Why MagSafe is a bad thing

[jowaju]

You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Apple didn’t bring in MagSafe because YOU don’t trip on your cord. They did it because it’s the single biggest point of failure for laptops, hands down. I’ve done PC and Mac repairs for the better part of 25 years now and tripping/drops due to tripping account for a VERY significant percentage of repair work. PC laptop repair work is only eclipsed by spyware infections and hard drive failures.

On a laptop without MagSafe, a single movement of a few inches in the wrong direction means a replacement motherboard (or if you are lucky a plug in module with a new AC jack that still requires a complete tear down of the laptop).

It’s actually mind boggling to me personally that PC manufacturers haven’t come up with anything better than the Pin-Jack power combo that has been the standard for the last 25 years or so. It’s tiny, fragile, and in constant use. Tons of people use their laptops while plugged in and moving around on the couch or bed. Others have to leave it plugged in because the battery no longer holds a charge.

Do that on a non-MagSafe connections for ANY amount of time and you get a connection that gets progressively looser over time, to the point where it loses connection on its own or has to be held in at a certain angle to maintain connection.

This isn’t my opinion on the subject, it’s just the truth. The first step in troubleshooting a laptop that won’t power on is to wiggle the power adapter in the port and see if it changes anything. It’s a well known, widespread, systemic problem with every single manufacturer, even if it’s beyond your level of understanding.

 

[masotime]

Y’all geniuses, how are you gonna pass 140 watt through usb? That standard doesn’t exist yet.

The standard does exist - https://www.usb.org/usb-charger-pd

Announced in 2021, the USB PD Revision 3.1 specification is a major update to enable delivering up to 240W of power over full featured USB Type-C® cable and connector.

This is literally mentioned in this macrumors article - https://www.macrumors.com/2021/10/19/apple-140w-power-adapter-usb-pd-3-1/

Apple also confirmed that the 140W power adapter supports the USB-C Power Delivery 3.1 standard, meaning that it can be used to charge other devices that support that standard.

However, it’s true that USB-PD 3.1 is not yet widely adopted, so Apple is a little ahead of the curve.

 

[haruhiko]

This is the kind of take from somebody who probably liked the Touch Bar, thought the butterfly keyboard was great and thought getting rid of every other port was a good idea.

Not to mention he must be disappointed that the charging port isn’t located at the bottom.

 

[CarbonCycles]

I literally despise the USB-C ports...they are prone to failure through repeated use. As stated earlier, the physical connection points are one of the weakest points in terms of failure for both the iPhone and other hardware.

I have 2 MBPs (13" and 16") that are experiencing intermittent connection problems because of these stupid USB-C ports through repeated use as I cycle from house to office. The MagSafe connector in my really old 15" MBP has saved my laptop from being dropped because of one of the kids coming too close to the desk or my dogs running by.

 

[Tagbert]

But you just lost one usb c port for MagSafe

You probably lost that to the HDMI port. That takes capacity from the thunderbolt channels. The MagSafe is just a simple power port. Perhaps is is HDMI that will cause everyone to abandon USB-C? Yea, not that either.

 

[Tagbert]

..

 

[smirking]

Well on the surface this is a good argument, except the I believe the introduction of MagSafe will all but kill USB-C.

I think you're being far too pessimistic. USB-C charging isn't going anywhere because it's just too useful.

If it weren't, you might have a valid concern. It's so useful that even all of the people who were constantly moaning that they're switching to Windows because they're angry about not having USB-A ports, have finally shut up.

 

[Rafterman]

Y’all geniuses, how are you gonna pass 140 watt through usb? That standard doesn’t exist yet.




You do know that each manufacturer already has his own power port, right?

True. 100 watt max for USB-C. Intel Macbook 16 inches were 96w.

 

[Hobbes44]

Magsafe is proprietary from Apple, and Microsoft licensed it for the Surface line. No one else is going to adopt their own “Magsafe” equivalent laptop chargers.

And for single cable docking, you still can do that - the TB4 ports will take a charge same as the Magsafe one.

Magsafe (for me at least) is a welcome return, mainly because it’s not taking up a port, has a charging indicator on the magnetic connector, and the charging brick is USB-PD, so you can charge your phone, iPad, watch, whatever else from it as well with usb-C to lightning/apple watch charger (or just plug them into the laptop for a quick top ip)

 

[cult hero]

I don’t mind the return. It didn’t mess with USB-C power delivery and, unlike the HDMI nonsense, didn’t get rid of a Thunderbolt port.

With that said, I don’t really get it overall. When laptops were sporting 4-6 hours of actual battery life, it made a ton of sense. People were plugging in all over the place. Meetings. Airports. Living rooms.

With laptops sporting 10+ hours of battery life, who exactly is this mythical person who is plugged in on a regular basis with the power cable in a place where someone is going to trip on it? Are these people working at desks in the middle of a room with their MacBooks plugged directly into a wall?

