Full text, in case Apple catch wind of the comment:
> I used to work for Apple and interfaced with every division in the company, and I know EXACTLY why this happened. It has nothing to do with trying to get customers to buy more replacement adapters, but rather with the hierarchy of power at Apple.
>
> But before I go into this, let me explain the engineering of a power cable. If you look at a power adapter cable for any non-Apple product, you'll notice some plastic "rings" where the plug transitions to the cable. These rings are called a strain relief. The purpose of a strain relief is to prevent the cable from bending at a severe angle if you bend the cable at the base. The strain relief allows the cable to have a nice, gentle curvature if you tweak the cable instead of bending at a severe 90 degree angle. This gentle curvature prevents the cable from being broken through repeated use.
>
> Now let's look at the hierarchy of power at Apple. As with any company, Apple consists of many divisions (Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, etc.) THE most powerful division at Apple is Industrial Design. For those of you unfamiliar with the term industrial design, this is the division that makes the decisions about the overall look and feel of Apple's products. And when I say "the most powerful", I mean that their decisions trump the decisions of any other division at Apple, including Engineering and Customer Service.
>
> Now it just so happens that the Industrial Design department HATES how a strain relief looks on a power adapter. They would much prefer to have a nice clean transition between the cable and the plug. Aesthetically, this does look nicer, but from an engineering point of view, it's pretty much committing reliability suicide. Because there is no strain relief, the cables fail at a very high rate because they get bent at very harsh angles. I'm sure that the Engineering division gave every reason in the world why a strain relief should be on an adapter cable, and Customer Service said how bad the customer experience would be if tons of adapters failed, but if industrial design doesn't like a strain relief, guess what, it gets removed.
I understand the æsthetic decision, but there is no reason why Apple couldn't have made the wire that runs from the brick to your laptop detachable. That way I could actually replace it for a reasonable amount.
The proper technique is ridiculously subtle.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1630
That support article is a spiritual ancestor of the Antennagate defense press event.
It's not that subtle. Just don't try to wrap it really tight, which would put a constant strain on the wire where it enters the brick that would last until you completely unwind the cord again.
Frankly, everything in that document just looks like common sense.
This. Over the past five years I have had to replace four Apple power adapters. Two caught on fire, one just stopped working, and one only worked when I duct taped it to death. They replaced all but one under warranty. But when I asked the Apple Genius in SoHo if this "whole catching on fire thing" happened often, he didn't say no. He just told me he wasn't allowed to answer that.
I've replaced 3 in the past 2 years. All have melted right around the part that goes into the laptop. It has gotten to the point where I won't even leave it plugged in unless I am in the room.
Unfortunately, I am compelled to share the same experience here. And being the "computer guy" for friends and family, I have seen the same kind of bad power adapters over and over. I thought that I was crazy or very unlucky because everyone tells me how great Apple products are.
And the replacements are quite expensive compared to the competition (I see mostly Dell and Lenovo, to be honest, no idea for the other ones).
Hm, well, just to provide one counter example, haven't had a bad adapter in 8 years and half a dozen apple laptops. Not saying it doesn't happen of course :)
Yeah, over ten years and five laptops between myself and my partner, and maybe seven or eight power adapters (we've had spare adapters for some of our laptops), we haven't had any problems with fires, sparks, etc. As the parent said, though, "Not saying it doesn't happen"- just not to us, apparently.
I will say, however, that the MagSafe design, even lacking strain reducers as discussed by the OP, has proven its value on more than one occasion. Besides the obvious advantages (i.e., tripping over the cord no longer sends one's laptop flying, nor does it cause catastrophic damage to the power port), I'm personally fond of the fact that you can step on the adapter all day long without damaging it. We had to replace an adapter once back in the day after accidentally stepping on the little round connector part, and bending it irreparably out of shape.
They've changed the design from a plug that attaches perpendicularly into the laptop (and has a serious strain point that is not adequately engineered around) to one that plugs in "parallel".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MagSafe
This likely prevents strain by removing the probability that the cable is pulled at the strain point. It also looks cooler.
Only downside is that it doesn't untether easily; it's that the selling point of MagSafe?
I got my macbook pro last november with the new connector. The MagSafe connector is already broken. I attach/detach it maybe 3 times a day.
