While Dell may have announced new AMD-based desktops yesterday, the fallout over the 4.1 million notebooks batteries that were recalled last month still lingers in the air. Chairman Michael Dell says that it has no part in the blame for the faulty batteries and says that all of the blame falls on Sony.

A spokesman for Dell was even more blunt in comments made to ZDNET UK. "We know exactly why there was a problem. Sony had contaminated its cells in the manufacturing process. The batteries were contaminated and were no good no matter what you did with them. We know the batteries, under rare circumstances, catch fire, (which is why we recalled them)," said the spokesman.

A representative for Sony countered by saying that the full blame should not rest on its shoulders. "It is the configuration. We use the same batteries in our Vaios, and have our own safeguards against potential overheating. Other manufacturers which use the same cells haven't come forward with any issues," stated a Sony representative.

Sony has agreed to help cover some of the costs associated with Dell recall and Apple's recall of an additional 1.8 million notebook batteries. In the weeks following the recall, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission started an investigation into all of Sony's notebook batteries despite Sony’s assertion that no more recalls are necessary.