Dell is recalling 4.1 million lithium-ion laptop batteries manufactured by Sony after recent reports of severe overheating causing fires. The affected batteries can be found in Dell's Inspiron, Latitude and Precision notebook families, and the problem is reportedly caused by chemical impurities which cause short circuits. Dell's site does not state how long of a delay customers can expect before receiving new batteries in return. Regarding other manufacturers, a spokesperson for Apple said that the company was currently investigating if batteries in their portable lines were affected as well while spokespeople from Lenovo and Hewlett-Packard said that their portable products would not be affected by the recall.

For more on the recall:
- read this New York Times article (reg. req.)