Seeing everyone I know that has a macbook have his/her adapter fail, not getting a replacement and then having to buy a new one for 80 EUR I took extra care. Still the cable broke inside the connector!
I've never had this problem with any other device or notebook. Seriously, power adapters should be simple and just work - except they don't for macbooks.
Detachable magsafe cables would also make it easier for third parties to sell power adapters, which is almost certainly why Apple power bricks are alone among major manufacturers in not splitting things this way.
They already have that. It can cause problems when the DRM circuitry screws up inside the laptop and causes the brick or the laptop to refuse to charge. It just makes things more unreliable.
Apple hasn't charged me for either of the replacements I've gotten. If they're willing to absorb that cost, who am I to complain about how high the cost is?
Two other places where aesthetic form trumps function in Apple keyboards and Macbooks: (1) arrow keys are much narrower (especially on the 11-inch Macbook Air) than on most notebooks (probably because unlike most notebook makers, Apple decided against breaking the "clean line" along the edge of the keyboard closest to the typist). (2) the axis on which the two halves of the "clamshell" (the bottom half and the screen half) turn is in a different place than on most notebooks. In particular, on a Macbook, the axis is between the top and bottom surfaces of the bottom half of the clamshell whereas on most notebooks it is about .3 inches (whatever is just enough to allow the two halves to fold all the way together) above the top surface of the bottom half (and more or less in line with the plane of the screen whereas on Macbooks it is about .3 inches from this plane). The probable reason for this choice is that it gives Macbooks a distinctive look even though the way the other makers do it seems more practical to me (because the notebook is more secure when it is not resting on a flat horizontal surface and because the probability of disaster is lower if the notebook is open on the floor and someone catches the screen half with their foot). Since I do not have the patience to create diagrams, I will stop here even though I realize many readers probably did not get what I mean from just this textual description.
Another way of visualizing (2) is to look at a hardback book or binder and imagine the top and bottom edges of the spine as two different possible hinges.
As I recall, back in the PowerBook days, Apple touted how their new hinge design reduced the overall height of the notebook when open. As compared with the previous PowerBooks (which had much thicker bases), the titanium PowerBooks had a much lower profile, without really sacrificing anything except the ability to bend the display all the way back.
--and to have the front of the notebook off the ground (e.g., resting on/against my knee) while the back is on the ground. Well, you can do that with a Macbook, but (1) you stress the hinge and (2) you will probably move the screen a little.
I have had many desktop keyboards (Dell, IBM, standard issue Apple), and my MacBook keyboard is by far the best keyboard I have used (warning: subjective judgement here). I actually prefer the narrow arrow keys. This is because, when typing fast, I only need the letter/punctuation keys, the return key, the space bar, and the shift keys. When using arrow keys, on the other hand, I am generally not typing but doing something else -- holding down command or shift and pressing an arrow key to scroll up a page or something else of this sort. In those cases, the smaller arrow keys actually make it easier for me to switch fingers (smaller distance to cover between the up and down keys).
1) Current MacBook's Pro edge is so sharp, it uncomfortable for many people.
2) For awhile, there was no anti-glare screen on new MacBooks Pro (only glossy).
3) Apple doesn't make ergonomic keyboard, probably because of aesthetic reasons, third-party ergonomic keyboards for Macs suck.
4) iPod/iPhone connector after prolonged use may damage port on device because contact blade is so thin.
5) Old MacBook Pro had mic in the left grill instead of having it next to the camera.
6) MacBook's speakers are facing backwards, reducing quality of the sound.
7) Keyboard lights on the current MacBooks Pro is visible between keys if you are looking at the keyboard at 45 degree angel - pretty common thing to do.
I was using it for many years (since it's release, was using Elite before). It's really well-balanced keyboard, response is good, but not ideal, I developed a taste for switches, so now I'm on Kinesis.
Simple: it carries data. If the power cord on your laptop is yanked off for a minute it's usually not a big deal. If you disconnect the iOS device cable you could interrupt a data transfer. There is a higher risk to disconnection.
It is USB, and the host could lose power at any time (it doesn't have to be a laptop). Communication interruption is a likely case they should plan for.
A more probable explanation is that even with a magnet the devices are light enough that a yank on the cable would send the device flying before the magnet connection came loose.
