The problems most people experience with these are probably caused by Apple not placing adequate stress relief on the cable where it meets the block or magnetic connector. Apple does this with all their cables because Jobs didn't like the look of stress relieved cables. This is the price you pay for a pretty power adapter!<p>This is a design decision that Apple should probably revisit.<p>Edit: Some people have said that proper stress relief would increase Apple's costs. Below is a link to some off-the-shelf cable stress-relief parts. I guarantee that Apple would <i>save</i> money during manufacturing if they used parts like these instead of the custom stuff they use now. The only downside is that their cables would look like everybody else's properly stress relieved cables instead of something uniquely Apple.<p><a href="http://www.cable-strain-relief.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.cable-strain-relief.com/</a>
Bear in mind the selection bias in effect.<p>People are generally more likely to review a product, especially one as mundane as a replacement power adapter, if they have had a negative experience with it.<p>One of, if not the most common, reasons for purchasing a replacement power adapter will be due to a failure of an original adapter, leading to negative experiences.
Another issue I have with the magsafe is that in any country with more than 110V outlets (~70% of the world), there's significant charge leakage into the macbook body if you don't connect with a 3-prong adapter.<p>I use a US macbook power adapter (Type-B) and a travel adapter. My Type-D (India) is only 2-prong, but my Type-G (Singapore) one is 3 prong. Anywhere I wind up using the Type-D, I get continuous minor shocks through my palms as I use my computer =/<p>This seems to be the case for every magsafe adapter and every macbook air (sample size = 3, different revs bought from different outlets 2012-2014).<p>Is this normal? I don't recall experiencing this on any other device I've used which is rated "110V - 240V" paired with a Type-B-to-D adapter
I would estimate I own about 10 magsafe chargers. Some are nearly 6 years old. None have frayed and all are in regular use, including moving them about with the laptops. I'm not particularly careful with my electronics, either.<p>Also - who goes to leave a positive review of a charger? There's clearly some selection bias happening with the reviews.
I've had problems with so many Apple products over the years that I've stopped buying them. The last thing I bought was a 2011 MBP (hefty top line i7). Total waste of money. It was an insurance replacement for the 2010 one that literally caught fire when a drink was spilled under the edge of it. No product should fail in that manor. Current MBP periodically white screens and hangs and you have to turn it off for an hour (nvidia GPU problem).<p>On my third magsafe adapter. The first one just stopped working. The second one burned out about five inches from the magsafe connector. The second one resulted in a fairly large argument at the genius (idiot) bar because it was out of the limited warranty. After explaining how dangerous this is (I'm a qualified EE) loudly in front of other customers they replaced it.<p>Oh and the amount of shit I've had to deal with when incompetent Apple store staff decide the only option is to nuke the machine for even the simplest software problem. Fortunately within my circle of contacts they've learned to come to me first rather than start again every time.<p>Back to the original point though: one exploding MBP, two dead magsafe adapters, a dead logic board in a 2006 iMac, several frayed 30 pin cables, mac mini external power supply blew up and a dead cinema display panel, file system corruption in 2 OSX releases, £200/pop repair bill for iPhones if you drop them, the joke that was the iPhone 4, iOS constant upselling, iWork being a total piece of stink, iCloud periodic data loss. Ugh.<p>No more. Paying a premium for this is illogical.<p>Buying refurb Lenovo kit and bottom end windows phones. With the leftover cash I'm throwing it at my mortgage instead. Better investment.<p>Edi: to add insult to injury, the alloy they use for MBP and Air machines contains nickel so any unfortunate people with a nickel sensitivity come up in blisters using these machines.<p>Design over engineering. That is all.
