Soli said: I'm a big fan of the PSU no longer having a dedicated cable and that the cable can have many uses with the new setup. If the lack of a magnetic connector becomes an issue in the future then I'll gladly buy one of these 3rd-party options—and then place it at the PSU end.
I am so with you on that. The removable, generic USB-C cable on the PSU is a long overdue feature. How many power supplies have we all had to purchase at Apples high prices only because the cable frayed? Shit, I've been replacing entire power bricks since I had my dearly departed 12' Aluminum Powerbook. At least with that power cord scheme I was able to buy generic power supplies instead of the Apple ones.
In many ways this "innovation" of having a replaceable power cord on an Apple power supply negates much of the annoyance of Magsafe going away. And like you say, there are now breakaway options so it seems we are all good.
A couple months ago my the cable frayed at the MagSafe end of the cable. I have an Apple Store a block away so I walked over and picked up another for $79+tax. I also ordered a solder kit from Amazon, and using the shrink tubing I have for Lightning cables, was able to fix my original MagSafe cable. I now have two so It means less wear and tear on both as I move my MBP between my two most common locations.
I don't expect anyone else to be soldering cables, and if this was more than just for power it would be considerably more difficult to accomplish. Even the solder kit cost more than what Monoprice charges for a 6 foot USB-C(m)-to-USB-C(m) cable that supports up to 100 watts of power. Plus, you can black, which I think looks better with the Silver and Space Grey MBPs.
They sell less expensive cables of that length, but I don't know how much power they can support.
PS: They sell a USB 2.0 cable that has USB-C male on both ends for a little over $2. I wonder if that would be sufficient for charging something like the 12" MacBook.
You can get just the MagSafe cable parts on Amazon BTW, not too difficult to replace though you have to crack open the main power unit's case which is glued shut. I did this without making it look too terrible.
Nice. That's cheap, too. I think spent a little more than that on my soldering kit, but the fix was simple enough. I assume you need a Dremel to get into the PSU casing.
I think I used a putty knife and a hammer, maybe a flathead screwdriver. You can pop it apart without sawing through any of the plastic, if you’re somewhat careful you won’t crack anything either.
For all of you folks concerned about adding data to a magnetic breakaway plug: would you rather just lose your data or would you rather lose your Mac + external drive + data? Tripping on a cable and pulling an MBP with a connected external drive to the concrete floor is almost certainly going to halt that data connection and has a good chance of destroying both pieces of hardware.
1. Only Apple has ever had magnetic power cables. Only about 14% of the computers in the world are made by Apple. That means 86% of users have been getting by fine without it. If dragging computers to their deaths by tripping over cables were as serious a problem as some seem to suggest, I'd expect to hear about the issue from non-Apple users.
2. In what scenario would one drag components off a desk by a cable between a computer and an external drive? Are people walking on their desks? Dangling peripheral cables across walkways? It seems like concern over an extremely unlikely outcome. It is much more likely that one would interrupt drive access with a coffee cup. Thus the perceived need for a breakaway data cable seems to give priority to an unlikely development over a more likely one.
3. In my case, tripping over the power cable resulted in the USB-C plug popping out of the computer without the computer moving. Dropping MagSafe may not be as big a deal as we think. I suppose it's possible that stressing the cable at just the right angle could cause connector damage, but I can't imagine it happening very often. I'm quite happy to trade that very, very small risk for the benefits of the port being multi-purpose and having greater flexibility in both where and how I can power the computer.
1. I guess you haven't used a Microsoft Surface which has a magnetic connector for data and power.
2. I went through four power adapters on my Powerbook G4 and a messed up connector on the motherboard before the whole laptop took a dive off the table after one of my kids tripped over the cable. I have had a lot of Dells at work get destroyed from being pulled off tables/desks by the power cord. If you are using a non-breakaway power cord and you have an external drive attached there is a high probability that both become victims of gravitational acceleration/deceleration on the same event.
3. Magsafe has saved my MBP and MBA and/or the power connector/cord many times. Too many to count with my golden retriever always nearby. It's definitely a big deal for me.
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2. I went through four power adapters on my Powerbook G4 and a messed up connector on the motherboard before the whole laptop took a dive off the table after one of my kids tripped over the cable. I have had a lot of Dells at work get destroyed from being pulled off tables/desks by the power cord. If you are using a non-breakaway power cord and you have an external drive attached there is a high probability that both become victims of gravitational acceleration/deceleration on the same event.
3. Magsafe has saved my MBP and MBA and/or the power connector/cord many times. Too many to count with my golden retriever always nearby. It's definitely a big deal for me.