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back to article Hey fanboi, is that an EXPLODING BATTERY in your MacBook Pro?

American electronics chain Best Buy has recalled a batch of 5,100 MacBook Pro* replacement batteries after they caught fire while charging up. One customer suffered a serious leg burn, and 12 others reported seeing their device burst into flames, we're told. Anyone who bought a black or white lithium-ion replacement battery, …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not normally one to defend Apple but....isn't this more about a batch of bad batteries rather than apple devices. All batteries are prone to this defect, no matter the device brand. A quick skim of the internet reveals that Lenovo, Dell, and HP have had issues in some parts of the world with a battery order.

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    1. jai
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      but El Reg knows full well that a headline that doesn't mention Apple or one of their products won't get many clickthroughs.

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      1. William Donelson
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        FAIL

        El Reg's constant whining and abuse of Apple customers, quite honestly sounds like envy to me.

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        1. sabroni Silver badge
          Reply Icon

          @William Donelson

          Sounds like healthy cynicism to me. You might want to read some non-apple articles. You'll find they're "envious" of everyone around here....

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        2. Daniel B.
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          @William Donelson

          Nah, all their articles are like this ... against all big IT companies. Ever read Itanium articles here? They call it the Itanic.

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        3. Greg J Preece
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          El Reg's constant whining and abuse of Apple customers, quite honestly sounds like envy to me.

          Because they *never* slag off Microsoft, noooooooo...

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        4. Anonymous Coward
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          Facepalm

          @William - "El Reg's constant whining and abuse of Apple customers, quite honestly sounds like envy to me."

          How the HELL has a single Apple customer ever been "ABUSED" by an El Reg article???

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    2. unbound
      Reply Icon

      True it's about batteries, but...

      It also shows that buying from Apple doesn't get you any better components than you would get from any other vendor.

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      1. Anonymous Coward
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        Anonymous Coward

        Re: True it's about batteries, but...

        "It also shows that buying from Apple doesn't get you any better components than you would get from any other vendor."

        This article is about people buying no-name Chinese batteries from Best Buy.

        "Buying from Apple" doesn't come into play at any point.

        If anything, it does show that Apple products have higher quality, since Best Buy's solution is to replace the defective products with Apple products.

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      2. A. H. O. Thabeth
        Reply Icon

        Re: True it's about batteries, but...

        "It also shows that buying from Apple doesn't get you any better components than you would get from any other vendor."

        These were batteries that the American electronics chain Best Buy had sourced from ATG and not Apple supplied batteries.

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      3. Anonymous Coward
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        Anonymous Coward

        Re: True it's about batteries, but...

        No it doesn't it shows you that these are 3rd party (non Apple) batteries that have a fault - read that again they were NOT supplied by Apple.

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      4. trevi1900
        Reply Icon

        Re: True it's about batteries, but...

        Wrong. Read the article. The batteries in question that were sold at Best Buy were third party batteries----not the batteries that Apple uses as replacements. If you ordered a battery from Apple or went into an Apple Store to have a Macbook Pro battery replaced you will not have this problem.

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    3. William Donelson
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      FAIL

      Typical. For some reason The Register hates Apple more than the other corporate asshats.

      Typical. For some reason The Register hates Apple more than the other corporate asshats.

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    5. LarsG
      Reply Icon
      Meh

      Disinformation/misinformation just for the sake of a headline?

      Come on.

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  2. Pete Foster

    Not MacBook Pros, not Apple batteries.

    I'm not one to defend Apple, but these are not Apple batteries and they are for MacBooks (not Pros).

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    1. William Gallafent
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      Re: Not MacBook Pros, not Apple batteries.

      Yup. “…these are not Apple batteries” — they are made by a company called BTI. Lesson: next time buy an official Apple part :)

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      1. John Colman
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        Black Helicopters

        Re: Not MacBook Pros, not Apple batteries.

        I believe that this is a conspiracy by the Obama administration who are causing he batteries to burst thus ruining a perfectly good Chinese company while boosting Apple's sales of branded products...

        Actually, in reality, this kind of thing happens all the time, just look at the Dreamliner

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      2. Anonymous Coward
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        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Not MacBook Pros, not Apple batteries.

