4 ms·

I'm equally impressed by the Apple adapter. They make expensive stuff, but they legitimately don't cut corners. It's nice to see there's still one consumer elec

I'm equally impressed by the Apple adapter. They make expensive stuff, but they legitimately don't cut corners. It's nice to see there's still one consumer electronics company that still does that.

Vecrios 13y ago
What do you mean by "[Apple] don't cut corners"? Serious question.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- pndmnm 13y ago
  As one possible example, see Ken Shirriff's teardowns of a cheap USB power adapter: http://www.righto.com/2012/03/inside-cheap-phone-charger-and-why-you.html http://www.righto.com/2012/03/inside-cheap-phone-charger-and... And an Apple adapter: http://www.righto.com/2012/05/apple-iphone-charger-teardown-quality.html http://www.righto.com/2012/05/apple-iphone-charger-teardown-...
  - learc83 13y ago
    Most of that had nothing to do with Apple not cutting corners. The Apple device is UL listed, so they can't cut the same corners the Chinese manufacturer can. The same is true of any UL listed USB power adapter.
    - wyager 13y ago
      Very few UL power adapters are as good as the ones Apple makes. I ran a bunch of my USB charger "cubes" at medium load and looked at their output on my o-scope one time. Most of the UL listed adapters had way more noise than the Apple one, even at just 500mA. There was one other manufacturer's charger that was as good as the Apple charger, but I can't remember off the top of my head who it was... I think it might have been HP or Asus or something.
- cstejerean 13y ago
  I'm guessing this is not what you were referring to, but for some reason my mind immediately jumped to "Round Rects Are Everywhere!" http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Round_Rects_Are_Everywhere.txt http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Round_Rects_Are_E...
smackfu 13y ago
They don't cut corners on this kind of thing, but their version still probably costs $5 or less to manufacturer.
- selectodude 13y ago
  Oh, I realize that their margins are enormous. But I can't buy anything of similar quality for $5, so I guess for me, it costs what Apple charges.
  - yuhong 13y ago
    What is even more horrible is how people think they can buy a PC for cheaper than the price of its parts. I am thinking commoditization of the entire device is flawed while commoditization of parts is not.
kps 13y ago
Right. They skimp on strain relief for esthetic rather than financial reasons.
fat0wl 13y ago
I guess it's nice to see that they put some thought into it but it still seems, well... over-engineered. If you are trying to be the monolith that your customers buy EVERYTHING from then you should be a little more realistic... nobody wants to shell out an extra $25 for a fancier chip with a little shielding. It bugs me that Apple customers seem to get ripped off by their brand for simple things & then they thank them for it. I'm glad a 3rd party market for Apple stuff finally emerged. I remember the dark ages when you couldn't even tell your friend "check ebay I'm sure theres one of those..." Part of the reason I am still in the PC world vs Mac (I build my own powerhouse desktops for research data-mining & gaming, buy cheap laptops for practical use) is that the multitude of companies making parts means they find the proper price/quality balance much more often. I'm glad this author gives credit to the off-brand. I'm very impressed with the quality of cheap Chinese electronics, and if it breaks you have 8 or so more tries to get it right before you reach the same amount spent. & plus, let's face it the main problem with this stuff is that you lose it, not that it breaks so I have a tendency to sway way toward the cheaper end with non-essential cabling & components for that reason. Inside my research PCs is a different story... no expense spared on CPU/GPU/drives/mobo/etc. :D

I'm equally impressed by the Apple adapter. They make expensive stuff, but they legitimately don't cut corners. It's nice to see there's still one consumer electronics company that still does that.

Vecrios 13y ago

What do you mean by "[Apple] don't cut corners"? Serious question.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
pndmnm 13y ago
As one possible example, see Ken Shirriff's teardowns of a cheap USB power adapter: http://www.righto.com/2012/03/inside-cheap-phone-charger-and-why-you.html http://www.righto.com/2012/03/inside-cheap-phone-charger-and... And an Apple adapter: http://www.righto.com/2012/05/apple-iphone-charger-teardown-quality.html http://www.righto.com/2012/05/apple-iphone-charger-teardown-...
- learc83 13y ago
  Most of that had nothing to do with Apple not cutting corners. The Apple device is UL listed, so they can't cut the same corners the Chinese manufacturer can. The same is true of any UL listed USB power adapter.
  - wyager 13y ago
    Very few UL power adapters are as good as the ones Apple makes. I ran a bunch of my USB charger "cubes" at medium load and looked at their output on my o-scope one time. Most of the UL listed adapters had way more noise than the Apple one, even at just 500mA. There was one other manufacturer's charger that was as good as the Apple charger, but I can't remember off the top of my head who it was... I think it might have been HP or Asus or something.
cstejerean 13y ago
I'm guessing this is not what you were referring to, but for some reason my mind immediately jumped to "Round Rects Are Everywhere!" http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Round_Rects_Are_Everywhere.txt http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Round_Rects_Are_E...

smackfu 13y ago

They don't cut corners on this kind of thing, but their version still probably costs $5 or less to manufacturer.

selectodude 13y ago
Oh, I realize that their margins are enormous. But I can't buy anything of similar quality for $5, so I guess for me, it costs what Apple charges.
- yuhong 13y ago
  What is even more horrible is how people think they can buy a PC for cheaper than the price of its parts. I am thinking commoditization of the entire device is flawed while commoditization of parts is not.

kps 13y ago

Right. They skimp on strain relief for esthetic rather than financial reasons.

fat0wl 13y ago

I guess it's nice to see that they put some thought into it but it still seems, well... over-engineered. If you are trying to be the monolith that your customers buy EVERYTHING from then you should be a little more realistic... nobody wants to shell out an extra $25 for a fancier chip with a little shielding. It bugs me that Apple customers seem to get ripped off by their brand for simple things & then they thank them for it. I'm glad a 3rd party market for Apple stuff finally emerged. I remember the dark ages when you couldn't even tell your friend "check ebay I'm sure theres one of those..." Part of the reason I am still in the PC world vs Mac (I build my own powerhouse desktops for research data-mining & gaming, buy cheap laptops for practical use) is that the multitude of companies making parts means they find the proper price/quality balance much more often. I'm glad this author gives credit to the off-brand. I'm very impressed with the quality of cheap Chinese electronics, and if it breaks you have 8 or so more tries to get it right before you reach the same amount spent. & plus, let's face it the main problem with this stuff is that you lose it, not that it breaks so I have a tendency to sway way toward the cheaper end with non-essential cabling & components for that reason. Inside my research PCs is a different story... no expense spared on CPU/GPU/drives/mobo/etc. :D