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Coincidentally, I am furiously trying to read HN before my MacBook's battery runs out, as my "elegant" white connector is frayed, making it useless. As this is

• beej71 16y ago
  My other notebooks all have a reinforced power connector at the stress point where it meets the machine; this really is a solved problem. However, like you said, it's far to ugly to be put on a Mac out of the factory. But considering it now, maybe I should liberally apply electrical tape to the area around the end of the MacBook's power cable to strengthen it. I don't care how ugly the computer is as long as it doesn't break.
• z2amiller 16y ago
  With some of the first magsafe-based macs, I was buying a new power adapter every three months or so. The cord would fray at the end of the way-too-small strain relief between the magsafe connector and the cord. I had one nearly catch on fire (melted a bunch of the plastic covering) when it wore enough that it shorted. I figured that this was the recurring part of the 'Apple tax'. To be fair though, in the last couple years the connectors have gotten much better - I think they extended the strain relief collar so that it does not get bent at as sharp of an angle. Also the new unibody macs have a 90-degree magsafe connector which eliminates a lot of the strain. (Unfortunately I think it is also a less safe design - it takes much more force to disengage the magnets at most angles where the cord would actually get pulled)
• royalpineapple 16y ago
  Perhaps you would be interested in http://www.macmagsaver.com/ http://www.macmagsaver.com/