I've had five or six of these replaced by Apple, for free.<p>You have to see someone at the Genius Bar, for which it's best to get an appointment.. very easy especially if you have the Apple Store app.<p>A few times I've been rejected, and they've said: "we recommend you buy a replacement, the cost is $79, they're over on that shelf." But each of those times, I tried again with a different Genius (on a different day) and got the replacement.<p>Usually it's either the magsafe head itself which doesn't seem to want to connect well, or the cord right next to the magsafe, which frays or splits open.<p>Generally I baby my cords but a couple of them have been abused by other people.<p>Overall I'd say this is the single most problematic Apple hardware I've ever encountered, but then I'm still happy because generally Apple has handled the situation well, other than a few "bad apple," so to speak, Geniuses who were not willing to help.
Mine frayed and shorted after less than a year. Like any Apple product owner, this wasn't the first time an Apple cord fell to pieces, and at one point in the past (before October 2011), I even brought it back to the Apple Store and they replaced my cables no questions asked, great service.<p>This time, however, when I brought my adapter and cables into the store for them to look at (kind of an inconvenience, don't live near one), I was told by a Genius that no one has problems with their laptop adapters and phone cables, no one in the store has ever had a problem with them, no one ever brings them to the store frayed, and that I must abuse my hardware and there was nothing they could do to help. I actually had to resort to pulling up a link to the class action suit to prove him wrong, absolutely terrible experience. With manager assistance, they reluctantly agreed to replace it since they saw my computer was one week off AppleCare, but added notes to my account to ensure that they would never do it again...and stressed that power adapter frays aren't in the scope of AppleCare.<p>I was really surprised and disappointed by the whole experience - and can only assume that there's massive pressure from above to avoid replacing them as they're so expensive and that results in Genius staffers acting incredulous and telling stories when you show them your long, thin fire hazards (frustrated during the exchange, I made a comment about how the knockoff iPhone cords are so much more reliable and less fire-hazardy, and he then made a point to closely inspect my frayed-Apple cords to ensure that they weren't knockoffs like I was some kind of fraudster, oof).<p>Anyway, reinforced those things immediately (still frustrated on a daily - the brick gets boil-an-egg hot and sneezing will cause the adapter to pop out) and I'll be doing what I can to avoid visiting ye olde Apple Store in the future.
I nearly had to purchase my Adapter as well, but I fixed it with Sugru (The wires frayed where it connects to MPB) and it seems pretty solid now . $10 for $80 adapter not bad.<p>EDIT: <a href="http://drwsxce6xtjnu.cloudfront.net/stories/image1s/1296/large/35.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://drwsxce6xtjnu.cloudfront.net/stories/image1s/1296/lar...</a>
I assume most of the people who go to that review page are the ones with bad experiences? Otherwise, who would review a power adapter?<p>Listen in on the phone conversations a plumber has and you'd get the impressions that no one's pipes work.
Apple settled a class-action lawsuit over their power adapters, which makes it much easier to receive a free replacement these days, but they seem to refuse to fix the design of the cords.
I've had 3 adaptors break over the past few years due to fraying near the computer-side plug. For some reason, they seem to be much more susceptible to damage by twisting than all my other cables. Perhaps it has something to do with the plastic material and frequent coiling. Really a shame, since I love everything else about my Macbook.
It's amazing how much Apple sweat the details on the magsafe plug on the computer side but so little to part that goes into the wall.<p>It's near impossible to use the two prong plug in many situations (i.e. crowded power bars, outlets that are too far for the short thin wire to reach), so I have to carry the unwieldy 3 prong extension with me all the time, and it doesn't wrap so nicely around the brick in the same way the thin wire to the laptop does.<p>In all fairness, the Surface Pro's power brick can be just as stupid. Too short on both ends.
This has been a problem since 2007. I went through 3 chargers on my Macbook Pro back then.<p>Bizarre for a company that usually adhere's to high manufacturing standards.
I've made all of mine last by wrapping them correctly. Haven't destroyed one yet since.<p>This video seems to recommend the way I do it <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x5szE3XHb8" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x5szE3XHb8</a>
What the fuck are people doing with those power adapters?<p>I am using the 45W magsafe 2 on a MBA - traveling, unplugging and packing up on a daily basis. frequently changing the outlet adapters from US to various EU and Asia.<p>Have been doing this since 2012 on this MBA - works like a charm. magnet is strong and stays in place. no cable issues at all.<p>same reviews though. baffling.
