Apple to Provide Refunds for Notebook Power Adapters?

[inkswamp]

This is definitely an issue with Magsafe connectors as well. For all the things that the "loyal" Apple fans get pissed about, I'm surprised this hasn't been a bigger issue.

Well... spend some time around these forums. You'll discover that "loyal Apple fans" don't get pissed at Apple for anything. 🙄

 

[AtariAge]

I've owned two iBooks, a Powerbook and now a Macbook and I've had to replace the power supply on each of these machines at least once. The old iBook and Powerbook connectors were horrible in this regard. The cable just outside the connector on my Macbook power supply melted only a month after I purchased the computer. I brought it into an Apple Store and they replaced it, but I was a bit dismayed, having thought that Apple may have moved beyond their power supply issues with the introduction of the MagSafe design 🙁

I'm dumbfounded that a company capable of engineering such great computers seems entirely uninterested in building reliable and (more importantly) SAFE laptop power supplies. Frankly I'm amazed someone's house or business hasn't burned down yet as a result.

Go take a look at the reviews in Apple's store for their laptop power supplies--these issues affect a great many people:

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MA938LL/A?fnode=home/shop_mac/mac_accessories/power&mco=MTA4MTcx

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MA538LL/B?fnode=home/shop_mac/mac_accessories/power&mco=ODgxNDg

http://store.apple.com/us/product/M8943LL/A?fnode=home/shop_mac/mac_accessories/power&mco=MTA4MTcy

..Al

 

[daschor]

No trouble here

I have noticed sparks on the wall plug end of the adapter, but no trouble otherwise. I don't use the tabs to wrap the cord - they break too easily when extended, so I just wrap the cord around the brick.

I'm not too shocked to see that some people have trouble with the adapters, but the reinforcement on the cords is sufficient to prevent this problem in my experience. Of course, I would be happy to receive a refund - but I'm a little surprised that this is enough of a problem to be a class action.

I've had my PowerBook replaced under warranty (screen recall), and a new battery (after recall) as well. No big complaints here - Apple takes great care of customers, and their warranty service is tops. YMMV.

 

[tveric]

What about international customers?

As is so often pointed out by usually-smug non-Americans..... US law (and thus, lawful out-of-court settlements), does not apply in other countries.

 

[billystlyes]

What about magsafe?

I think they are unsafe. I see more lawsuits coming down the road.

 

[chickenninja]

i never would have suspected powerbrick technology to fail, that technology is as old as the hills. and its an awesome way to cut down on computer noise because powerbricks dont have fans, it also reduces heat and bulk. i think magsafe is a good idea, but just like magnetic latches it involves a magnet and i dont want that anywhere near my computer. i hope these recalls dont affect the use of powerbricks in future products because i think there pretty slick.

 

[MrCrowbar]

i never would have suspected powerbrick technology to fail, that technology is as old as the hills. and its an awesome way to cut down on computer noise because powerbricks dont have fans, it also reduces heat and bulk. i think magsafe is a good idea, but just like magnetic latches it involves a magnet and i dont want that anywhere near my computer. i hope these recalls dont affect the use of powerbricks in future products because i think there pretty slick.

Magnets won't harm our hard drive. In fact, Macbooks have 2 big magnets on the lid to keep it shut when closed. When closed, the left magnet is right above the hard drive. there's also a magnet on the left side of the display bezel, supposedly to hold the apple remote.

But the strongest magnets are in your hard drive itself. Pry open a broken hard drive and get the 2 magnets out, those things are very string but necessary. The only thing that could damage your hard drive is strong changing magnetic fields, think power converter house and the like.

The magsafe magnet is actually in the Macbook itself, the power brick connector is merely a piece of metal that is attracted by the magnet. No moving magnetic fields here 🙂

PS: X-rays are harmless too.

 

[chickenninja]

Magnets won't harm our hard drive. In fact, Macbooks have 2 big magnets on the lid to keep it shut when closed. When closed, the left magnet is right above the hard drive. there's also a magnet on the left side of the display bezel, supposedly to hold the apple remote.

But the strongest magnets are in your hard drive itself. Pry open a broken hard drive and get the 2 magnets out, those things are very string but necessary. The only thing that could damage your hard drive is strong changing magnetic fields, think power converter house and the like.