Those two cables do use the same design. I believe that the magsafe cables are a bit more durable and I think that's mostly because those cables have (necessarily) more isolating rubber.
USB carries both power and data, while MagSafe carries only power. This doesn't sound like a problem until you realize that the USB pins have to be unplugged in a strict order: data before power. This is enforced in the connector with varying pin lengths. With MagSafe, there is no guarantee of connection order.
Design isn't just about aesthetics, its about balancing aesthetics AND functionality. Apple's designers certainly knows this.
This was a poor design choice on their part, not just the design department taking precedent over engineering and customer service. The designers are personally responsible, not just the structure
There is no reason they couldn't take a flimsy piece of a plastic tube and cover the ugly-but-functional rings on the old style adapters. That way the rings retain functionality, and they are covered, everyone is happy. When the tube breaks, it just exposes the "ugly" rings, but the cable won't actually break.
Why they couldn't do this - I don't know. But there must be a good technical reason for it - if I -a software person- can think of something like that, I'm sure they already thought of it too
I think if it was any harder than "flimsy" (on a scale from flimsy to unbendable), the stress angle would happen at the end of the stress relief part, which would be the same thing as not having the stress relief part. So, I think there needs to be some compromise that leverages the durability of the old model, but the design of the new model (I think it's better to have a more functionally-durable product, than design-durable product)
But there must be a good technical reason for it - if I -a software person- can
think of something like that, I'm sure they already thought of it too.
The rings have to be exposed, that's how they work.
Consider a hypothetical cable that's flexible, but fragile. Fold it in half, and it explodes violently, killing your customers and inspiring such a mighty class-action lawsuit that it leaves your company a smoking grease stain on the surface of the Earth; and leaves a five year stretch on your resume really hard to explain at future job interviews.
So you add reinforcing ribs to the cable. Now when your suicidal users try to bend the cable in half, the ribs mash into each other, preventing the minimum bend radius from being violated, and thus preserving shareholder value.
But your designers spit out their macchiatos in shock on seeing your brilliant solution, and start waving their smooth, untouched by actual work, hands around; demanding that you cover up the cable strain relief with a thin plastic tube.
Well, that's kinda tricky. You can use thick plastic, and prevent the cable from bending entirely, or you can use thin plastic, which will buckle over the unsupported areas when bent, since of course a concentric circle has a smaller circumference, and look really obvious and terrible. There's no way to cover it and still have it work.
But the blingy solution breaks anyway, and is also ugly, beyond being dangerous.
Parent's point was that if we assume Apple is optimizing for showroom appearance, better to put the bling over the function bits and let the going break after a few months, instead of having only bling and letting the bling break and kill the device and user with it.
"f I -a software person- can think of something like that, I'm sure they already thought of it too"
And I'm sure they did think of it and given the product they shipped, the idea was obviously rejected or delayed beyond the shipping of the current generation.
I'm not a huge Apple fanboy, (I'm in the minority at my organization using PC notebooks) but given how much Apple puts into designing the precise way in which users will experience and interact with their products, I can't imagine that they didn't evaluate many designs for this component.
Exactly, I've broken two of the cables so far and they are just bad. Period. Then, someone gave me a different, much more robust, cable, and I thought: "oh ok they realized their flaw, finally they improved their power coords". - Now I look at the image on the reddit post (http://i.imgur.com/yAywo.jpg) and realize the cables I've broke are the new ones, and the good robust ones are from 2007. Funny. Well Apple is usually top notch with these kind of things, and I don't believe the industrial design department didn't know about strain relief rings (that's their job FYI). So I'd go with the theory of planned obsolesce on these ones. Apple certainly is capable of pulling shit like this.
It doesn't have to be "planned obsolescence" which suggests an intent to get users to buy replacements. It could be that the trade-off just came out that way. I mean, I don't think they designed failure into the component so much as they deemed a higher than you'd want failure rate OK given the user experience they were chasing.
You really think so? I mean these are cables, there's no secret how to make them and they've been making them for decades, so they'll probably know what they are doing. There's no user experience on cables. It doesn't seem so far fetched to me.
Your comment "There's no user experience on cables" makes it clear that you really don't understand Apple. Users experience the entirety of Apple products and there isn't a user-facing component that doesn't get serious design scrutiny.
