Not surprisingly he was very selective when it came to topics he was willing to discuss at the well-orchestrated press conference.

Recycling and the company's growth were two favored topics, but ask about exploding batteries, AMD chips or LAN switches and conversation came to an abrupt end.

It hasn't been a good week for Michael Dell.

It began with a group of unhappy Chinese customers threatening a lawsuit because their laptops did not ship with Intel Due T2300 processors.

The problem first emerged in July, forcing Dell to offer a full rebate to customers who returned their laptops.