The magsafe magnet is actually in the Macbook itself, the power brick connector is merely a piece of metal that is attracted by the magnet. No moving magnetic fields here 🙂

PS: X-rays are harmless too.

they say if you put magnets on your fuel-in line of your car's engine, it will polarize the carbon chains, and the gas will burn better. so i was taking apart a HDD and i got the magnets out of it and they are like you say REALLY strong, and i put them on my fuel line. General motors owns the pattent for the magnet-fuel-line technology so i presume its not a farse. but back on topic, in the macbook manuel it says not to keep any electronics within 1" of the magsafe port. and i use SD cards with a usb card reader so they float around my desk pretty close to 1" from the port. Hard drive magnets like speaker magnets are "iron clad" which means they're shielded in a U shaped sleeve that redirects the magnetic field where they want it. greatly reducing rogue field lines, and electromagnetic induction in other electronics. I assume magsafe and the latches use it too.

 

[SimonTheSoundMa]

I'm now on my second MacBook Pro power adapter after the first did the same.

My other half has had four iBook adapters, all suffered the same, however the last one also took her logic board with it too, therefore the iBook was a write off.

Apple's power supplies have always been poor. They have no decent tension restraints.

Oh, and to add to insult. Retail power adapters only have a 90 day warranty. This includes if you have Apple Care. It is like Apple knows they will fail. Oh no, it gets worse, if you buy a replacement service part from Apple (comes in a brown cardboard box), not a retail part (in shiny plastic packaging), it has ZERO warranty. I felt the wrath of first buying the service part and was pissed off with zero warranty, then getting a retail one with 90 day warranty I got pissed off again. Trading Standards in the UK got involved and the fourth iBook charger was replaced for free as the damage after 4 months I deemed unreasonable and Apple could not prove it was accidental damage. Slammed Sales of Goods Act in their face, so Apple is breaking some laws in the UK over the power adapter fiasco.

I'm over Apple Stores and there Genius Bar staff, I decided to sit an Apple service technician exam last week for £75 and passed. I can now sign warranty papers. Apple wanted £70 to upgrade my hard drive in my MacBook Pro so I was advised to sit the exam meaning I can do it myself. Worth doing he exam if you can, you may need to do the full course to be able to sit the exam, I did mine through university which is a national Apple training centre so I nabbed an exam voucher.

The only other component that has a 90 day warranty is the battery, which is understandable as it is a "wearable part" and for heavy users may not last more than a year.

 

[Wild-Bill]

Original Powerbook adapter still going strong here....

What's with the 19 negatives??? Why would anyone possibly vote NEGATIVE about Apple having to reimburse Powerbook and iBook owners for busted AC adapters?? 🙄

 

[eRondeau]

Shocking (pun intended!)

I've a 2003 iBook G4 with the original power adapter. I've used it continuously since the day I got it -- on a table, on an iCurve, in bed, and travelling for weeks at a time without so much as a hiccup. It still looks absolutely brand new. What are you people doing to your power cables?

 

[wheelhot]

Wow, I never knew such problem existed (I just got my MBP). Well lets hope Apple will fix it and like some other poster said, maybe by beefing up the cable cord a bit it will prevent the cable from over bend. Or maybe then can get the internal wires longer so it will extend when the cables are bent.

Damn I hate when Apple got these kind of problems when they release good products. I guess this is the cost of being unique to the others, you will get problem that is not faced by others. But hey, in order for a product to have improvement it must not be perfect, (of course it must not be that bad until it makes the user angry at it for a couple of days like what Vista did)

 

[mac.rumors]

Sorry to be off-topic, but just wanted to know if there are any class action lawsuits for compensating customers that bought the early 2006 batch of 17" Intel iMacs with the dreadful LCD lines issue.

Thanks.

 

[MLeepson]

Finally!
I have had about 8 power adapters for my PowerBook, each having a problem. The last few were sparking, , burning, smoking, and just not charging. I got in contact with Apple Exectuive Relations and I got a replacement, which started sparking, and then when I called t complain, I was told it was my fault.They told me to keep my laptop on the desk at all times to keep the wire straight. 🙄
Do only the people in the suit get the money or can anyone with issue get the refund?

 

[ParisParamus]

What about people who just bought a PowerBook with the crappy adaptor that came with the Computer?

 

[sebastianlewis]

Ya what he said! I just had the power supply for my MacBook Pro melt at the point where the cord goes into the brick. I went into the Apple Store (Victoria Gardens- Rancho Cucamonga, CA) and was met with indifference (and arrogance) for my problem, because it was 1 month beyond the 1 year warranty.