And yes, Apple probably know what they're doing. But they're not building failure into their cables, I can promise you that. They may be making a trade-off between the look and feel of the cable and its longevity, but that's very different from designing failure into the component.
> Users experience the entirety of Apple products and there isn't a user-facing component that doesn't get serious design scrutiny.
Even the mere act of removing an Apple product from its packaging when first bought -- something that only happens once -- is extremely well thought out.
I think it’s completely wrong to say there’s no user experience on cables. What about the fact that my sofa has to be a full four inches away from the wall because of the strain relief on the cord of the lamp I need to plug in behind it? There is no reason the cord actually needs that four inches of horizontal space—it’s just poor, thoughtless design that results in a poor user experience. Whoever designed the lamp should have put as much thought into the cord as they did into the rest of it, but instead it’s just an afterthought. To my way of thinking at least Apple has the guts to experiment with a different approach and see what happens instead of just applying the same good-enough solution everyone else mindlessly does.
And it's not just about balancing aesthetics and functionality for every component of the system, but about the experience of and interaction with the entire system. So trade-offs aren't always obvious within the specific component that might seem to lean too far in one direction.
If you appreciate the conversation brought to you by HN, why are you just dumping apparently inferior comments from other sites here instead of actually making a contribution?
These poorly-designed adapters have a history of shorting out and catching fire. Yes, I am surprised that anybody would think "looks nice" is a more important feature than "won't burn our customers' houses down".
Can you point me to cases of houses burning down? I've no doubt it's possible, but lots of things are possible. I got a small flame from mine when it burned out but it was short-lived and would probably have had to have been sitting in a basket of tinder to cause any serious damage to anything beyond the cord.
I wonder if this applies to the problem I've had ever since I've gotten a MBP in the fall. I am now on my 4th charger. No matter how I handle the adapter, it still manages to stop working within 3-4 months. The first one was probably my fault as I didn't keep the brick as ventilated as I could've, so I think it eventually fried itself.
The second one is still a mystery as I tried to use it one day and it didn't work. No LED, no charge. The third one had a slow death where it would take more and more jiggling and manipulating the cord to get it to work.
I don't get it. I wrap the cord around the little hinge things they have, keep them ventilated, and they still crap out on me. By far my biggest gripe with this MBP. If anybody else found a reliable way to stop this from happening, please let me know.
To provide a counterpoint, I've had my MacbookPro for over 3 years now and still have the same power cable and adapter as when I bought it. I never wrap it, toss it around in my bag with all my other junk, carry it in all weather, and I use it every day. My connection works fine and my brick hasn't overheated.
Not to say you're not having those issues, just that there are good experiences and bad experiences with every product.
Are you getting them all replaced at the same store? My only thought is that it would be a bad batch (given I haven't heard of this kind of chronic issue elsewhere).
I have been through 6 in three years, and the protip is to not use the hinges when transporting the adaptor. just loop it up in a large loop so that there is no strain in the cord
my last cord has now lasted 9+ months since I started doing this (I move it daily)
These may not be adequate, but clearly Apple industrial design has taken a pass at the problem. Anybody have photos of older power adapters to see if that sheathing has always been there?
Some teams may be more experienced than others? I just noticed the strain relief on my latest-gen power adapter. I never noticed that before. It is so cool.
They've gotten better recently. I think the best example of this is the USB to dock connector cables, where the strain relief for the phone/iPod end is woefully inadequate.
The OP is referring to Apple's iPhone power/usb connector cable, as seen in this picture: http://i.imgur.com/yAywo.jpg. The dock connector strain relief is decidedly weaker (I have had two or three break on me personally) than other Apple products.
One thing that is interesting is how Apple's Industrial Design team, mentioned in the post, affected the design of the new Macbook power adaptors (like the one you linked to, http://www.cl.ly/0r2n2S2z1b3K0L1E0R3t). The old ones had the cord coming out perpendicular to the laptop. I liked that design a lot better than the new style, which is a bit awkward to plug in and leaves you either:
1. With a cord facing out the back of the laptop, then (probably) looping around 180 degrees and back to the power outlet, or
2. With the cord running parallel next to the laptop, completely blocking the ethernet port.
Obviously neither of these solutions is streamlined or Apple-like, so I wonder if the ID dept made the trade-off of a parallel connector with minimal strain relief, or a perpendicular connector with built-in strain relief.
