attractive blue plastic? lol come on make it believable that the review is not paid or given for free.
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Review: Ten One Design's Clever 'Blockhead' Allows MacBook and iPad Chargers to Fit Behind Furniture
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These things tend to get warm.... don't they need to breathe a little?
When they're squashed between the wall and the fabric of a couch, that can only spell trouble.
When they're squashed between the wall and the fabric of a couch, that can only spell trouble.
Yeah, they get a little warm. But who plugs them in and then pushes furniture up tight against stuff stuck in an electrical outlet? An mere inch or so of ventilation would be plenty to prevent any "trouble".
I'm always baffled with companies asking 20-30 dollars for a small piece of plastic. I'm even more baffled with people thinking it's a bargain and purchase stuff for those prices.
These peripherals are not expensive to design, not expensive to produce and dirt cheap to get them shipped over to any country, including the US.
With colleagues buying their Macbooks in various countries, we end up with a pile of adapters and power cords with exotic plugs.
As most of our work is being done in countries with EU-type power plugs, we buy 'China' Apple EU-socket adapters for about $19.95....
...for a bulk box of 20 pieces, delivered to our office. Quality is very acceptable and you need to inspect them very closely to see any difference with the original one. We forget them, loose them or give them away whenever we see people in coffee shops struggling with their large bulky travel adapters attached to their power supply.
I invite the Ten-One people to have a coffee with me next time they're in Shenzhen, I'll show them some places where they can produce a 'clever blockhead' for about 10 cents a pop. Sadly, these small sweatshops will produce them, with, or without their permission.
Coffee is on me!
These peripherals are not expensive to design, not expensive to produce and dirt cheap to get them shipped over to any country, including the US.
With colleagues buying their Macbooks in various countries, we end up with a pile of adapters and power cords with exotic plugs.
As most of our work is being done in countries with EU-type power plugs, we buy 'China' Apple EU-socket adapters for about $19.95....
...for a bulk box of 20 pieces, delivered to our office. Quality is very acceptable and you need to inspect them very closely to see any difference with the original one. We forget them, loose them or give them away whenever we see people in coffee shops struggling with their large bulky travel adapters attached to their power supply.
I invite the Ten-One people to have a coffee with me next time they're in Shenzhen, I'll show them some places where they can produce a 'clever blockhead' for about 10 cents a pop. Sadly, these small sweatshops will produce them, with, or without their permission.
Coffee is on me!
Sorry to say, but American outlets are just pure ****. They wiggle, the plugs fall out if you touch them, the extension cords keep disconnecting... When you have an adapter plugged in with some weight, it keeps falling out on its own. It's a complete mess.
P.S.: Sorry for the pretty off-topic rant.
P.S.: Sorry for the pretty off-topic rant.
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No grounding / earth pin, just like Apple's non-corded US adapter block. I just love that sparky feeling that using my MacBook Pro gives me, like being a badly-coupled ultra-long-wave antenna.
They don't include an extension cord with the new macbook. Why are you so uninformed and utterly angry? Sheesh man, chill.
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Because we bought Mac's to begin with? ha.
Uninformed are the people that spend $20 on something that costs 2cents to make.
I would love for somebody to make little adapters like this but....
- $20? - you've got to be kidding me. I've seen fake Apple replacement ones (e..g retractable) for $3 in the local mall.
- It doesn't sit flush? How cheap is this thing?
- Only 2 prongs. Granted this only happens once every couple of years but the two prong design often causes sparks when plugging in, which will eventually destroy the adapter. Lost 2 adapters this way over the last 10 years. Ok, admittedly, that's not a lot, all things considered, but it still sucks when your power adapter just dies and you have to find a new one in a hurry.
- Fits flush in a wall, doesn't fit anywhere else. Overall the original Apple design is a better solution... why didn't they make this flexible, with optionally 3 prongs, and able to tilt.
- $20? - you've got to be kidding me. I've seen fake Apple replacement ones (e..g retractable) for $3 in the local mall.
- It doesn't sit flush? How cheap is this thing?
- Only 2 prongs. Granted this only happens once every couple of years but the two prong design often causes sparks when plugging in, which will eventually destroy the adapter. Lost 2 adapters this way over the last 10 years. Ok, admittedly, that's not a lot, all things considered, but it still sucks when your power adapter just dies and you have to find a new one in a hurry.
