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Same here. If anything, the MagSafe is too strong. I grunt when I pull that sucker off.

Just push up or down on the magsafe connector (or perpendicular to the MBA's body if you don't use your MBA roughly parallel to the ground) when removing it from your MBA. Makes it way easier than trying to pull it straight out.
 
I still think my MagSafe requires more force to remove than it should. It's not a simple light pull and it disconnects. I have to pull it apart. If someone trips on the cable I fear the Air would still be connected to the cable. Maybe I should go to bestbuy and try their MagSafes?
It depends on what you define as a light pull or a hard pull. Trying it with magsafes on other machines would be a good idea to see if yours requires too much force or not.

I think what you folks are not realizing is on the new charger you can slightly move it up or down and it comes off very easily.
That's not the case. The problem is quite easy: make it hard to remove it will be hard to remove when somebody trips over the wire. Make it easy to remove and it will be easy to remove when somebody trips over the wire. It also means (and most of us know that very well) that if something is hard to remove it will stay put which is nice when you want to move around your notebook. If it is easy to disconnect you have to plug it back in each time when you move it.

The problem lies in how Apple advertises it. The magsafe isn't called magsafe because it sounds cool, it is called that way because it uses a magnet and is meant to keep your Mac from going to the ground when somebody trips over it. The entire usefulness of the magsafe connector means it has to be easy to disconnect. If it doesn't than it won't safe your notebook, doesn't do what is advertise and thus is completely useless. The people who want the connector to stay put seem to be the ones who do not realise what the magsafe is and how Apple advertises it. Simply put, if it doesn't do what it does now than it is the same story as with the 4G on the iPad: misleading consumers and thus illegal. They can get fined for that.

So yeah, there is a disadvantage to it but we take it for granted because the advantage outweighs the disadvantage by far (a little nuisance vs a broken ~1500-ish euro notebook that won't be covered by warranty...).
 
When used with the t shape connector it is slightly easier to pull off than my late 08 MacBook Pro but that's a good thing considering the air weighs about half what the pro does.
 
It's a little bit annoying but I don't let it bother me too much. I just stick the charger back in and carry on with what I was doing. I find the charger on my 2010 MBP really good though.
 
I tried the lift up and down trick and it basically slides off with no force, unlike pulling striaght out. Thats nifty.
 
I do understand the complaint. It's been a complaint posted repeatedly since the Magsafe 2 machines were released.

Magsafe was designed to disconnect when force is applied to save the computer.

When that computer was a 2006 model Macbook Pro that weighed 5.6 pounds, that connection could be pretty strong and still do its job.

Now that connection has to do its job with an 11" Macbook Air that weighs just 2.3 pounds.

It's a compromise between nuisance disconnects and reliably disconnecting when it needs to to save the computer from flying off a table.

Do you really? So you really thought the OP thought the magnet was there because it was cool? Either you didn't understand or you're trolling.

I have the L shaped magsafe and never had the laptop get pulled off a table or my lap or anything when the cable was stepped/tripped over. It did it's job just fine. I too would be frustrated if the magnet was so weak that it would snap off by moving it from table to lap.
 
Do you really? So you really thought the OP thought the magnet was there because it was cool? Either you didn't understand or you're trolling.

I have the L shaped magsafe and never had the laptop get pulled off a table or my lap or anything when the cable was stepped/tripped over. It did it's job just fine. I too would be frustrated if the magnet was so weak that it would snap off by moving it from table to lap.

I'm guessing you took that post more seriously than I intended. It was intended to be pretty light hearted, thus the :D
 
I prefer the L shaped charger way better, every time I ever move this machine or my finger hits the charger area it comes right off....what a poor design to go back to, anyone else notice?

the purpose of the magsafe is to prevent your computer from taking a fall to the floor if something suddenly yanks the cable. In other words, it is designed to do precisely what you are talking about!

if you're not exaggerating for emphasis - or if it is really is coming off when your "finger hits the charger area" then the magnet has likely worn out. the same goes for moving the computer.
 
the purpose of the magsafe is to prevent your computer from taking a fall to the floor if something suddenly yanks the cable. In other words, it is designed to do precisely what you are talking about!

if you're not exaggerating for emphasis - or if it is really is coming off when your "finger hits the charger area" then the magnet has likely worn out. the same goes for moving the computer.

Agreed the design is allow an emergency release... it is just that MagSafe2 releases MUCH more easily (especially in the vertical dimension) than MagSafe1.

The ideal (most symmetrical) connector shape would be round or square. The MS1 was a rectangle... and the MS2 is a more exaggerated rectangle. As the rectangle gets "thinner"... it starts becoming too easy to remove in the vertical (i.e. long rectangle edge). Furthermore... the new "T" style MS2 further exacerbates the problem by providing a longer lever than the previous "L" style connector.

Note that Apple orginally sold MS1 with "T" connectors, and later improved them (with the original MBA) to "L" connectors. Most people preferred the "L". I am not too sure why they went back to the "T" shape with MS2... possibly to avoid confusion between the new MS2 and most of the installed base of MS1.

In any case... If Apple was to introduce MS2 with the "L" shape... I would immediately buy a few. I currently use a MS1 "L" connector with a MS1-to-MS2 converter... and while it is "kludgy"... I still like it better than the new MS2 "T" connectors.

/Jim
 
Agreed the design is allow an emergency release... it is just that MagSafe2 releases MUCH more easily (especially in the vertical dimension) than MagSafe1.

The ideal (most symmetrical) connector shape would be round or square. The MS1 was a rectangle... and the MS2 is a more exaggerated rectangle. As the rectangle gets "thinner"... it starts becoming too easy to remove in the vertical (i.e. long rectangle edge). Furthermore... the new "T" style MS2 further exacerbates the problem by providing a longer lever than the previous "L" style connector.

Note that Apple orginally sold MS1 with "T" connectors, and later improved them (with the original MBA) to "L" connectors. Most people preferred the "L". I am not too sure why they went back to the "T" shape with MS2... possibly to avoid confusion between the new MS2 and most of the installed base of MS1.

In any case... If Apple was to introduce MS2 with the "L" shape... I would immediately buy a few. I currently use a MS1 "L" connector with a MS1-to-MS2 converter... and while it is "kludgy"... I still like it better than the new MS2 "T" connectors.

/Jim

the latest generations of laptops, the airs in particular, are thinner and lighter than their predecessors. this means the magnet needs to be proportionately lighter in order to compensate for this. It also means that round or square inputs are going to be particularly challenging - especially on the air.
 
the latest generations of laptops, the airs in particular, are thinner and lighter than their predecessors. this means the magnet needs to be proportionately lighter in order to compensate for this. It also means that round or square inputs are going to be particularly challenging - especially on the air.

The 11" and 13" MBAs of 2012/2013 (MagSafe 2) are about the same weight and size as the 2010/2011 models (MagSafe 1) . I think the change to MagSafe 2 was driven by the 2012 MBPs... but it was instituted across both the MBP & MBA lines.

I was not advocating that they switch to round or square MagSafe. I was just pointing out that the change to the "thinner rectangle" shape of MagSafe2 was responsible for the tendency for them to not stay attached as strongly (especially vertical tilting) than the older MagSafe1 connectors.

/Jim
 
Is there a Difference between the 2012 Mac Air Charger

and the


2013 (new) Mac Air Charger??
 
Haven't read the thread so this might be a repeat, but isn't the Magsafe 2 supposed to come off earlier? I'd much rather have my charger disconnect because I tripped over it rather than bring my $1000+ mac to the floor.
 
I don't like the current design as much as the one on my 2011 MBA, but it works ok, just a fair bit wider is all.
 
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