Huh? My power outlet is nearly always right behind where my laptop is. A cord facing out the back of the laptop is perfect for this - no more 90 degree turn.
You're right, I generalized: the position of the power outlet varies with every place you plug in your laptop. However, I often find myself with the outlet behind me (i.e. sitting against the wall at an airport, restaurants; I take my laptop out of the house with me frequently), so I run into this problem. I liked the perpendicular adapter because in the worst case, the cord had to make a 90 degree turn.
Haha, good point. I said ethernet because it is the first port blocked. The cord also blocks the display port and makes the first USB port awkward to use (this is the biggest annoyance for me, as I often have flash drives/my iPhone/a USB keyboard with me and there are only two USB ports on the laptop).
Also note older generation MB(P)s that are on newer-generation power adapters (I'm on my fourth power connector since I got my MBP in '07 -- two of them have used the new design) have a blocked USB port, not a blocked ethernet port, which is significantly more problematic for portable use.
I bring my Air to and from work every day; at work I have a power strip under my desk, and it's easier to access from the front (and also less of a hassle to unplug and replug every evening and morning). At home I have a power strip under the front of my couch; when I have the laptop on my lap on the couch the cord goes out the back, but if I place the laptop on my coffee table, the cord comes back to the front.
At work I have the fat grounded extension cord thingy plugged into the strip under the desk, with the end kept above the desk. When I get to work I just hook that to the brick. No need to crawl under the desk.
Early Macbook Airs are to blame for that weird power connector. Look: http://www.slashgear.com/gallery/data_files/3/macbook-air-ha... The industrial design division probably wanted a thin bevel on all sides, and there is no way a classic connector would fit between the macbook and the table and retain the magsafe feature.
Latest macbook airs no longer need this hack and I think Apple will shift back to normal power connectors sometime soon because these metal ones are no good for anything except possibly for those monitor-to-laptop power cords.
I thought I read that one of the purposes for the new connectors was strain-relief related?
The old MagSafe connectors were a pain to use if you wanted to bend the cable towards the back and really seemed like an improvement (at least for my use). I admit I haven't tried them, though.
I doubt Apple will shift back to the normal power connectors unless they come up with a new design, though -- what's the point in going back?
You missed the worst part of the new magsafe. They don't perform the job magsafe was invented for: preventing an accident from yanking your laptop off a table.
Out of the 4 possible directions a cable can be yanked - 2 of them (towards the laptop body and the direction the magsafe cable is pointing) are now more likely to pull the laptop than they are to safely disengage the cable.
I have both on my table, so I tested it:
new MagSafe releases much easier to the left;
worse than the old one forward and backward;
equally bad to the right; and, unlike old, doesn't release up at all for quite some distance.
And despite the article author's claim, the old style connectors also frayed, usually right at the strain relief. In my experience, while the magsafe style strain relief isn't perfect (it's showing a little wear after two years), it's lightyears ahead of the old barrel connector which required replacing every 9 months.
I had a 2005 PowerBook with the same adapter, and, despite the slightly better strain relief, it still broke after a few years. And, like another poster mentions, it caught on fire (tiny tiny fire, really just the next step up from smoldering). That was... not so awesome.
The Magsafe ones are far too elastic and thus too weak.
I'm typing this on a 2006 MacBook Pro, which still works nicely, but this is my third power supply. The first one died at the transformator junction, and the second one at the plug junction. The new connector, introduced with the MacBook Air, looks more sturdy, but the transfo junction is still as weak.
My brother experienced the same problem once (at the transfo junction).
This is purely speculation, but maybe they're more careful with the higher power ones that can catch on fire... I've had older PowerBook power adapters short out to the point of sparks and smoke...
But before I go into this, let me explain the engineering of a power cable. If you look at a power adapter cable for any non-Apple product, you'll notice some metal "spikes" where the plug transitions to the cable. These spikes are called a heat sink. The purpose of a heat sink is to prevent the cable from heating to a severe degree if you use the charger for an extended period. The heat sink allows the cable to have a nice dissipation of heat instead of heating up and melting.
Actually, I think using the proper gauge wire prevents the heat buildip and melting.