        The trouble is that people pay what they think is a good price but don't actually know how to value the product. They see a new battery from the item manufacturer for (say) £80 and then another name one for £40. But they think about the short term cost - walking out of the shop £40 more down on the deal and not the possible consequences or that over a year of use that extra £40 is about 10p a day. Without knowing how likely the cheaper battery is to fail or the quality of the warranty on the expensive one how can they evaluate the risk.

        Not that I'm a fan of expensive batteries. A well-known supplier of Dell parts quoted me for a Raid card battery this week. My initial thoughts were "50 for a battery" and "how much delivery". An online supplier has the same - and Dell branded - for about £25 on their website. Tempting but with the former I can have more faith in getting the right part first time.

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      3. Anonymous Coward
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        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Not MacBook Pros, not Apple batteries.

        "Lesson: next time buy an official Apple part :)"

        Because it could never happen in Apple manufactured parts?

        DURRR!

        Remember: Apple Don't Make ANYTHING!

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      4. Tim Bates
        Reply Icon
        FAIL

        Re: Not MacBook Pros, not Apple batteries.

        "Lesson: next time buy an official Apple part :)"

        Cause Apple never had any Sony built batteries exploding in Macbooks, right?

        Oh, and all those destroyed iProducts where the battery expanded and forced the case open... Those had to be non-genuine batteries too, right?

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  3. JDX Gold badge

    You can replace the battery?

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    1. Suricou Raven
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      Not any more. The older models let you, newer ones took that ability away.

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      1. Dieter Haussmann
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        You can, it just takes 7 minutes and a screwdriver, but very early ones were glued in too strongly, not so now.

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      2. Anonymous Coward
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        Anonymous Coward

        Apple will replace the battery on newer Macbooks for you and a whole load of 3rd party companies could if you did not want to go the official route. Personally (for the reason) I'd rather stick with genuine batteries / parts even if the cost is slightly higher.

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  4. Stevie

    Bah!

    Coffee all over my keyboard after reading the subheading on this one.

    Well played, sir. Well played.

    0 1
  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Eadon Angle

    I blame Microsoft - typical of them -

    EXPLODING BATTERY CONSPIRACY FAIL !

    1 2
  6. h3

    Cheap China junk sucks. If you do want to buy it then best to buy it direct for what it is worth.

    (The likelihood of getting something good cheap is so low it is not worth bothering at all).

    It is very problematic when getting stuff for older devices because due to the amount of counterfeiting you will probably get the same fake regardless of cost. (As it is not even stocked by the legit places).

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      "Cheap China junk sucks" The iFolly isn't that bad!

      (Well obviously it is!)

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  7. Lord Elpuss Silver badge
    FAIL

    wtf

    Ooooohhhhh so these aren't Apple batteries, they're cheap China knockoffs.

    (Sub-ed; "Reg enjoys playing with fire in more ways than one because if Apple reads your headline you're f*cked every which way from Sunday for implying that their products are fallible when they're in fact manufactured by sacred eunuchs on the shore of Mount Cupertino, and forged from the tears of virgins")

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  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Affected customers will receive a replacement official Apple-branded battery or a $50 Best Buy gift card."

    Who would take the Best Buy gift card? Even if you didn't need the battery, you could sell the batter on eBay for more than $50 and then you have that money to spend anywhere rather than just Best Buy. Obviously Best Buy wants people to take the $50 gift card as it costs them less and they know you will be back.

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  9. Tank boy
    Childcatcher

    The fanbois were quick to pounce on this. Well, if you need to put the fire out, just remember that it's components were blessed by the tears of underaged children at the plant.

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  10. messele
    FAIL

    Yawn...

    This deliberate skewing of facts in headlines to draw page-click ad revenue is getting really tiresome now. I don't care who the bias is against, I like to visit websites that actually report truths.

    Are there ANY tech news sites left now that know the difference between news and editorial guff? Certainly can't include this shit-fest in that very short list.

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  11. Captain Scarlet
    Mushroom

    So annoyed

    I was so hoping to rib Apple users with this, but the headline lied.

    Its a damn 3rd party battery. Inserts SouthPark Style "RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE"

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