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

Post by engi_nerd » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 9:56 PM UTC

headwayoldest wrote: post #123

Bud wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I support around 300 Macs for work. In my extensive experience, the deal here is that people are FAR too rough and careless in winding up those charger cables over and over. Apple HAS implemented strain relief here and done their best to make the points of failure less vulnerable. Here's a tip: Instead of yanking the cable at a 90-degree angle and winding as tightly as possible, let the cable come out of the charger…

I've owned Macbooks consistently for about 6 years now, I always use that little loop technique when winding the cord. I've never had a charger fray or fail on me.

Post by PhasmaFelis » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 10:00 PM UTC

Bud wrote: post #122

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…

I support around 300 Macs for work. In my extensive experience, the deal here is that people are FAR too rough and careless in winding up those charger cables over and over. Apple HAS implemented strain relief here and done their best to make the points of failure less vulnerable. Here's a tip: Instead of yanking the cable at a 90-degree angle and winding as tightly as possible, let the cable come out of the charger…

Post by glassx » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 10:04 PM UTC

jegutman wrote: post #113

mrmondo wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm one of those annoying people that has never had MacBook charger perish or fray, until very recently I still had a 2011 MBP and its original charger was fine. But yes I've seen people with dangerously broken chargers before, I have noticed they're often people with cracked phone screens - I wonder if they're perhaps people that are either more physically active with their hardware or perhaps more careless with loo…

I have a cat. None of my other charging cables are vulnerable except my macbook pro one. I've already lost two! Even if they made it easier to replace just the cable that goes from the adapter to the macbook it would be a big win for me.

Post by dogma1138 » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 10:14 PM UTC

richdougherty wrote: post #136

Bud wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I support around 300 Macs for work. In my extensive experience, the deal here is that people are FAR too rough and careless in winding up those charger cables over and over. Apple HAS implemented strain relief here and done their best to make the points of failure less vulnerable. Here's a tip: Instead of yanking the cable at a 90-degree angle and winding as tightly as possible, let the cable come out of the charger…

I've had two chargers fail, now I treat them very gently and wind them like you suggest. I wish the charger design was more robust. Most chargers for other laptops are uglier but much more robust.

Post by specialist » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 10:17 PM UTC

Bud wrote: post #170

mc32 wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course people are "too rough" with their power adapters, but the mfg should take that into account when designing such a component.

Yep. And Apple did. That's why there is more robust strain relief than it used to have, and that's why there is MagSafe, which is vastly superior to the PC side when dealing with yanks and ordinary abuse.