As the power cable becomes twisted and crinked, the wires fray, causing the same amount of current to run over less wire, turning the wire into a toaster heating element.
Apples' designer's choice, or what seems to be a small heat/fire problem covered by warranty? I haven't heard of anyone's laptop being damaged by this, and the only people paying are out of warranty. It's a bother I don't want to see, but at least they cover it.
Yep, I'm on my second adapter for my MacBook. First broke between the adapter and the cord going to my computer. The second sits beside me with that same spot covered in duct tape. It's REALLY frustrating since the replacement adapter was $80 and it's less than a year old.
I recall seeing some (non-Apple) hardware with case-to-cable transition designed as an inverted strain relief. Instead of a semi-rigid tube extending from device, the function was performed by proper curvature of the hole itself; nothing extended beyond the profile except the cable.
I'm having hard time describing it properly, but the hole walls had specific profile, elliptical extending outward. Pretty much like the big end of a trumpet. The most you could bend the cable was to make it touch the hole wall, and that profile of the wall was good enough to prevent cable cracking.
One disadvantage is that this kind of solution takes up some space insede of the case...
edit: well thanks for the downvotes, I know RDF is strong here but consider how they removed the strain rings, how they charge $30 for a cable and why they use a proprietary port. Making cable is no rocket-science, this is definitely planned.
Maybe they charge $30 for the cable as a signal that customers should be a little careful with it, even though it comes 'free' with an iPod/iPad/iPhone.
Great. Now I know why cable fails. From other sources I know why GPU failed (twice, and more to come, as fix by heating GPU to 200C is temporary).
Once I'll figure why battery swollen to thrice the original size (thank gods it didn't exploded or spilled toxic substance on somebodies lap) then I'll know why my girlfriends mac book is such a pain in the ass.
169 comments
[ 5.7 ms ] story [ 176 ms ] thread> I used to work for Apple and interfaced with every division in the company, and I know EXACTLY why this happened. It has nothing to do with trying to get customers to buy more replacement adapters, but rather with the hierarchy of power at Apple.
>
> But before I go into this, let me explain the engineering of a power cable. If you look at a power adapter cable for any non-Apple product, you'll notice some plastic "rings" where the plug transitions to the cable. These rings are called a strain relief. The purpose of a strain relief is to prevent the cable from bending at a severe angle if you bend the cable at the base. The strain relief allows the cable to have a nice, gentle curvature if you tweak the cable instead of bending at a severe 90 degree angle. This gentle curvature prevents the cable from being broken through repeated use.
>
> Now let's look at the hierarchy of power at Apple. As with any company, Apple consists of many divisions (Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, etc.) THE most powerful division at Apple is Industrial Design. For those of you unfamiliar with the term industrial design, this is the division that makes the decisions about the overall look and feel of Apple's products. And when I say "the most powerful", I mean that their decisions trump the decisions of any other division at Apple, including Engineering and Customer Service.
>
> Now it just so happens that the Industrial Design department HATES how a strain relief looks on a power adapter. They would much prefer to have a nice clean transition between the cable and the plug. Aesthetically, this does look nicer, but from an engineering point of view, it's pretty much committing reliability suicide. Because there is no strain relief, the cables fail at a very high rate because they get bent at very harsh angles. I'm sure that the Engineering division gave every reason in the world why a strain relief should be on an adapter cable, and Customer Service said how bad the customer experience would be if tons of adapters failed, but if industrial design doesn't like a strain relief, guess what, it gets removed.
A detachable wire would violate Apple's aesthetic; thus, you can't detach it. You answer your own question.
Does Apple not replace that for free like they do the iPhone/iPod chargers?
Frankly, everything in that document just looks like common sense.
And the replacements are quite expensive compared to the competition (I see mostly Dell and Lenovo, to be honest, no idea for the other ones).
One with the RCA/headphone power and one with the magnetic connector.
I will say, however, that the MagSafe design, even lacking strain reducers as discussed by the OP, has proven its value on more than one occasion. Besides the obvious advantages (i.e., tripping over the cord no longer sends one's laptop flying, nor does it cause catastrophic damage to the power port), I'm personally fond of the fact that you can step on the adapter all day long without damaging it. We had to replace an adapter once back in the day after accidentally stepping on the little round connector part, and bending it irreparably out of shape.
