Engadget has a story and photos of a 17-inch MacBook Pro with significant battery swelling. These things do happen, but of more interest is the fact that they say they’ve received multiple reports of similar occurrences from other readers. The real alarming part is how many people added in the comments to the story that they’ve had the same problems.

The problem appears to not be limited to the 17-inch MacBook Pro, as numerous people with 15-inch MacBook Pros have given accounts of their computer’s battery swelling. It’s worth noting that it’s not just Core Duo MacBook Pros, but the newer Core 2 Duo models that have been having battery problems. We’re not sure what to make of this; companies like Sony have been–at least supposedly–doing everything possible to avoid the massive amounts of bad publicity that the cases of battery explosions and warping have caused. Stories of airlines banning brands or models of laptop are very damaging to a company, so one would think that everything possible is being done.

Whether we’ll see a recall or not is still unclear. For those of you who have swelling batteries, we suggest immediately taking them to your nearest Apple Store or calling Apple. Many have reported that they’re simply given a new battery in exchange for the old one, no questions asked. The fact that they’re so nonchalant about the matter could mean that it’s fairly widespread, or it could mean Apple isn’t particularly concerned. It doesn’t take too many explosions to cause a company to react, though, so perhaps the problem most people are having poses no risk of explosion, and Apple is happy to just do a swap and leave it at that.

As we said, though, contact Apple one way or another if you notice your battery swelling. It also is worth repeating that if you’ve had even intermittent problems with swelling, do not leave your computer unattended for long periods of time while active.

Filed under: MacBook Pro News, Troubleshooting