Is this a real apple power adapter

[B S Magnet]

Depends on how inevitable failure is and how incapacitated one would be by said failure. I am a firm believer in preventative maintenance. Most people aren't. I do know that those adapters failed quite often and that many aftermarket ones were better. Then again, we're talking about a machine that, at youngest, is old enough to join the U.S. Army.

Well, sure, find a backup and have it tucked away should the need arise, but tossing what works for the sake of after-market, third-party “new” is tantamount to tossing money out the window.

Also, these are electronics, not bags of mostly water.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Well, sure, find a backup and have it tucked away should the need arise, but tossing what works for the sake of after-market, third-party “new” is tantamount to tossing money out the window.

Also, these are electronics, not bags of mostly water.

I'm really not so nitpick-y that I care to what degree one runs down their power adapter or when they replace it.

I just know that the Apple ones were crap and inevitably wore down. And yes, these are electronics that get beaten up. Wear and tear is real with Apple devices even on a good day.

 

[B S Magnet]

I'm really not so nitpick-y that I care to what degree one runs down their power adapter or when they replace it.

I just know that the Apple ones were crap and inevitably wore down. And yes, these are electronics that get beaten up. Wear and tear is real with Apple devices even on a good day.

As I wrote, I understand that, and that’s why it’s good praxis to have a backup handy. 💁‍♀️

 

[mustagcoupe]

I decided to break it open and see what's inside. It was very easy to open compared to the 2 fake magsafe chargers I opened. It appears to be well constructed, it is grounded and shielded. The shielding is soldered to ground points on the circuit board so I cannot easily remove it to get a better look at the components on the board. I do not have a known genuine adapter to break open and compare but I would not be surprised if this is a genuine adapter that somehow missed the stamp on one side or if it was made on the same line after hours. If it is a truly aftermarket power supply they at least put effort into making a decent one. I took some pictures including a comparison between the PowerBook adapter and the fake magsafe chargers, the PowerBook charger being the only one with it's cord still attached. The casing is basically undamaged so I will glue this adapter back together and keep using it.

 

[Needleroozer]

I decided to break it open and see what's inside. It was very easy to open compared to the 2 fake magsafe chargers I opened. It appears to be well constructed, it is grounded and shielded. The shielding is soldered to ground points on the circuit board so I cannot easily remove it to get a better look at the components on the board. I do not have a known genuine adapter to break open and compare but I would not be surprised if this is a genuine adapter that somehow missed the stamp on one side or if it was made on the same line after hours. If it is a truly aftermarket power supply they at least put effort into making a decent one. I took some pictures including a comparison between the PowerBook adapter and the fake magsafe chargers, the PowerBook charger being the only one with it's cord still attached. The casing is basically undamaged so I will glue this adapter back together and keep using it.

I’ve cracked several MagSafe chargers open before, and, while I don’t have pictures of them, I agree that yours looks very consistent with the Apple layout and is likely genuine.

 

[rampancy]

Not much else to add except that in my experience dealing with counterfeit 60w MagSafe adapters, the tell-tale signs for me are the wonky (e.g. raggedy/faded) font used for the writing (though on some units I've encountered, the printing is very convincing), and the less than razor-sharp tolerances on the seams of the plastic. Most of the ones I've used don't have an indented Apple logo on the side, with the exception of a few that were trying *really hard* to fool customers.

The other tell-tale sign for me is the weight of the adapter itself; genuine MagSafe adapters, especially the old, big chonky 85w units were really heavy, no doubt due to the additional transformer and other components inside. Even the better quality counterfeit adapters felt suspiciously light.

Ken Sheriff has some great coverage on counterfeit MagSafe adapters, as does BeetsTech.

In my practical experience, I haven't experienced any major issues counterfeit adapters (to my knowledge), with the exception of an über cheap Chinese adapter that got alarmingly hot during regular usage. Upon some reflection though, I wonder if some of the issues I've encountered with MacBook 1,1s experiencing power issues was due to use with a counterfeit adapter that provided no grounding, or short-circuit protection.

 

[mustagcoupe]

In my practical experience, I haven't experienced any major issues counterfeit adapters (to my knowledge), with the exception of an über cheap Chinese adapter that got alarmingly hot during regular usage. Upon some reflection though, I wonder if some of the issues I've encountered with MacBook 1,1s experiencing power issues was due to use with a counterfeit adapter that provided no grounding, or short-circuit protection.

My experience is that a poor quality charger and/or battery will definitely cause issues. The 2011 MacBook I was given had a very shady charger and battery. The charger was poorly made, damaged internally and had a cat bite on the cable. The charger would not charge the battery all the way and the MacBook seemed sluggish. Tried a different fake charger and that one charged the battery but made horrible noises. Broke it open and it was a 45w brick with a 60w end on it so it was very overloaded. The previous owner told me that when using the bad power adapter with the cat bite it would kill replacement batteries in a few months (they hadn't noticed the cat bite). I replaced the charger with a legit apple one and the battery with an OWC one and the MacBook got faster, smoother and has demonstrated no further odd behavior.

