That Apple MagSafe power cord design seems vastly superior to any other power cord implementation. I don’t use Apple computers but have destroyed many computer power jacks or cords over the years. I can’t wait until it becomes available for non-Apple devices. Wikipedia says it was introduced in January 2006 and patented in 2007. I really don’t understand how it was patented AFTER it was introduced.
In any case, when can I expect my MagSafe power supply on my ASUS computer? Granted, computers in the current form factor may not exist by then.
The patent was probably granted in 2007 but applied for prior to Apple introducing it in 2006. Patents take about 3 or 4 years from initial filing to being granted.
Actually, now that you mention it, I remember someone commenting that Japanese fryers had that well before the Apple patent. I seem to recall that the patent was specifically for a computer or some nonsense like that. It’s a brilliant solution for a dangerous item like a fryer.
Not knowing what a MagSafe power cord is, I Googled it. The first hit was for the Apple Store where I found: Apple 60W MagSafe Power Adapter (for MacBook and 13-inch MacBook Pro) $79
Out of 1975 reviews, 1575 were for one star out of five. I can’t wait to get mine!
That’s really interesting. I had no idea. I notice that this one is the L shaped one compared to the straight on type. I guess it’s not the panacea that I thought it was. My sister’s and nephew’s adapters seemed to last a really long time except for when the cat chewed through it. My Dell adapters kept having the connector blow out and it was very difficult to just find a replacement connector. It’s a little unclear if the problem is with the charger or the cable, but nevertheless, it doesn’t bode well for Apple.
Concept wise the Magsafe is great. When it is working properly they are brilliant. However the devil is in the details. Two failures have bitten me.
One - the usual problem of the cord fraying next to the plug - eventually becoming unusable - with arcing and loss of connectivity. This is because the wire they use is not flexible enough (too large a diameter in the braid) and the strain relief little more than a joke.
The second is that the individual pins in the the plug are sprung, and the springs can fail. This renders the pin unable to make satisfactory contact with the corresponding contact point in the socket. At which point the connector is useless.
There are no ways of obtaining a new connector, so you end up springing for a new power supply.
As a dyed in the wool Apple Fan Boi, this leaves me less than happy. (My first Mac was a Powerbook 170, as the T-Shirt says, I was an Apple fan when they were doomed.)
You have to take the reviews with a grain of salt. People are much more likely to leave a review when something breaks than when everything is going perfectly fine.
My electric kettle has a magnetic connector as well. This sort of thing. Bit too big for a laptop, sure, but Apple hardly invented the idea of sticking magnets into things.
I don’t see how they are even necessary as I have never had a problem with a normal connector. Are people really so clumsy around cords to require fancy trip-proof solutions?
The water kettle one is mostly nice because I can fumble the cord in the vague direction of the connector and it will attach itself through magnetic attraction.
ETA: It may be my cynicism, but I suspect Apple’s adoption of MagSafe has more to do with wanting to force people into buying their overpriced crap. That seems to be their usual MO.
You only need to walk into the power cord once to thank St Steve for the Magsafe. I would hate to go back to a conventional connector. I just wish there was slightly better design engineering in it, and that there was a cost effective repair when they go bad.
Yes. Or at least, continual stress on the connector has killed nearly every Dell adapter I’ve owned. They seem to change the connector type on each model. I’m perfectly capable of soldering. I wish they would standardize on a connector.
Before the Magsafe, I would see at least 4-5 MacBooks every year that had been damaged by people pulling them off of their desks by the power cord. It’s not only tripping over the cord that does it, it’s things like catching it with the arm of your desk chair as you swivel. Even machines that weren’t pulled off of desks had lots of internal connector damage, due to the continuous strain on the cords - this is still an huge problem for PC laptops.
Even with its faults (which I think are mostly overblown), Magsafe is a clear “win” for Mac owners.
It is not really a question of the user being clumsy. The issue is that laptops are portable and get used in all sorts of situations. There are probably thousands of macs that lived second and third lives because children and pets failed to pull the computer off the coffee table. Similar cases probably happen every day in airports and coffee shops.
Here’s the patent if you want to look for yourself. The patent describes 3-pin and larger magnetic connectors for DC power that work in 2 orientations. That’s different from the magnetic power cord on my hot pot - it’s 2 pins only, and it relies on mechanical design to make sure it only connects in one orientation.
I’ve had a large number of Mac laptops with these connectors (there are at least three different styles) and never had a power supply go bad because of fraying, arcing, or other strain relief problems. And I suspect a lot of this is the usual “it happens with everybody, but let’s report on it if it’s Apple” stuff. (“Thieves could put iPhones in a bag and beat you to death with them! Apple is ignoring the problem! News at 11!”) I’ve certainly had strain failures on non-Apple laptop connectors (although not in some years, so they’re getting better, too).
Still, I’m surprised that with the frequency that this is reported, Apple hasn’t done some simple improvements on the wire/connector interface.
On the other hand, it’s only 1200 bad reviews out of probably millions of Macbook Pros sold. One of the first bad reviews says that it doesn’t fit his particular Macintosh, which is comparable to bad Amazon reviews for products that never arrived due to UPS fucking up.
Picture the following: Pet dalmatian jumps up onto the couch to snuggle next to me, back paw gets caught in the cord loop. She instinctively pinwheels to free herself, whipping the laptop off of my lap and across the coffee table, sending various items flying including a couple of full drinking glasses. She panics at the sudden crashing and breaking glass, jumping off the couch with laptop still in tow on her hind leg, jumping up into the lounge chair on the other side of the room.
Ahh, yes, I hadn’t thought about children and pets. I guess I’ve never had to use a laptop around either.
I could see something like the MagSafe being useful in that situation, although still not worth 80 dollars for a replacement if they are as problematic as reviews suggest. Until it becomes available for a less ridiculous price, I’d rather just be more careful with where I’m running cords.
