Checking those serial numbers is a bit like a reverse lottery. Hooray, I lost!

This is why I didn't buy a Dell. :D

This reinforces the two things I've learned about electronics. Never buy cheap RAM and never buy a cheap or second market Lithium Ion battery. The former is likely to be DOA, the latter is likely to explode.

Laptop Inferno!
Howard Roark, architect, returns to his Dell laptop to wind up work on his nearly completed, and most ambitious project: the world's tallest housing project! He's blissfully unaware that the battery is overheating and his Dell is about to blow! When the fire begins Chief Dominique Francon devises a daring rescue, but her efforts quickly become a battle against time and the uncompromising architect! Brad Pitt as the architect and Angelina Jolie as the Chief create sparks! Riveting suspense from Cut 'n Paste Pictures!

Guys who are intersted in becoming fathers some day might want keep their laptops off their laps even if they're not the exploding Dell variety:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6677040/

In Dell's defense, the batteries were made for Dell by Sony. Dell doesn't acutually build computer components, they buy them from various subcontractors and assemble them (or pay someone else to assemble them and put their name on them).