14 DAY TRIAL // It would seem that, even with all the technological advancements of the past years, issues of overheating and occasionally flaming electronics persist, the latest of which seems to have involved a certain Sony laptop.
The more complex the electronic, the easier it is for design flaws of engineering oversights to slip in and compromise its performance and safety.
This goes for ever possible product that works on electricity, but laptops are especially prone to overheating and other issues if not put together properly.
Basically, mobile computers need to cram a lot of components inside a very compact frame, meaning that the cooling system needs to be particularly effective while occupying little space.
Regardless, if built properly, such systems shouldn't ever be plagued by overheating, even though some do end up getting a bit too warm for certain people's tastes.
Then there are those few laptops that fell under the eye of misfortune and somehow ended up flawed in one way or another.
Such systems most commonly suffer from overheating and get recalled for fire hazard.
Over the years, PC makers repeatedly recalled thousands of models once they discovered flaws, and it appears a new model with the potential of catching fire has been found.
Granted, the potentially flammable trait cannot really be applied any longer, considering that a fire incident did occur, so the danger is past being just a potential outcome.
As Charlie Demerjian from SemiAccurate has it, his Sony Vaio laptop caught fire while he was surfing the web one day, while lying in bed and surfing the day on a Sunday.
A serious incident where the sheets and other flammables in the room would have caught fire was, fortunately, averted.
Still, the plastic around the battery got warped and distended because of the instant surge of heat and the pieces above the metal plate no longer fit.
This was all the more serious considering that the owner had the laptop sitting on a hard and ventilated surface, not directly on the sheets.
More information on the event and the 'troubles' encountered when contacting Sony customer support can be found here.