Apple PowerBook goes boom; film at 11

Just when you thought we were done with the whole exploding laptop battery thing... they pull us back in!

This week it's an Apple PowerBook that decided to commit fiery suicide, as its battery pack obviously melted down and ignited the whole affair.

The event occurred in a London office building and was captured in exceptional detail by eyewitnesses, including at least one photo taken while the laptop was still smoking.

The case is downright shocking. The company's IT manager was called when reports of smoke coming out of the laptop emerged, but that was just the beginning of the fun: "When I got there, much of the smoke [had] dissipated and nothing much was happening. I picked up the notebook to investigate, and turned it over. Soon after I put it down again, it basically exploded. Flames were flying six feet in the air, and sparks."

The company evacuated the office as flames shot up to the ceiling. A fire marshal then dumped "around half" of a fire extinguisher onto the mess, but the fire kept restarting itself. The IT manager says it simply stood no chance against the possessed battery, which "was all molten inside and glowing red."

The machine was an older one and the IT manager says he now has no way of knowing whether the computer in question was one of those recalled a few years ago, but that he's now going through the company's stock of computers to make sure it doesn't have any equipment subject to the recall remaining. Probably a good time for you to do the same...

LINK: PowerBook explodes in London office (with copious pics)