We thought we were done with this story, because it's so 2006. Down Under, an Australian MacBook owner by the name of mattyb posted on the MacTalk (AU) forums the story of his close brush with Dell death. The short version of this story is that his MacBook battery seemed to have problems and finally went up in smoke (and flames) one early morning one day ago.

Unabridged version of his story is at the Read link, but the gist is that he's been having odd battery problems the past couple of weeks. The real weird part of the story is that he bought his MacBook end of June of last year - so this thing occurred within the 12-month warranty.

Based on the evidence (not to mention the damage pattern), the battery is suspect - but that will depend on whatever Apple Australia finds if and when mattyb sends his damaged unit in for repair autopsy.

Guess we're going to have to repeat the PSA we've aired last year. Don't overcharge the battery, if that MacBook gets abnormally hot, start worrying, if at any point those batteries are swelling up to the point of bursting out of their MacBooks, really start worrying, and don't wait for the smoke to start pouring. You know how hot the MacBook can sometimes get, right?

Oh, and mattyb also suggests on checking your smoke alarm detectors. You don't want them malfunctioning when a fire starts while you're sleeping.

The MacBook has been in the center of a lot of faulty issues- discoloration, temperature problems, keyboard issues among many other things. Now to add to that growing list of issues is a battery glitch. Reports have emerged of a serious battery fault in some of Apple's new MacBook Pro units. Uh-oh.

These Apple babies use Lithium polymer batteries and faults in some of these are believed to cause a host of issues including the failure of batteries to charge completely, computer shut downs and disrupted trackpad functionality. In the worst case scenario they have caused the laptop case to buckle.

Apparently, australia/4528" id="tag" title="">Apple Australia has not reported any occurrence of such battery defect. Most of the claims are coming from the North American users. The good news is most of these consumers' units have been properly fixed and is some cases, replaced. As for Apple's take on this emerging issue, the company advises on its website that for prolonged use, users place notebook on a flat stable surface. Also, they recommends that customers with hardware issues should contact an Apple Authorized Service Provider or the company directly.