 

[B S Magnet]

and had a cat bite on the cable.

Cats and the silicone-like rubber used in these cables… there’s something about them which cats find sincerely tasty and/or a nice mouthfeel about them. I’m hardly alone in sharing stories of dead Magsafe cables with fellow cat-servants.

After adopting my cat about a year after I bought my early 2011 MBP, she had me very quickly buying new adapters in succession — which, at CAD$99 per, got vexatious. Trying to hide the cable didn’t matter: she’d still dig it out and go to Gnawtown with it.

Until one day, I came home to find my laptop cold and powered down, no battery power left. She was hiding beneath the bed (which she’d sometimes do, but rarely). The Magsafe adapter wouldn’t light up. I examined the cable between the brick and Magsafe, and it all looked un-bitten and OK.

Then I looked at the thick cable between the leads and brick… to find a single bite puncture on it, with the faintest hue of carbonizing around the bite perimeter. I freaked out and mustered my cat from the bed, to see how she was doing. She was OK, but the 110-volt shock she got must have sent the fear of everything into her. I was just relieved she was OK and being her usual self, though understandably wary about anything and everything during those first few minutes (I don’t even want to imagine the impact of 220 volts might have done).

Atop her being OK, there is another upside to this story: she hasn’t chewed any other cables since. The experience was probably an extremely memorable one for her in the worst possible way. And all the power adapter failures I’ve had since have some from the rubberized insulation disintegrating from regular use because Apple cut corners in very particular ways, which assures folks will have to replace their Magsafe adapters at some point regardless — or a need to have multiple adapters to balance the wear across them. (Either way, Apple win.)

/off-topic

 

[aurora72]

Several days ago I've bought a A1344 adapter at the Apple's website in Turkey by paying a hefty sum of money, about $97 and here is a comparison with the suspicious A1344 adapter I used previously.

The authentic adapter displays serial number on the System Preferences > Power > AC Charger Information whereas the suspicious one doesn't.

 

[B S Magnet]

Several days ago I've bought a A1344 adapter at the Apple's website in Turkey by paying a hefty sum of money, about $97 and here is a comparison with the suspicious A1344 adapter I used previously.

The authentic adapter displays serial number on the System Preferences > Power > AC Charger Information whereas the suspicious one doesn't.

Ther serial number for the right MagSafe adapter is, literally, in view on the middle frame. And that comports with a routine Apple serial number syntax. “RR” is the same factory which also produced, at the very least, the yo-yo power adapters for the PowerBooks and iBooks of 1999–2001.

 

[aurora72]

Ther serial number for the right MagSafe adapter is, literally, in view on the middle frame. And that comports with a routine Apple serial number syntax. “RR” is the same factory which also produced, at the very least, the yo-yo power adapters for the PowerBooks and iBooks of 1999–2001.

So the adapter with the serial number beginning with "RR" is an authentic one? If so, why does it display no serial number on System Preferences > Power > AC Charger Information ?

 

[B S Magnet]

So the adapter with the serial number beginning with "RR" is an authentic one? If so, why does it display no serial number on System Preferences > Power > AC Charger Information ?

The “serial number” you’re referring to in System Profiler is a hexadecimal number whose base-10 value would still not correspond to an alphanumeric serial number mandated for Apple-related products. This isn’t to say that the presence of a hexadecimal serial is meaningless, but it is to say that that imprint may not be one used by Apple, but rather, optionally, by whichever vendor is manufacturing the power supply. That is: some may use that for internal tracking and some may not.

That also said: it’s probably likely that both legit and illegit manufacturers didn’t fuss with that hexadecimal serializing.

I still think the one shown at right, without the duckhead adapter, is legitimate, given the serial syntax beginning with RR.

 

[Needleroozer]

The “serial number” you’re referring to in System Profiler is a hexadecimal number whose base-10 value would still not correspond to an alphanumeric serial number mandated for Apple-related products. This isn’t to say that the presence of a hexadecimal serial is meaningless, but it is to say that that imprint may not be one used by Apple, but rather, optionally, by whichever vendor is manufacturing the power supply. That is: some may use that for internal tracking and some may not.

That also said: it’s probably likely that both legit and illegit manufacturers didn’t fuss with that hexadecimal serializing.

I still think the one shown at right, without the duckhead adapter, is legitimate, given the serial syntax beginning with RR.

The “AC Charger Information” section of the System Profiler information comes from the 1-Wire EEPROM/switch in the end of the MagSafe cable. The fact that it’s missing means that either that part is dead or the center pin isn’t quite making contact with the socket. Without that charger identification, I think a MacBook will still charge but not as quickly.

As @rampancy mentioned, Ken Shirrif has good write-ups on MagSafe chargers, including about this 1-Wire chip and what it does.

Teardown and exploration of Apple's Magsafe connector

Have you ever wondered what's inside a Mac's Magsafe connector? What controls the light? How does the Mac know what kind of charger it is? T...

www.righto.com

I’d be curious to know if the LED lights up on that charger when plugged into a MacBook; given that the EEPROM and the LED switch are in the same component it would be interesting if one were to work but not the other.