For my own records

[urbpan]

Yet another macbook cord has bit the dust. Why these things are a) so fragile and b) so expensive is beyond me. It's infuriating and puts serious stress on my brand loyalty.

EDIT: it's working again (for now...)

Comments

[urb-banal.livejournal.com]

yeah, don't want to waiver in the brand loyalty, come on over to the Republic of Microsoft why don't ya!

Every thing here, top notch commrad! *wink*

[paradoox.livejournal.com]

At least in Windoze land there are lots of third parties making equipment. Apple seems to actively discourage that. IMHO, Apple is just as bad as Microsoft (if not worse, they have both a HW and SW pseudo-monopoly as opposed to Microsoft's mere SW pseudo-monopoly) and just have a better PR department which a lot of people have drunk the kool-aide from.

I mean, look at the whole iPhone battery / exclusive contract with ATT debacle. If Microsoft tried either of those two things there would be lawsuits up the wazzo.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

unless you have a mag-connector, there's after market solutions that are probably better

#

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, it's a mag connector.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

i believe the standard response is to bring it to an apple store and look sad. that's about all i know about, damn them, and their proprietary connectors and lawsuits

#

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

A friend told me that when you wrap up the cord, you should leave a little loose bump where it connects, as this puts less stress on the cord over time. You're the only person I personally know who's had this problem (small sample size, I know!), so I'm wondering if you're wrapping too tightly?

[cdozo.livejournal.com]

I'm really gentle with my cords and I've gone through two of them in the five years.

I bought an OEM power cord and it works fine. Just make sure you get the right wattage (too much is better than too little).

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_sq_top?ie=UTF8&keywords=ibook%20power%20cord&index=blended&pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00007IFJY&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1BEBQCK70NECNWZY71QH

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Looking at the user reviews for replacement cords, it's something of an epidemic. In this case it seemed to be the opposite end of the cord (where the one doohickey can be removed from the other it was not pushed in all the way) so crisis averted for now.

Macs ...

[btripp.livejournal.com]

Back in the early days, I developed a deep hatred of "all things Apple" because of their pricing and exclusivity policies (Hell, I'd purge Quicktime from my system if it wasn't for all these other programs that depend on it!).

I used to be in a PR agency that, in the mid-to-late 80's, I was trying to wean off of the IBM Selectric (and having secretaries re-type everything 8 times). I'd found a deal which for the time was pretty "fabulous" and swung funding to get these in. Everybody (especially the secretaries) were thrilled, everybody, that is, but one VP who had bought herself a Mac and wanted to bring it in from home.

Now, with the DOS machines, if we wanted to add a printer I'd run over to Radio Shack, get some ribbon cable, a M/F pair of clip-on connectors, and be good to go for under ten bucks. However, to add ANYTHING to that Mac system, it was a major expense ... I seem to recall a cable costing over sixty bucks from Apple (let alone what the damn compatible printers ran), and taking 2 months to be delivered.

At the time I compared the Mac to the classic Russian car, the Lada ... it cost over year's salary, it was a monopoly, and you had no choice of accessories or software other than the "official" (overpriced) ones (oh, also back then, there was virtual NO "shareware" for the Mac ... for the PCs I could, for a few bucks, get remarkably useful program that would handle most issues that we were looking at, to do the same thing on the Mac would cost $1200 in "specialized" software).

"You Will Like What Apple Tells You To Like" ... "You Will PAY What Apple Tells You To Pay" ... "You Will Order What Apple Tells You To Order"!

I'm, frankly, amazed to hear that things in the Mac Cult are still the way they were 20-some years ago!

Re: Macs ...

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

funny how that approach has worked for them.

Re: Macs ...

[btripp.livejournal.com]

If Microsoft hadn't bailed them out in the 90's the Mac would be on the same museum shelf as the Osborne.

Re: Macs ...

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

still working for them.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

i like how you left out the operator error part.

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

it's a pain in the butt. I had to replace one of the mag connectors, and several of the earlier ones on my previous machine. it almost seems to be a business plan.

[squire-jons.livejournal.com]

You would have been better of posting about abortion or politics in Israel or something...this is going to get ugly.

[propaddict.livejournal.com]

My MB Pro's Magsafe bit the dust @ the 6 month mark. Applecare replaced for free; Fedex overnighted me the replacement for free. My wife's old Magsafe has lasted 2.5 years and I literally (today) just sold it on eBay.

It's a crapshoot, methinks. I maintain that Apple still has the best OS, customer support, and hardware. And the Magsafe has saved my laptop enough times to pay for itself already. the final connection on the wire is just a weak point, that will be fixed next revision I'm sure.

[(Anonymous)]

Doesn't hurt to reinforce the weak spot with some electric tape before the insulation cracks. (If you're fussy, you can use white tape.)

[bellelvsbeast.livejournal.com]

Yikes that really sucks...I've had my laptop cord for 2 laptops now (5 years), I think I would be so mad if they fizzled out so quick! :(
I'm glad it's working for now, but still that sucks...

[weofodthignen]

I don't know how many hockeypucks I ran through with my poor iBook. Which was a very good computer, though it's been very sick for years . . . its fatal issue these days is the power connector inside. But I was told at the electronics store that the hockeypucks just had this lousy weak point in the design. Seems like the identical thing.

M