X

Laptops on fire!

Demonstration video of a laptop battery explosion.

Dan Ackerman Editorial Director / Computers and Gaming
Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications. "Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times
Expertise I've been testing and reviewing computer and gaming hardware for over 20 years, covering every console launch since the Dreamcast and every MacBook...ever. Credentials
  • Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings
See full bio
Dan Ackerman
PCPitStop

If you're curious about what an exploding laptop looks like, have we got a YouTube video for you. Since actually being on hand with a video camera at the exact moment a laptop battery decides to flame out is a one-in-a-million shot, the guys over at PCPitStop decided to deliberately overload a Li-ON battery pack to see what would happen.

The first cell blows out in a puff of smoke, blowing a hole in the wrist rest of this generic laptop. It takes a bit longer for the actual flames to break out, but once they do, it's like a fireworks display.

Naturally, this is a controlled demonstration and shouldn't be attempted by any amateur videographers out there. Our favorite part--after the smoke starts pouring out, the video's narrator calmly advises, "If this were a real-life situation, the best strategy would be to move away from the laptop quickly."

[Via Gizmodoand Gadgetizer]