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Macbook charger teardown: surprising complexity inside Apple's power adapter

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Re: Macbook charger teardown: surprising complexity inside Apple's power adapter

#41

Post by omribahumi »

mikepurvis wrote: post #12
Analemma_ wrote: post #2

My takeaway from this is that the $80 Apple charger is definitely safer and has higher-quality components than the $12 cheapo Chinese charger, but not nearly so much better that it solely explains the price difference, and that Apple is making a healthy margin on these things. So my question is, is anyone selling a quality charger without the Apple tax? Is there anyone making, say, $40 chargers that have the componen…

I doubt it, since the magnetic connector itself is patented, and they apparently don't license it— which is why the BatteryBox connector is such an awkward hack: https://www.getbatterybox.com/shop

That's funny. They have 4 different connectors inside the package: https://datazone-gbatteries.netdna-ssl.com/assets/buy/galler...

Re: Macbook charger teardown: surprising complexity inside Apple's power adapter

#44

Post by jacquesm »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #31
TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So far I've used about 7 cheapo MacBook chargers off eBay - I have two right now, and have, over the years, given the other 5 away. While a couple of them have died, so have my original three MacBook chargers. None of them has killed or damaged mine, or anyone else's MacBooks.

Yes, some people have good experiences, but it's still incredibly reckless. Chargers without proper safety features and which don't conform to electrical isolation standards could render your $1000+ machine worthless in a puff of smoke, or, worse, kill you.

The 'Original Apple' item shown at the bottom of the post doesn't look as if it fared much better though. The magic smoke definitely came out on that one and whoever owned it was lucky it ended there and didn't end with an actual fire.

Re: Macbook charger teardown: surprising complexity inside Apple's power adapter

#45

Post by strictnein »

throwaway420 wrote: post #30

Despite the visual appeal of their products, Apple normally does a very good job with prioritizing function over form except in this case with the charger wire being so fragile and thin. I know I'm not the most careful and delicate person in the world, but the failure rate here is ridiculous compared to other similar products I own. The end of the cable gets frayed every single time. Otherwise, Apple makes ridiculous…

Yep. Every single charger we've owned has had to be replaced after a year or two.

The only thing worse are the Apple USB cables. Complete junk.

Re: Macbook charger teardown: surprising complexity inside Apple's power adapter

#46

Post by jloughry »

An interesting feature of switched-mode power supplies like this is that they'll run on DC input, if that's all you have! DC passes right through the bridge rectifier into the chopper---not sure how happy the PFC circuit would be about that---and the rest of the circuitry works as usual. If the DC supply voltage is high enough, it'll work.

Re: Macbook charger teardown: surprising complexity inside Apple's power adapter

#47

Post by tfinniga »

mikepurvis wrote: post #12
Analemma_ wrote: post #2

My takeaway from this is that the $80 Apple charger is definitely safer and has higher-quality components than the $12 cheapo Chinese charger, but not nearly so much better that it solely explains the price difference, and that Apple is making a healthy margin on these things. So my question is, is anyone selling a quality charger without the Apple tax? Is there anyone making, say, $40 chargers that have the componen…

I doubt it, since the magnetic connector itself is patented, and they apparently don't license it— which is why the BatteryBox connector is such an awkward hack: https://www.getbatterybox.com/shop

I'm sure they've considered it, but my first thought would be to buy a magsafe to magsafe 2 converter for each batterybox and use that as the connector.

Seems like that would be better looking, but maybe it's still impractical.

Re: Macbook charger teardown: surprising complexity inside Apple's power adapter

#48

Post by abritinthebay »

weland wrote: post #18

This is a pretty interesting article! I raised more than my fair share of eyebrows by telling people I'm not really surprised with this kind of complexity (note: I'm an EE by formation, I took a frickin' two-semester course on power supplies) but that it doesn't fully justify the price difference. Also, Jobs was a blatant liar :-). The SMPS in any modern computer is based on a standard topology that Rod Holt -- thoug…

I think this isn't so much Jobs lying as it is him doing his normal embellishment.

Rod Holts design wasn't electrically unique, but it was extremely light and small. The Apple II wasn't the first computer to use a switching supply but it was shockingly light of a power supply which really helped the Apple II's reputation.

Which... as far as Jobs was likely concerned was all that mattered, but it wasn't the rip-off he claimed, it was just the start of the trend and Holt was at the right time to be one of the first on that wave.

Re: Macbook charger teardown: surprising complexity inside Apple's power adapter

#49

Post by DanBC »

[deleted] wrote: post #43

[deleted]

> I think with the smallest amount of care and consideration the apple chargers last a long time

I treated my Apple chargers carefully. They destroyed themselves after about 2 years.

Laptops get transported a lot. Their chargers should not be so delicate.

Re: Macbook charger teardown: surprising complexity inside Apple's power adapter

#50

Post by riffraff »

mpg33 wrote: post #36

I actually find Apple's charging cables to be pretty flimsy and not very durable.

having had 5 chargers' cables of 3 kinds break on me in less than 10 years, I agree wholeheartedly.

But I think TFA is about the charger internals, rather than the cables per se.

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