In terms of mag-safe on iOS devices, I guess it's not feasible due to it transmitting data.
Ios transfers should prepared for a disconnection anyway, it is usb, plus power failures could take the host offline.
This likely prevents strain by removing the probability that the cable is pulled at the strain point. It also looks cooler.
Only downside is that it doesn't untether easily; it's that the selling point of MagSafe?
Seeing everyone I know that has a macbook have his/her adapter fail, not getting a replacement and then having to buy a new one for 80 EUR I took extra care. Still the cable broke inside the connector!
I've never had this problem with any other device or notebook. Seriously, power adapters should be simple and just work - except they don't for macbooks.
Different kind of force.
1) Current MacBook's Pro edge is so sharp, it uncomfortable for many people.
2) For awhile, there was no anti-glare screen on new MacBooks Pro (only glossy).
3) Apple doesn't make ergonomic keyboard, probably because of aesthetic reasons, third-party ergonomic keyboards for Macs suck.
4) iPod/iPhone connector after prolonged use may damage port on device because contact blade is so thin.
5) Old MacBook Pro had mic in the left grill instead of having it next to the camera.
6) MacBook's speakers are facing backwards, reducing quality of the sound.
7) Keyboard lights on the current MacBooks Pro is visible between keys if you are looking at the keyboard at 45 degree angel - pretty common thing to do.
A more probable explanation is that even with a magnet the devices are light enough that a yank on the cable would send the device flying before the magnet connection came loose.
You're probably right that the physics of the magnet don't make it as useful. That makes me wonder how thoroughly Apple has investigated it.
Why couldn't they just only use the four pins included with USB? (although that would mean an end to the standardized dock connector)
This was a poor design choice on their part, not just the design department taking precedent over engineering and customer service. The designers are personally responsible, not just the structure
Why they couldn't do this - I don't know. But there must be a good technical reason for it - if I -a software person- can think of something like that, I'm sure they already thought of it too
(not saying it's not a good idea, my pile of broken cables is evidence of that!)
...or using a hot glue gun to 'decorate' a flexible, protective layer around the wire/connector.
Consider a hypothetical cable that's flexible, but fragile. Fold it in half, and it explodes violently, killing your customers and inspiring such a mighty class-action lawsuit that it leaves your company a smoking grease stain on the surface of the Earth; and leaves a five year stretch on your resume really hard to explain at future job interviews.
So you add reinforcing ribs to the cable. Now when your suicidal users try to bend the cable in half, the ribs mash into each other, preventing the minimum bend radius from being violated, and thus preserving shareholder value.
But your designers spit out their macchiatos in shock on seeing your brilliant solution, and start waving their smooth, untouched by actual work, hands around; demanding that you cover up the cable strain relief with a thin plastic tube.
Well, that's kinda tricky. You can use thick plastic, and prevent the cable from bending entirely, or you can use thin plastic, which will buckle over the unsupported areas when bent, since of course a concentric circle has a smaller circumference, and look really obvious and terrible. There's no way to cover it and still have it work.
Parent's point was that if we assume Apple is optimizing for showroom appearance, better to put the bling over the function bits and let the going break after a few months, instead of having only bling and letting the bling break and kill the device and user with it.
And I'm sure they did think of it and given the product they shipped, the idea was obviously rejected or delayed beyond the shipping of the current generation.
I'm not a huge Apple fanboy, (I'm in the minority at my organization using PC notebooks) but given how much Apple puts into designing the precise way in which users will experience and interact with their products, I can't imagine that they didn't evaluate many designs for this component.
And yes, Apple probably know what they're doing. But they're not building failure into their cables, I can promise you that. They may be making a trade-off between the look and feel of the cable and its longevity, but that's very different from designing failure into the component.
Even the mere act of removing an Apple product from its packaging when first bought -- something that only happens once -- is extremely well thought out.
This is why I much prefer HN for any technical discussion.
The comment in question had 60+ upvotes.
I also made a valid contribution to this thread earlier: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2642344
I can understand why some people might not think that way but don't be surprised that there are some people who do.
The second one is still a mystery as I tried to use it one day and it didn't work. No LED, no charge. The third one had a slow death where it would take more and more jiggling and manipulating the cord to get it to work.
