<p>Mech: so the battery problem...here's what's up: the batteries themselves are not totally dangerous. People have been using lithium batteries in computers for a loong time without problems. Dell and Apple and Toshiba and all of them don't make their own batteries, just like they don't really make their computers. Some larger company makes the battery, fits specifications of the company, and sends them the black box. Then, whoever slaps their name on it, shoves it in the computer, and sends it on its way.
However, something went astray in a major battery manufacturing plant that serviced many Sony and Dell (they use the same black box plant, Sony is actually somewhat they're own supplier...complicated), and a minor version of the problem erupted in a few other plants (Apple, etc). [Background on batteries: inside each battery are a certain number of cells. Each cell can be thought of as a jelly roll: theres two layers, the spongecake and the strawberry jelly, and inbetween is a layrer of frosting that seperates the two layers. Same thing in a cell, theres two slightly thick layers (10-15 particles wide) with a sheet-like layer (particles thick) in between that allows a certain mixture of the two other layers. That interaction produces a current/voltage, and you have a working battery]. During manufacturing, small (like, a few nano-particles wide) flecks of metal and other materials were being introduced into the sheet-layer, causing holes in it. With these holes, they other two layers were reacting much more than they should, producing extra current. However, when only one or two cells were doing this, it caused rapid heat gain in the battery. The cells all must just about be even, or the battery gets extremely hot. Since batteries have a very poor system in regulating temperature, the extra temperature would just be compounded by even more extra current from the bad cells, and the temperature would grow and grow. Well, when you add too much heat to a battery, it explodes. So...that's what was happening.</p>
<p>Now, on to why you can fear a lot less for your life:<br>
1. All the plants were overhauled and the problem was pretty much fixed. They sort of knew as the computers were rolling off the line that this was happening, but they didn't know the magnitude. It's guaranteed that some batteries will have problems and will die early or what not just because, or because of manufacturing problems. But that number is small.<br>
2. Major companies (mostly Texas Instuments) have been developing new chips inside batteries to regulate temperatures. Basically if one cell is outperforming the other cells, they try to even out the output voltage between the two by shifting the current from the overachiever to another cell that isn't performing as well. Also, if a rapid heat gain is detected, it "shuts down" the cell, but in fact it just runs the cell on minimum current. </p>
<p>Hopefully this made somewhat sense. I worked at a company last year that got bought up by TI, and this was what they did, so it was kind of exciting. Just don't let your battery get too hot, and find out the approx life of your battery. If it begins to significantly lose life, and gets hot, that's bad news bears.</p>