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The problems most people experience with these are probably caused by Apple not placing adequate stress relief on the cable where it meets the block or magnetic
by beloch 13y ago
The problems most people experience with these are probably caused by Apple not placing adequate stress relief on the cable where it meets the block or magnetic connector. Apple does this with all their cables because Jobs didn't like the look of stress relieved cables. This is the price you pay for a pretty power adapter!
This is a design decision that Apple should probably revisit.
Edit: Some people have said that proper stress relief would increase Apple's costs. Below is a link to some off-the-shelf cable stress-relief parts. I guarantee that Apple would save money during manufacturing if they used parts like these instead of the custom stuff they use now. The only downside is that their cables would look like everybody else's properly stress relieved cables instead of something uniquely Apple.
http://www.cable-strain-relief.com/ http://www.cable-strain-relief.com/
- pokpokpok 13y agoshort-lived accessories like this and iphone charging cables are very profitable. stress relief might cut the number they sell in half.
- colechristensen 13y agoOr double their costs, I got a free replacement for a MacBook charging cable 3+ years after purchase a couple of years ago.
- thedrbrian 13y agoI still think it's a problem of user error. In this house we've got first gen iPod touch cables in daily use , a vintage iPad 2 cable which is fine and 4 lightning cabled devices that are fine. I think a lot of people just yank on the cable rather than the connector.
- weland 13y agoWhen you are designing consumer electronics, there is literally no such thing as user error. Except for people who are in love with their gadgets and take care of them as if they were their children, no one is going to pay attention to how they handle something as trivial as a cable. If users yank on the cable rather than the connector, the correct solution is to make the cable more durable, not to educate users on the intricate details of cable handling.
- hamburglar 13y agoI wouldn't call it user error to abuse your cables to the point of failure (they should totally be tougher), but I'm also realistic: many companies cheap out on the cables, and it's difficult to tell from looking at them whether they're cheap or not, so if you want them to last, you have to assume they're fragile and be careful with them. This attitude has gotten me far with my MBP power adapters, which have both been working flawlessly since 2010 despite a lot of other people apparently having theirs fall apart.
- brandonbloom 13y agoSeems like an opportunity for someone to invent a stress relief mechanism that meets their aesthetic requirements.
- neomantra 13y agoI mold sugru into a strain relief on my MagSafe adapters. http://sugru.com/ http://sugru.com/
- raverbashing 13y ago"everybody else's properly stress relieved cables" Which, to be fair, are not that great either I've seen several cables fail with them. Apple or not, it looks like they're too short or not gradual enough (you want less bending on the part closest to the device and more bending further from it)
- rdl 13y agoI love the "spring" strain relief on my ATH-M50 headphones.
- mark_l_watson 13y agoWe have started wrapping supporting tape at the stress points. Does anyone know if there any reason not to do this for safety reasons? (It does not look good, but we don't care).