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Industry research outfit Info-Tech Research Group has called
for a mandate on better testing following the well publicised explosion of a
Dell notebook computer during a conference in Osaka, Japan.
Despite Gartner reporting that failure rates are coming down, there're more
laptops out in the hands of users. If one of these tings explodes on a plane
the results could be potentially catastrophic.
Leading industry research and analyst group Gartner recently
delivered a report card on the annual failure rates of desktop and notebook
computers. Gartner found that although failure rates are falling, manufacturers
need to (and can) do better, particularly in the notebook arena.
The research found that overall failure rates fell by 25 per
cent in the past two years, but that laptops have failed to reach the quality
levels found in their desktop brethren.
Gartner found that notebook AFRs (Average Failure Rates) still
range from 15 to 20 per cent throughout the life of the system. Three years
ago, notebook AFRs averaged 20 per cent in the first year, climbing to 28 per cent
in the third year. In contrast, Gartner says today's desktop AFRs are down to 5
per cent in year 1 with an anticipated 12 percent in the fourth year.
Gartner defines a hardware failure as any repair incident
that requires a hardware component to be replaced, but it's the motherboards
and hard drives that cause most of the problems.
To work out the figures Gartner took reports from the PC
vendors and warranty service repairers themselves and cross-checked it against
feedback from its user clients - many of whom manage installed bases of 50,000
or more units.
"For notebooks, screen breakage used to be the
single-largest source of failure," said Leslie Fiering, research vice
president at Gartner.
"However, over time, notebook manufacturers have
improved design significantly to reduce screen breakage by adding structural
rigidity to the notebook casing and screen bezel, as well as by providing a
greater clearance between the screen and the keyboard when the system is
closed."
Currently, the top sources of notebook failures on systems
less than two years old are; motherboards and hard drives (tied for first place),
then chassis, keyboards and finally screens.
No mention of battery overheating problems?
But the incidence of battery issues seems to the greatest
number of product recalls. Dell, Hewlett Packard and Apple Computer have all had
high-profile battery recalls in the past year or so.
Dell, vendor of the exploding laptop in
Japan recalled about 22,000 of its notebook computer batteries in December,
2005. Hewlett-Packard (HP) announced a recall of some 15,700 HP and Compaq
notebook computer batteries in April this year and Apple recalled 128,000
batteries shipped in its PowerBook G4 and iBook G4 laptops in May 2005.
Info-Tech's Senior Analyst Carmi Levy points out that "The
propensity for these devices to explode has been known for some time, and
regulatory bodies and manufacturers need to turn up the heat on solving these
issues rather than using recalls as a band-aid solution."
"The potential for an in-flight incident of this nature
when travellers are using battery power for portable PCs certainly exists.
Everyone worries about covert explosives being taken on board planes, but what
about the average laptop that could be just as dangerous?"
"Computer vendors need to ensure more rigorous testing
of batteries before deploying them in their computers and should be working
closely with safety organizations to raise the bar on regulations for the
industry," said Levy.
Most, if not all, brand name vendors do not manufacture
these devices themselves. Although engineering and designs may be done by the
branded company, the actual devices are made by a handful of huge Taiwanese notebook
manufacturers and it is at there two points that more design and build quality
assurance needs to be applied.
UPDATE: Dell To Recall
Exploding Batteries
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