Apple and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) on Thursday announced a recall of 1.1 million battery packs made for Apple’s PowerBook and iBook battery packs. Users who have batteries affected by this recall are entitled to a replacement battery, free of charge. Instructions are available on Apple’s Web site: https://support.apple.com/ibook_powerbook/batteryexchange/

Apple follows Dell in recalling the laptop computer batteries, which were manufactured using battery cells made by Sony Energy Devices of Japan. "These lithium-ion batteries can overheat, posing a fire hazard to consumers" said the CPSC in a statement. Dell has recalled more than 4 million Sony-made battery packs.

It is important that Macintosh Powerbook and iBook users follow the instructions provided at Apple's page on this issue (https://support.apple.com/ibook_powerbook/batteryexchange/index.html) and determine if there batteries are affected. Users are instructed to remove affected batteries from their computers and use them with AC adapters until replacements are sent.