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Re:Laptop explodes while charging at Letchworth business by wanderer2323 on Monday April 02, 2018 @02:02PM (#16737230)
The short happens inside the battery itself because of the dendrite growth (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwLUD41f15U)

By the time it happens, it is generally too late to shut off the charging circuit -- it helps and it happens but the battery destruction is already underway. The question next is whether it will catch fire or simply 'swell up'. At this point it's mostly up to luck, the available fire-prevention mechanisms are stronger battery enclosures, which would be heavy, bulky and expensive -- exactly the things most consumers do not want and would vote against with their money, reducing the profits of the company innovating in this direction.

Another way to prevent fires would be attempting to detect dendrite growth by the changes in observable battery state (capacity, amperage, etc). This is hard, expensive and will likely give a lot of false alarms requiring warranty replacement, once again hitting the would-be innovator in their pockets.

Re:Laptop explodes while charging at Letchworth business by andrei_says_ on Monday April 02, 2018 @02:30PM (#16737629)
Literally last week I had a conversation with Apple about a swollen laptop battery.

They said it’s not a fire hazard but I should replace it and not use the laptop.

And, refused to replace it because it was in a “vintage” laptop.

Carefully crafted language.

Re:Laptop explodes while charging at Letchworth business by llsf on Monday April 02, 2018 @04:10PM (#16738780)
That is why I run my "vintage" MacBook pro without a battery (first unibody, with swappable battery), always plugged in. It works for me as it stays stationary at home. If I need to unplug for any reason, I close the lid and macOS saves everything, then unplug, replug later, and nothing is lost.
Re:Laptop explodes while charging at Letchworth business by Kluny on Monday April 02, 2018 @06:23PM (#16739982)
Wow, I love that. Still, there must be some small coin-sized battery on the motherboard that's saving state, which will have to be replaced at some point?
Re:Laptop explodes while charging at Letchworth business by coryrc on Monday April 02, 2018 @07:27PM (#16740417)
No, it's hibernating; state is saved to the hard drive.
Re:Laptop explodes while charging at Letchworth business by stinos on Tuesday April 03, 2018 @07:44AM (#16743712)
Problematic if you have a magsafe connector in combination with kids or pets running around though. Or just if you trip over the cable yourself. In my unfortunate experience :P
Re:Laptop explodes while charging at Letchworth business by isostatic on Tuesday April 03, 2018 @08:54AM (#16744161)
OK, machine turns off, rather than smashing on the floor (dog knocks it off, kid chasing dog puts foot through the screen)

I still haven't grokked the decision to abandon magsafe.

Re:Laptop explodes while charging at Letchworth business by a_t48 on Monday April 02, 2018 @02:33PM (#16737674)
You should have sat down at one of their tables and plugged it in. :)
Re:Laptop explodes while charging at Letchworth business by Keverw on Monday April 02, 2018 @05:17PM (#16739407)
Second time my 2012 13" MBP battery swelled up. Glad on the older model you can at least replace parts yourself.

I think my problem might be that I treat my laptops more like desktops and keep them plugged in 24/7 and hardly ever run them off batteries. Last battery only had 2 cycles on it.

I want to get into vlogging at some point, so might at some point upgrade to a 15 inch with a GPU. I love Apple's software but disappointed the newer hardware isn't user serviceable anymore.

Re:Laptop explodes while charging at Letchworth business by eumoria on Monday April 02, 2018 @03:24PM (#16738260)
6 months ago is 'vintage' to them. How old was the laptop?
Re:Laptop explodes while charging at Letchworth business by shawkinaw on Monday April 02, 2018 @03:46PM (#16738535)
Actually "vintage" has a specific meaning and is at least 5 years after the product is no longer manufactured. See https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201624.
Re:Laptop explodes while charging at Letchworth business by andrei_says_ on Monday April 02, 2018 @04:59PM (#16739233)
It’s old. I think 2011.

Just replaced the battery with one from ifixit