I don't get it. I wrap the cord around the little hinge things they have, keep them ventilated, and they still crap out on me. By far my biggest gripe with this MBP. If anybody else found a reliable way to stop this from happening, please let me know.
I do wrap the thin cable around the little hinges when I take it with me.
We'll see!
my last cord has now lasted 9+ months since I started doing this (I move it daily)
Power Adapter: http://cl.ly/0r2n2S2z1b3K0L1E0R3t
LED Cinema Display Power Adapter: http://www.cl.ly/3i1B3R142q0S25223q2U
These may not be adequate, but clearly Apple industrial design has taken a pass at the problem. Anybody have photos of older power adapters to see if that sheathing has always been there?
One thing that is interesting is how Apple's Industrial Design team, mentioned in the post, affected the design of the new Macbook power adaptors (like the one you linked to, http://www.cl.ly/0r2n2S2z1b3K0L1E0R3t). The old ones had the cord coming out perpendicular to the laptop. I liked that design a lot better than the new style, which is a bit awkward to plug in and leaves you either:
1. With a cord facing out the back of the laptop, then (probably) looping around 180 degrees and back to the power outlet, or
2. With the cord running parallel next to the laptop, completely blocking the ethernet port.
Obviously neither of these solutions is streamlined or Apple-like, so I wonder if the ID dept made the trade-off of a parallel connector with minimal strain relief, or a perpendicular connector with built-in strain relief.
Do I represent a common use case? Dunno...
Latest macbook airs no longer need this hack and I think Apple will shift back to normal power connectors sometime soon because these metal ones are no good for anything except possibly for those monitor-to-laptop power cords.
The old MagSafe connectors were a pain to use if you wanted to bend the cable towards the back and really seemed like an improvement (at least for my use). I admit I haven't tried them, though.
I doubt Apple will shift back to the normal power connectors unless they come up with a new design, though -- what's the point in going back?
Out of the 4 possible directions a cable can be yanked - 2 of them (towards the laptop body and the direction the magsafe cable is pointing) are now more likely to pull the laptop than they are to safely disengage the cable.
How did someone not notice this?
I wonder how much more expensive that is to manufacture vs a stylistically cleaner, simpler solid sheath.
This is the same design used on older (circa 1994) Powerbooks, like the 520.
Here is a generic adapter for a 520. You can see the same connector...
http://cdn1.iofferphoto.com/img/item/138/470/449/Hsai.jpg
I'm typing this on a 2006 MacBook Pro, which still works nicely, but this is my third power supply. The first one died at the transformator junction, and the second one at the plug junction. The new connector, introduced with the MacBook Air, looks more sturdy, but the transfo junction is still as weak.
My brother experienced the same problem once (at the transfo junction).
But before I go into this, let me explain the engineering of a power cable. If you look at a power adapter cable for any non-Apple product, you'll notice some metal "spikes" where the plug transitions to the cable. These spikes are called a heat sink. The purpose of a heat sink is to prevent the cable from heating to a severe degree if you use the charger for an extended period. The heat sink allows the cable to have a nice dissipation of heat instead of heating up and melting.
As the power cable becomes twisted and crinked, the wires fray, causing the same amount of current to run over less wire, turning the wire into a toaster heating element.
Because the cables cost $30 and revenue is good.
I'm having hard time describing it properly, but the hole walls had specific profile, elliptical extending outward. Pretty much like the big end of a trumpet. The most you could bend the cable was to make it touch the hole wall, and that profile of the wall was good enough to prevent cable cracking.
One disadvantage is that this kind of solution takes up some space insede of the case...
http://km.support.apple.com/library/APPLE/APPLECARE_ALLGEOS/...
Found under "7. Check for strain relief issues." on this page: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1725
I always thought it was a great idea, but they didn't use it for long so it must have drawbacks.
[edit] I believe it was used on the aluminum powerbooks.
edit: well thanks for the downvotes, I know RDF is strong here but consider how they removed the strain rings, how they charge $30 for a cable and why they use a proprietary port. Making cable is no rocket-science, this is definitely planned.
Once I'll figure why battery swollen to thrice the original size (thank gods it didn't exploded or spilled toxic substance on somebodies lap) then I'll know why my girlfriends mac book is such a pain in the ass.