New Dell Latitude 6430u laptop 'smells like cat urine'

Users complain on support forum, launching full investigation from Dell technicians who say 'there is no health hazard related to the smell'

Dell has assured users that the smell from the Latitude 6430u 'is not at all related to cat urine' (Flickr (dat'))

Owners of the new Dell Latitude 6430u have kicked up a stink on support forums after some complained that the laptops were giving off a “smell like cat urine”.

The first user to post under the topic “New 6430u smells awful” said that while the “machine is great” it smells as if it was “assembled near a tomcat’s litter box”. A number of users replied saying they had also been met with the smell, and had blamed it on their cats.

Technicians from Dell responded to the growing number of complaints by recommending people cleaned out their systems with wipes and compressed air.

When that didn’t work, the company launched an investigation to discover the source of the problem.

Senior Dell technician “SteveB” said today: “The issue was fully investigated and Dell has determined that the smell is not at all related to cat urine or any biological contaminate. Further testing revealed that there is no health hazard related to the smell.”

SteveB added that he was “just waiting on engineering” before he could confirm the root cause, and advised everyone to follow him on twitter (@stevebatdell) to be kept updated.

Before that response from Dell, another member of the support team Joey Chong wrote: “I would like to apologise to everyone for the experience on the smell.

“You will need to call into technical support toll free in your country, log a call on your 6430U smell, and the tehnical support will do the rest. A replacement of the palmrest should get rid of the smell. Be sure that your laptop is under warranty for the replacement.”

Though the issue has, according to SteveB, been fixed for all new units, that was not before the topic made it onto the reddit.com “Funny” section, with one user joking: “So Dell Latitude 6430u really means Dell Latitude 6430urine.”