4 ms·

It's a problem with people who think they can wind a power cable tightly around something hundreds of times, pay no attention to strain on it or to abusing the

by Bud 13y ago

It's a problem with people who think they can wind a power cable tightly around something hundreds of times, pay no attention to strain on it or to abusing the weak point where it enters the charger, and then are mystified when it finally fails. Apple's chargers are in fact much, much tougher than the competition's; this is obvious if you just look at the construction for five seconds and even more obvious if you go read a tear-down of them.

wlesieutre 13y ago
To be fair, the windy-feet that Apple puts on their power bricks encourage users to do it. I figure that if I need a big coil for the line voltage side I might as well put the DC end in the same size loops, so I never use the built in cable winding. Haven't had any problems except for a close call with a rabbit. Then again, I don't carry it that frequently because the battery life is usually enough. Somebody who puts more wear on them would be more likely to have problems, but I'm not convinced they're so much worse than adapters from other companies.
kbutler 13y ago
Nope. Had a white magsafe power adapter, never wound the cable tightly, cable basically fell apart. This same macbook also had the plastic case falling apart. It was an acknowledged design flaw, and Apple fixed it with more strain relief on later models, and a changed angle for a real fix. The durability of the charger has little to do with the presence of a design flaw in the cable.
kalleboo 13y ago
> this is obvious if you just look at the construction for five seconds BS. When they introduced the current design they had no strain relief, because Steve Jobs thought they were ugly. Guess what? You need a damn strain relief. Year by year their strain reliefs have gotten longer and longer, but they still have a sharp cutoff (that looks pretty, I'll grant them that) that causes the cable to bunch up and break. And they've made mistakes with their materials choices as well. My parents had a Magsafe charger by the TV, used when sitting in the sofa. After a couple years, the plastic in the little clip you're supposed to use to wind up the cable reacted with the plastic in the cable, and if you moved it, it just tore the cable sheathing apart. > more obvious if you go read a tear-down of them The electronics are solid, I'll grant them that. But in the exterior they made tradeoffs for looks.
vacri 13y ago
I've had a moderately sizeable interaction with various forms of cabling throughout my private and business life, and no, Apple cables generally have terrible strain relief. The cables might be otherwise nice, but the strain relief is generally awful.

by Bud 13y ago

wlesieutre 13y ago

To be fair, the windy-feet that Apple puts on their power bricks encourage users to do it. I figure that if I need a big coil for the line voltage side I might as well put the DC end in the same size loops, so I never use the built in cable winding. Haven't had any problems except for a close call with a rabbit. Then again, I don't carry it that frequently because the battery life is usually enough. Somebody who puts more wear on them would be more likely to have problems, but I'm not convinced they're so much worse than adapters from other companies.

kbutler 13y ago

Nope. Had a white magsafe power adapter, never wound the cable tightly, cable basically fell apart. This same macbook also had the plastic case falling apart. It was an acknowledged design flaw, and Apple fixed it with more strain relief on later models, and a changed angle for a real fix. The durability of the charger has little to do with the presence of a design flaw in the cable.

kalleboo 13y ago

> this is obvious if you just look at the construction for five seconds BS. When they introduced the current design they had no strain relief, because Steve Jobs thought they were ugly. Guess what? You need a damn strain relief. Year by year their strain reliefs have gotten longer and longer, but they still have a sharp cutoff (that looks pretty, I'll grant them that) that causes the cable to bunch up and break. And they've made mistakes with their materials choices as well. My parents had a Magsafe charger by the TV, used when sitting in the sofa. After a couple years, the plastic in the little clip you're supposed to use to wind up the cable reacted with the plastic in the cable, and if you moved it, it just tore the cable sheathing apart. > more obvious if you go read a tear-down of them The electronics are solid, I'll grant them that. But in the exterior they made tradeoffs for looks.

vacri 13y ago

I've had a moderately sizeable interaction with various forms of cabling throughout my private and business life, and no, Apple cables generally have terrible strain relief. The cables might be otherwise nice, but the strain relief is generally awful.