- Fits flush in a wall, doesn't fit anywhere else. Overall the original Apple design is a better solution... why didn't they make this flexible, with optionally 3 prongs, and able to tilt.
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This is the finest case of someone solving a non-problem I've ever seen. Even if it was a problem, I'd still buy a flat-plug extension for ~$5 before fooling with some $20 piece of plastic.
I doubt they did any market research to discover a demand for this. The website cracks me up. They call it "deliciously thin".
I doubt they did any market research to discover a demand for this. The website cracks me up. They call it "deliciously thin".
I bet they already are making it in China for 10 cents a pop though. After all costs and fees it prob doesn't go past $0.75 but the end price is just the apple mark up.
...says the guy whose signature show he doesn't care much about cost vs selling price! Apple isn't exactly working on razor thin margins!!
Now, for everyone complaining about the price, here's a page out of Business 101...this is a niche/specialized product. Millions of people worldwide aren't looking for a right-angle adapter. How long, exactly, do you expect this company to stay in business selling a few thousand of these adapters at $3 each? IF a right-angle adapter helps you, you'll buy it. For someone who thinks nothing about spending $2000 for a laptop worth half that, $20 is a drop in the bucket.
If you don't need it, don't buy it! If you do, either buy an extension cord with a flush plug or buy this.
autrefois
macrumors 65816
I thought I had seen this before on MR. Thanks for finding the original.
Maybe someone from MR can explain why there are two articles on the same product in so little time, just an oversight?
I need your email address. Please offer these in the Wish app and I will buy a box and do what you do here in the US! Your a nice person! Too many selfish punks in Silicone Valley! My email is agapecs@msn.com...
Looks to me like the first one was an "announcement" and the second was a "review" - even though they contained pretty much the same content.
[doublepost=1466874195][/doublepost]Wow! This is really costly. $5-10 would be my limit and that's only if I couldn't figure out another way.
Created by Ten One Design, the Blockhead is a simple plug designed to rotate the orientation of the MacBook or iPad Power Adapter so it rests flush against a wall or power strip when it's plugged in.
There are, occasionally, some products that are so simple and intuitive that you look at them and wonder why they didn't already exist -- the Blockhead is one of those products. Made from blue plastic, the Blockhead replaces the snap-in plug portion of the official chargers for Apple's lineup of MacBooks and iPads.
There's not a lot to say about the design of the Blockhead. It's similar to the official AC wall adapter that can be snapped out of a MacBook or iPad Power Adapter, but its plugs are oriented in a different direction. Made of an attractive blue ABS plastic instead of white plastic, the Blockhead is otherwise functionally identical to Apple's own power adapter bits.
Click here to read more...
Article Link: Review: Ten One Design's Clever 'Blockhead' Allows MacBook and iPad Chargers to Fit Behind Furniture
It's $20 to perform a function that any simple right-angle plug adapter can do for a small fraction of the price.
Here's just one example: https://www.amazon.com/Hug-A-Plug-DG1-S-36-0-WH-White/dp/B003I7UE5I
And here's one for $5 you could just leave behind your furniture, plug in your MacBook and FIVE other things if you wanted:
https://www.amazon.com/GE-Side-Access-6-Outlet-Tap-54543/dp/B00106GYLM/
See where I'm going with this?
The fact that laptops cost ~$1K or more doesn't justify being ripped off to this extent.
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The plug in the Apple transformer is industry standard C8. So any C8 cord (with proper amp rating) can be used, even if it doesn't look as nice as the Apple cord.
You've gotta wonder with a lot of these front-page 'reviews'.
Okay they didn't pay you up front, but if we click the link to purchase it, then MR get a cut.
It's an okay idea, but deserving of a front page story? I think not. GIMMICK!
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I swear I've already got a (white) one of these sitting around somewhere that I purchased for about $2.
I understand that there are products that can serve similar functions, but the blockhead seems like it would fit firmly on the ac brick and stay there. I don't think $20 is exorbitant. I think apple would probably sell a comprable adapter, with admittedly better build quality, for 19-29 or so.
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Seriously, just buy a 1m long extension cable with one end having a right angle NEMA plug.