in the company's laptop PC division. "There really has not been a slowdown in our order rate," said Ted Clark, senior vice president and general manager of HP's mobile computing global business unit. He said he could not comment on desktop PCs because that's not his area of expertise at the company. The PC industry has marked a stellar year this year with record shipments of laptop PCs in particular. But analysts and market researchers haveÂ grown more worried in recent weeksÂ that the weakening housing market in the U.S. and woes caused by risky home loans, called subprime loans, may cause consumers to slow their spending on new gadgets and computers. Most analysts say only time will tell whether theÂ housing issues have spilled over into consumer spending. The Goldman Sachs report is an attempt to gauge how consumer spending is affecting orders to PC manufacturers. Â
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Technology first discussed years ago might power your next laptop, replacing the fire-hazardous, but commonly used, lithium ion.
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matrix42 is responding to Dell's notebook lithium ion battery recall by offering companies a fast and easy way to identify the devices that may contain the potentially dangerous batteries.