How many people need to plug in constantly in traffic with a laptop that has 20 hours of battery life like the new MBPs? “Oops. Forgot to charge for two days. Guess I need to work on this paper in my living room while the kids are practicing MMA with the dog.”

I really don’t get the outcry. Especially considering USB-C meant I could FINALLY not be wed to Apple’s chargers.

4 hours of realistic battery life, it was a great feature. 20 though? Can someone please give me an actual use case?

I don’t mind it. It’s an extra port that didn’t take anything away. It’s the nostalgia for MagSafe that I don’t get.

 

[calstanford]

The 'new' notebooks are a pre-2016 retro machine if I've ever seen one. Thicker, not quite as pretty, heavier, old legacy ports. I can kind of see the need for HDMI (to connect a projector quickly, but then again that goes away too these days ...) but SD-Card is clearly old school. People nowadays take pictures with their phones or when they use high end mirrorless, those are slowly but steadily moving to XQD or rather CF Express and thus won't even fit.
Magsafe and get rid of touch bar were more 'lets go back five years to make people happy' moves that were oddly late and like you guys wrote, we kind of moved on from there. I'd rather have gotten a full screen touch screen and another USB-c/Thunderbolt port to charge from. Having one cable for all my machines is a good thing. Now we're back in "I need X cables for my Apple" crap world (Magsafe iPhone, Magsafe 3 Mac, that odd new connector for imac, lightning for iPhone, USB-C for iPad...).

 

[masotime]

True. 100 watt max for USB-C. Intel Macbook 16 inches were 96w.

The standard does exist - https://www.usb.org/usb-charger-pd

Announced in 2021, the USB PD Revision 3.1 specification is a major update to enable delivering up to 240W of power over full featured USB Type-C® cable and connector.

This is literally mentioned in this macrumors article - https://www.macrumors.com/2021/10/19/apple-140w-power-adapter-usb-pd-3-1/

Apple also confirmed that the 140W power adapter supports the USB-C Power Delivery 3.1 standard, meaning that it can be used to charge other devices that support that standard.

 

[1rottenapple]

I agree - I prefer charging via any of the USB-C ports on my 2019 MBP. In fact, I would have preferred they kept 4 USB-C/TB4 ports on the new MacBooks along with the SD card reader. Do away with the HDMI and MagSafe altogether!

I agree. I don't know these people who want MagSafe, I'm all usb-c all the way. Hell I have my MagSafe for the 14in in a bag somewhere. USC-C is just versatile.

 

[JM]

I don’t mind the return. It didn’t mess with USB-C power delivery and, unlike the HDMI nonsense, didn’t get rid of a Thunderbolt port.

With that said, I don’t really get it overall. When laptops were sporting 4-6 hours of actual battery life, it made a ton of sense. People were plugging in all over the place. Meetings. Airports. Living rooms.

With laptops sporting 10+ hours of battery life, who exactly is this mythical person who is plugged in on a regular basis with the power cable in a place where someone is going to trip on it? Are these people working at desks in the middle of a room with their MacBooks plugged directly into a wall?

How many people need to plug in constantly in traffic with a laptop that has 20 hours of battery life like the new MBPs? “Oops. Forgot to charge for two days. Guess I need to work on this paper in my living room while the kids are practicing MMA with the dog.”

I really don’t get the outcry. Especially considering USB-C meant I could FINALLY not be wed to Apple’s chargers.

4 hours of realistic battery life, it was a great feature. 20 though? Can someone please give me an actual use case?

I don’t mind it. It’s an extra port that didn’t take anything away. It’s the nostalgia for MagSafe that I don’t get.

The 'new' notebooks are a pre-2016 retro machine if I've ever seen one. Thicker, not quite as pretty, heavier, old legacy ports. I can kind of see the need for HDMI (to connect a projector quickly, but then again that goes away too these days ...) but SD-Card is clearly old school. People nowadays take pictures with their phones or when they use high end mirrorless, those are slowly but steadily moving to XQD or rather CF Express and thus won't even fit.
Magsafe and get rid of touch bar were more 'lets go back five years to make people happy' moves that were oddly late and like you guys wrote, we kind of moved on from there. I'd rather have gotten a full screen touch screen and another USB-c/Thunderbolt port to charge from. Having one cable for all my machines is a good thing. Now we're back in "I need X cables for my Apple" crap world (Magsafe iPhone, Magsafe 3 Mac, that odd new connector for imac, lightning for iPhone, USB-C for iPad...).

I was going to post “because MagSafe is flipping cool. That’s why.” To the OP.

But y’all hit right on what I was thinking: MagSafe is nostalgic and it does seem like a nod towards the people who really miss the crap out of their old MacBooks. Nostalgia is really selling these days. You have a bunch of people in their 30/40’s who grew up WITH the internet and computers in their formative years of teenage/early twenties.

I’d bet that just having the MagSafe and rounded/squared edges alone enticed many to go drop money on a MacBook Pro to help themselves feel better after a rough two years.

 

[Bandaman]

MagSafe will never be a bad thing.

 

[R56L]

I will use magsafe upstairs where the kids are, and TB4/USB C in the office going through a dock. DIVERSITY.

