The iconic IT news website The Inquirer got the story, and the pictures here and here from one of its readers who was attending the conference. They are really worth a look because the laptop didn't just melt.

If that thing was actually sitting in the guy's lap his wife would have been VERY unhappy!

It's no joke though, the guy who reported the dangerous explosion said: "The damn thing was on fire and produced several explosions for more than five minutes".

Should you witness such an event, his advice is, "Don't try anything courageous/stupid, stay away, away, away!"

It's not yet clear whether the unit was a faulty one-off or whether Dell will be forced to recall other units of the same model. There have been many cases where PC manufacturers have been forced to recall devices found to be prone to such events, but few so publicly caught on camera.

UPDATE:  Dell has since confirmed that the explosion was caused due to a fault in a battery cell. Also see our news item in which Info-tech Research asks what happens if one of these explodes on a plane.

UPDATE: Dell To Recall Exploding Batteries

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