Bloomberg reports that Japan's NEC "notified the government of 261 incidents of faulty computers, one of which caught fire, while the others produced smoke or a burning smell, the ministry said on its Web site today." The problem, apparently, is connected with overtight wiring to the display -- it sounds like they were too close to something that got really hot.
The company will recall around 970,000 notebooks "and isn't aware of any of the notebooks catching fire," a spokesman said.
The models affected are "LaVie" series notebook PCs for consumers shipped between May 2003 and August 2004, and "VersaPro" model notebook PCs for corporate users shipped between May 2003 and March 2006.
You have to wonder how many notebooks made in 2003-04 are still in use, and whether they are actually worth repairing. If I owned one, I think I'd rather NEC offered me a discount on a new model....