I think most people don't give a rat's ass about how they treat their adapters<p>Maybe the Apple ones are slightly less forgiving about being mistreated, still, most of them will fail eventually<p>I've never had a charger failure like the ones described, either Apple or other PC charger (however, I had the power connector fail on a previous notebook)
Same happened to mine, fraying near the MagSafe head. I tried taping it up with electrical tape, but it would only work for a couple weeks at a time. I finally covered it with white Sugru, and it's been going strong for more than a year now. It's pretty silly you have to do this, but at least it's a cheap fix.
I've gone through two or three power adapters in the last three years. They fray pretty quickly, and I've learned that you should always handle them by the thicker cord, being very careful not to put any pressure on the thinner cord.<p>But that's not the biggest problem with these things. I foolishly bought a unibody rMBP, which means it'll become a desktop-only laptop in just a year or two, once its battery runs fully out. Plus I can't upgrade most of the components, I'll just have to buy a new computer.<p>But that's fine. I think I'll go the "nerdy" way and buy an older Thinkpad and just run Debian on it and just stay in emacs throughout my workday. Then I'll be able to upgrade parts when needed, swap out the battery when it dies, and be able to run linux on decently supported hardware.
I have replaced ~3 Mac power adapters for free at Apple stores by taking a computer which has valid warranty coverage in, giving them the serial number and a failed adapter, and saying "purchased at the same time" (when it was an 85W which failed, and an MBA13 which comes with the 45W was my only laptop under applecare, or more recently, t-shaped vs. l-shaped vs. magsafe2 isses with my rMBP15.<p>They never really complain; I honestly don't keep track of which adapters go with which laptops in general, but they're all obviously made by Apple, and failed due to manufacturer defect (yellowing and cracking of the plastic on the DC feed), so it's in Apple's interest replacing them for ~$25 cost, rather than annoying a $mm lifetime value customer.
+1 for this article of bad reviews. I would have difficulty counting the number of replacement power adapters I have bought for my, my wife's, my grand children's, etc. Mac laptops.<p>There is a reason Apple is such a profitable company: they exploit their little walled garden.<p>Of topic, but I really fell out of love with Apple when I discovered that my iTunes music library was unusable on my android phone. Converting all my music from my $25/year iTunes Match account to Amazon Music Cloud was a nuisance, but now I can play my music on all my devices.
Seems to be a rash of 1 star ratings in the past few months. Something doesn't seem right.<p>While you could say that this is because of some manufacturing redesign or batch problem, something about the reviews and the way they are written (almost to similar) makes me wonder how accurate this info is. Nothing also that there is no way to see if the reviewer has left reviews on anything else in the Apple store. After all anyone with an Apple ID can leave a review.
I've never had much luck with laptop power adapters over the years (had to replace every dell adapter I've ever had and a couple of aftermarket ones). Had to replace the magsafe for my late 2008 macbook once, but I bought the macbook and power adapter used, so I can't quite vouch for how well it was treated prior to me owning it. Bought a cheap aftermarket magsafe adapter and it's been running well for over a year now.
I have had the cords fail where the thin cord attaches to the adapter. The weird thing about the design to me isn't that the thin part of the cable can fail at the bends--I understand trying to cut out weight and arguably going a bit far--but that the big thick extension cable which you can swap out the built-in plug for seems to have been designed for a server, not a laptop. I never carry it with me for that reason.
I've had the same problem with the last 3-4 Apple power adaptors.<p>I usually walk into an Apple store and start complaining noisily, in close proximity to store staff who are demonstrating laptops to new customers. Then I leave with my new, free charger.
What's wrong with the suggestion to put magnetic connector onto the brick and have connectors on both sides of the cable?<p>Apple (and all the other manufacturers) did that with USB chargers, why not to do the same with laptop chargers?
I never, ever use the fold-out thingies for coiling the cord, becauseI haven't figured out a way to get the cord on there without severely stressing the connection to the brick.