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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

#301

Post by thesmok »

Alupis wrote: post #215
Bud wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alupis: I should have clarified that I was speaking from my own personal experience with supporting hundreds of laptops. You're right. I admit that my evidence is anecdotal, but there is a lot of it. As others have already pointed out, no, MagSafe is not gone. Dell's chargers, as do many other PC chargers over the last 10 years, routinely break the charging port on the computer if they get yanked on too much, which i…

> from my own personal experience with supporting hundreds of laptops I'm curious to how much hardware support goes into this, since most Apple machines are designed to not be support friendly (eg. non-replaceable and/or difficult to replace normal wear-n-tear components). > routinely break the charging port on the computer if they get yanked on too much Yes, most laptops have this issue, although it's not nearly as…

That USB-C port looks very sturdy. See, the connector case is milled into the macbook body. And the connector itself is a separate module that can be replaced with just a right screwdriver.

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Retina+Macbook+2015+Teardown...

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

#302

Post by DanBC »

dereg wrote: post #211
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…

While it does suck that all of Apple's chargers fray so easily, however I don't see it as a reason to be cynical about their products. In this case, Apple seems to be prioritizing environmental friendliness over function here. The cables are so weak because they have specifically removed PVC from their charging cables. http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/environment/ > The greatest environmental challenge facing the com…

That cable has an external insulation, which is the weird rubbery stuff that frays. The internal wires are also insulated. What are they insulated with?

By mixing different types of insulation Apple have just made it harder for people to reclaim and recycle the PVC. Recycling the PVC is possible because people scavenge the copper wire.

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

#303

Post by donkeyd »

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've hear they fray easily because their cables are made of bio degradable plastic. However, I doubt it's impact is positive if it causes for chargers to be thrown out after only a couple of years.

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

#304

Post by jschwartzi »

metafunctor wrote: post #273
bigiain wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An alternative datapoint - I have a charger that's not yet frayed, but it is starting to get intermittent - sometimes I need to wriggle the wires where they go into the mag safe connector. That's the original charger for my 2006 black MacBook. It was in daily use by me for work until I got my mid 2010 MacBook Pro, and was then used as a "home machine" by someone else up until early this year. The charger from the 201…

Yep, I think this is it. I also have 5 years old MBP with the original charger, and it's still fine. I'm not a very careful person, and in general never wrap cables in loops, just cram them in the bag. Sometimes my cables get impressively tangled, but I think I'm still actually saving time by skipping the meticulous wrapping every time I take off (at least twice per day). So maybe if you stop taking "good care" of yo…

If they did usability testing, then the first thing they probably did was train the sample users. It's possible that fixed the test so that they never see the use case we're describing.

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

#305

Post by swingbridge »

The detail of engineering inside of Apple's products is impressive. A lot of attention paid to things that one almost never sees. Like others though the cable ends on computer and iPhoje chargers do always get frayed. I wish they could make that bit better.

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

#307

Post by bigiain »

jschwartzi wrote: post #304
metafunctor wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, I think this is it. I also have 5 years old MBP with the original charger, and it's still fine. I'm not a very careful person, and in general never wrap cables in loops, just cram them in the bag. Sometimes my cables get impressively tangled, but I think I'm still actually saving time by skipping the meticulous wrapping every time I take off (at least twice per day). So maybe if you stop taking "good care" of yo…

If they did usability testing, then the first thing they probably did was train the sample users. It's possible that fixed the test so that they never see the use case we're describing.

Probably not even "fixed the test", it might be something as innocuous as "Steve always walked around with the cables just looped up, not wrapped around the hooks", so that's what everybody else in the "sample users" group did too.

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

#308

Post by bartvk »

tburch wrote: post #117
pfooti wrote: post #93

Fraying on the charger (dc-carrying) cable is definitely an issue, but my biggest gripe about these chargers is the form factor of the AC-carrying part of the power cord. I can't speak to non-US chargers, but the three-prong cord that plugs into the wall has no coiling shape. If the plug itself had a self-clip (like at the end of the charging cable), at least I could keep my cord from unrolling in my bag and expandin…

I'll just leave this here... https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--HwBqLe3...

Looks like the DC part of the adapter is very tightly wound. It's not even visible coming out of the adapter itself. This looks like a good way to fray the cable.

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

#309

Post by bartvk »

agentultra wrote: post #14

I really hate how weak they made the strain relief. I found mine frayed within a year of use (in and out of bags and often hastily "wrapped up" in exactly the way the device suggests one should by form... but which everyone advises against). So I did what any enterprising hacker would and tore it open to strip and re-solder the connection... only I found super-thick solder points and don't have a strong enough gun to…

> only I found super-thick solder points and don't have a strong enough gun to de-solder them.

What often helps, is add a bit of solder to it. This makes the heat transfer much more efficient, and you'll be able to desolder it.

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

#310

Post by fabulist »

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…

You might try wrapping a layer of strong tape at the part that keeps fraying while it is still functional to reinforce it.
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