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Dell Fixes Ultrabook That Smelled of Cat Urine

Sockatume writes "The BBC is reporting that Dell's Latitude 6430u Ultrabooks have an interesting characteristic you won't find in any Macbook Air: the palm rest emits an odor like cat urine. An issue with a manufacturing process is thought to be to blame. Although Dell has assured potential customers that the issue has been fixed, reports in the Dell support forum indicate that units with the novel fragrance continue to ship out to users. Dell staff state that the palm rest will be replaced by Dell at no cost, but only if the unit is still under warranty."

17 of 133 comments (clear)

  1. Stands to reason by DougOtto · · Score: 4, Funny

    Runs like shit, smells like piss.

    --
    Solving Unix problems since 1989...
    1. Re:Stands to reason by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 4, Funny

      dell has a 'drug free workplace' policy and insists all employees be piss tested.

      now, FINALLY, I understand why.

      they were looking for materials suppliers, of a sort...

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    2. Re:Stands to reason by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      What do you think the "u" in 6430u stands for?

    3. Re:Stands to reason by skids · · Score: 3, Funny

      Actually meth labs also smell like cat urine. So it might be that all the tiny elves that live inside the device were "overclocked" so to speak.

  2. Dude! You're getting a Smell! by swschrad · · Score: 5, Funny

    obviously this is why they don't ship mice with laptops, they were all eaten.

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    if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
  3. Do not meddle in the affairs of cats... by uncle+slacky · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...for they are subtle and will piss on your computer.

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    Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it.
    1. Re:Do not meddle in the affairs of cats... by QRDeNameland · · Score: 3, Funny

      So that's the fix... uninstall Windows?

      Close...the problem was that the machine was running Windows XPee.

      --
      Momentarily, the need for the construction of new light will no longer exist.
  4. I'll level with you by Sockatume · · Score: 5, Informative

    Seeing this on the front page is not exactly my proudest submission.

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    No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    1. Re:I'll level with you by c · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's still better than a SlashBI or Slashdot TV submission.

      Granted, it's a low bar.

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      Log in or piss off.
  5. Re:Pissed off customers by rubycodez · · Score: 4, Funny

    and I thought only IBM sold a Pee-series

  6. Macs had a similar issue not long ago by RiscIt · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's ironic that the story would say you won't find this issue with a Mac Book air.

    It wasn't too many years ago that iBooks had an issue where they would smell like body odor after the case had begun to oxidize.

    We still have one. It still stinks.

    I guess they were thinking most nerds wouldn't notice?

    1. Re:Macs had a similar issue not long ago by Sockatume · · Score: 3, Funny

      Well obviously Apple patented human BO and Dell had to look elsewhere.

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      No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
  7. Surprise! by Pagey123 · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Urine" for a surprise!

  8. Re:Pissed off customers by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 3, Funny

    I was disappointed to not find any Frosty Cat Piss posts down at -1.

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  9. Re:A Feature! by omnichad · · Score: 4, Funny

    Are you kidding? They would delete the comments on the community discussion board and tell the users they're smelling it wrong.

  10. Re:A Feature! by Dahamma · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Actually, my experiences with Apple's (in store, at least) support has been extremely positive.

    #1: yes, this is somewhat true. Though it's more like "deny it's a widespread or manufacturing defect".

    #2: not really relevant to in-person support. If you ware just going to whine anonymously on a forum good luck anyway.

    #3: My girlfriend is on her 4th iPhone 4S now. First she dropped (finally overpriced AppleCare comes in handy), second the mic went bad, 3rd wouldn't charge. Clearly some manufacturing issues on the last two but at least they replaced them with new phones (not refurbs... I guess another advantage of AppleCare) with no questions asked. Further, she brought in a 5+ year old Macbook (one of those white plastic ones) that had a (literal) battery meltdown. They replaced the whole case, battery, and even the keyboard (damaged by our cat ripping off a key). Again, no questions asked, no charge. Finally, they actually replaced the glass on my iPad a while back after my cat knocked it off a table (yeah, what's with my cats and Apple products... though it is ironic the original article is about Dell and cat piss...) at no charge. Guess my sob story was good, because I was expecting they'd charge ~$200 (in which case I would probably have done it myself).

    Moral of the story is, yes, Apple will NEVER admit they do anything (in design or manufacturing) wrong, but they DO tend to stand behind their products...

  11. Re:A Feature! by DJRumpy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This hasn't been my experience with Apple either. I had a Macbook Pro (17" 2008) that was affected by an issue with a bad nVidia card causing a black screen on boot up. nVidia claimed the issue did not affect my Macbook. Apple investigated and found a significant number of those Macbook owners who were affected, and warrantied the repair anyway. My Macbook Pro was 3 years out of warranty in late 2012 when I had this happen to my Macbook (it was 4 years old at the time), and Apple replace the motherboard free of charge, no questions asked. I made an appointment, brought it in, and they offered the repair to me after troubleshooting it on the counter.

    I have also gone in with a missing key on a keyboard, and they replace it free of charge. I also had an iPhone fresh from the factory with markings on the case when I took it out of the box. I found this when it was shipped to my home. They replaced it with a new one, again no questions asked.

    I do know that Apple always tops the satisfaction survey and has for the last decade. There's a reason for that, and it's certainly not due to poor service.