Dude, You're Gettin' a New Battery

At long last a resolution has been reached in the Strange Case of the Exploding Dell Laptops: The company is recalling 4.1 million batteries from notebooks sold between April 2004 and last month. It's believed to be the largest battery recall in history.

Cnet has the full list of models that are having their batteries recalled (along with a detailed explanation of why the batteries have been going up in flames), or you can go to the special Dell battery recall web site (which should be alive be the time you read this), which will indicate if your machine requires a new power cell. You can also call Dell at 1-866-342-0011 if you're web disinclined.

Dell's final tally of "dangerous situation" laptops is a mere six out of 22 million laptops sold during that two-year timespan, so your odds of having a bum machine are probably very slim. Nonetheless, though returning a battery is a real pain, it's also got a hidden benefit: After a year or two, batteries start to lose their capacity; some could have lost half their maximum charge. Get a brand new battery in exchange for your dying old one? That's a good deal, even if it does mean you have to stay connected to to A/C power while you're waiting for that shipment in the mail.