Apple recalls 1.8m Sony laptop batteries

Apple Computer yesterday recalled 1.8 million batteries that could cause their Mac laptops to overheat and catch fire.

Apple said it has received nine reports of lithium-ion battery packs overheating, including two cases in which users suffered minor burns and some cases involving minor property damage.

The Apple recall only applies to older notebooks - not the just-released Macbooks and Macbook Pros.

The company's move comes ten days after Dell's record-setting notebook battery recall.

Both recalls involve lithium-ion batteries made by a Sony subsidiary in Japan, where the manufacturing process introduced metal particles into battery cells.