I was then told that I could either get a replacement for the old style adapter @ $61.99 and wait 2-3 days, or they would give me 10% off of a new one, @ 7. The later offer was only after I got a bit irate, because I rely on using the computer every day. I have been an Apple customer for 10 years and have never had anything go wrong.

I am glad that all of you got a replacement for free, but I ended up having to pay for something that I did nothing to cause.

That's strange, when the Magsafe on my Macbook stopped working (just stopped working, no frying or combustions or anything), they gave me a free replacement even though I was prepared to pay for a full replacement since I was beyond my warranty. Was in and out in 10 minutes.

Sebastian

 

[white pilgrim]

Ok, I'll just wait for my magsafe to quietly sweep my room with blue flames. Crikey, i just realised they named it 'safe'. Balls.

 

[digitalbiker]

Sorry to be off-topic, but just wanted to know if there are any class action lawsuits for compensating customers that bought the early 2006 batch of 17" Intel iMacs with the dreadful LCD lines issue.

Thanks.

I'm not sure about this specific issue but Apple did just settle a class action law suit due to advertising the displays as producing "millions of colors" with the imac, macbook, and macbook pro displays. However in reality Apple was using an inferior 6 bit display and dithering it to produce a simulated "milllions of colors". This dithering did in some circumstances result in visible lines on the LCD display.

Hopefully Apple learned it's lesson and is now using full 8 bit displays like everyone else.

 

[SiliconAddict]

But but but....I thought Apple was flawless? 🙄

Seriously though does anyone keep track of these class action lawsuits. Is it just Apple gets more publicity on theirs, because I NEVER hear about this from Dell, gateway, Toshiba. Or is it that it they aren't required to be dragged kicking and screaming to the point that a lawsuit is required to "do the right thing".

PS- On a side note, also having to do with Apple's response to their customers: Apple disavowed my Apple Care because someone forgot to transfer it to the MBP that they sent me after the first one was taken in 4 times for repairs. Per the Apple store's request I contacted Agreement Admin and they told me that they can't transfer it after this period of time. They refuse to give me the remaining 9 or so months left on my MPB so I'm now left without burning capabilities on my Mac because of someone's F-up. Well unless I want to spend however much it costs for a new DL DVD burner.
Someone was telling me I'm a MS fanboi. No I'm a disgruntled Apple user who keeps getting shafted further and further as I continue to "enjoy" the benefits of the "It just works" world of Apple. Maybe I'm just one of the massively unlucky few, but frankly if I have any worse bad luck an optical disk is going to fly out of the drive at 600MPH and saw me in half.

 

[iam:Caine]

That's strange, when the Magsafe on my Macbook stopped working (just stopped working, no frying or combustions or anything), they gave me a free replacement even though I was prepared to pay for a full replacement since I was beyond my warranty. Was in and out in 10 minutes.

Sebastian

Then you got lucky. My beef wasn't really with having to pay for a new one, but how I was treated like an idiot for the problem. Yet if you google "Magsafe problems", or anything similar you get http://www.appledefects.com/?cat=33 so I'm guessing that this is a big problem.

 

[thaytis]

Every PowerBook owner should get a free power adapter.... they look nice but they are built like crap. I'm on my third one, and they aren't cheap.

 

[DukeSnyd]

Ugh

I went through about 5 power adapters on my PowerBook and I've went through two MagSafe on my MBP on in my third now. Luckily Apple have replaced them each time at no cost to me.

But something tells me there is some fundamental design flaw with them.

For the record, I'm not doing anything mental with them, they mostly sit on my desk.

I've never had this with any other power adapter on any other device.

You're lucky, with my powerbook I am on my fourth power supply, the first three all sparked before crapping out.

 

[joepunk]

What a ridiculous response from Apple. Isn't that how they are designed with the little wings that pop out so you can wind it up?

I've wondered about that as well (about don't bend the cables). I understand that one is just wrapping/rolling the cord in a tight oval. But, as in MrCrowbar's picture that spot is where most of the problems would occur and it gets nastily bent up.

 

[ParisParamus]

I own three or four non-Apple adaptors: one for the office, one for my bag, one for home. They're 40% less expensive, and don't crap out easily.

 

[madmax_2069]

Apple needs to put allot more quality into these power bricks. cause the look of them and the feel of them are generic. the cords are even more generic feeling and looking. its only a matter of time before everyone with a Apple notebook (G4 - current) will have to get a replacement PSU due to there lack of quality and craftmanship.

and these Apple stores that are being buttholes and making you pay for a replacement PSU even after the warenty is up, especially when its a flaw in the parts and its craftmanship and not due from abuse.