LAPTOP DESTROYER Sony is having to recall some 73,000 Vaio TZ-series laptops for fear of them catching fire.

The laptops, which sold across the American continent, may overheat due to a wiring problem, Sony said.

The outfit said it has initiated a voluntary program to perform a free inspection and, if necessary, a repair to ensure the units are safe and sound.

The afflicted models are Vaios VGN-TZ100, TZ-200, TZ-300 and TZ-2000 although not every machine in these product categories is affected.

In the US, the dodgy machines were sold in the year between July 2007 and August 2008, according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Should you have such a beast you should quickly visit this page
to find out whether you should turn it off immediately.

Sony said it has so far received 15 reports of machines overheating including one consumer who suffered a minor burn.

INQ readers will be well aware that the exploding Dell so graphically illustrated on our pages back in 2006 prompted a recall of some 4.1 million batteries made by Sony.

That fiasco was reckoned to cost Sony over $430 million. µ

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