 

[smirking]

I'd rather have gotten a full screen touch screen and another USB-c/Thunderbolt port to charge from.

Good lord, do not Surface the MacBook Pro.

I don't care much about the return of extra ports either. I was perfectly happy with 4 TB ports, but I think you're being just a bit dramatic in calling the M1x line a pre-2016 machine.

Now, if they had included a USB-A port, I would have to agree with you that they've lost the plot.

 

[gtg465x]

I came here to say the same thing.

Everybody is missing the forest for the trees.

MagSafe is using USB-C for power delivery. The 140w adapter is the first USB-C PD 3.1 charger on the market.

USB-C can deliver high power with the PD 3.1 standard. Apple built it in to the charging block, but not the USB-C ports on the MacBook Pros themselves, probably for cost considerations.

But a MagSafe cable that’s detachable from the charging block is the big win here. MagSafe 1/2 cables frayed, now you’re dropping $80 for a whole new charger with built-in cable. With MagSafe 3, it’s a braided cable, hopefully lasting longer, but less expensive to replace when needed than before.

It’s the best of both worlds, using industry standards somewhat, but Apple proprietary magic where they can do it better. MagSafe is cool.

The USB PD 3.1 spec supporting up to 240 W charging was finalized in May, but the corresponding USB-C cable spec wasn’t finalized until September. It wasn’t a cost saving measure to not support 140 W charging over a USB-C to USB-C cable. There just wasn’t time since the new cable spec was finalized around the same time as these MacBooks were announced. Cables supporting the new spec probably won’t be available until next year. So maybe next year’s Macs will support full charging speeds over USB-C to USB-C.

 

[flapflapflap]

I don't. It's other people.

I'm a fan of MagSafe. Why? My machine has been saved from damage or a fall many, many times. Anybody who needs to plug in on airplanes, in airport boarding lounges during widespread delays, in office reception areas, in crowded conference rooms, at coffee shops and restaurants, and at companies that think beanbags, picnic tables, and staircases are good replacements for desks knows what I'm talking about.

And since the MagSafe charging cable is detachable, I don't see any issues carrying three different charging cables.

 

[macintoshmac]

All of the reviewers and early adopters gushing over MagSafe has made me wonder, who the hell goes around tripping over their charging cable every other day?

Jokes aside I guess people with kids could benefit from it, but I have never experienced nor have I heard of anyone tripping over their charging cable and having their laptop fall in the floor. Which is seemingly the only reason MagSafe exists.

USB-C is superior in that it is as close to a universal port as we are likely to get this lifetime, it is small, it carries data, there’s one on each side of the laptop so you don’t need to wrap your cable around the device.

So I hear some of you saying, since I prefer USB-C why don’t I use that and you use what you prefer, choice! Right?

Well on the surface this is a good argument, except the I believe the introduction of MagSafe will all but kill USB-C. We all know how other manufacturers like to copy apple, I expect it to be the same for power delivery, each one will invent their own MagSafe and we will end up with many different standards. I guess we will see what happens to MagSafe in the future, but if lightning is any indication apple will milk it until it’s bone dry. Meaning it might be the only charging port next time around.

In the end I’m disappointed, apple drove usb c adoption in a big way and I doubt it has the impetus to continue without apples help. I made a small trip the other weekend with my iPhone, iPad and new MacBook, I had to bring two chargers, who the hell would want to bring three?

You are using a Windows computer and are concerned what you might have to deal with by your next upgrade, right?

If not, it makes zero sense. It’s just options provided by Apple. Making everyone happy. Want USB-C charging? Forget MagSafe just use your preferred method. If you’re talking about Windows world, it’s not your (or mine or Apple’s) problem what that world decides to do for their customers. It’s the problem of those customers and they will speak with their wallets as well. I hope they do.

About you not hearing about saved laptops, it doesn’t happen everyday but when it happens there is no rewind button. Unless you have something like MagSafe to prevent it.

 

[flapflapflap]

People are complaining about this? MagSafe saved me a few times when my daughter was little. I wish my 2020 MacBook Pro had it.

People don’t trip everyday over a cord, but it takes one trip to cost a lot of money. They are called accidents for a reason.

My wife's M1 Air fell to the ground because my boy tripped on the USB-C cable. Luckily, there was no damage so I can the merit in MagSafe, though I think the current MagSafe is too strong and would not disengage if connected to the M1 Air, it barely does even for the 14.

 

[EddieKeyton1]

What’s the whole problem everyone has with the lightening port? I only have one device. Therefor only needing one cable. Don’t have a max or anything. Is it just that the iPhone requires a different charger than y’all’s other devices? Forcing you to have multiple charging cables with you?

 

[gtg465x]

The standard does exist - https://www.usb.org/usb-charger-pd



This is literally mentioned in this macrumors article - https://www.macrumors.com/2021/10/19/apple-140w-power-adapter-usb-pd-3-1/



However, it’s true that USB-PD 3.1 is not yet widely adopted, so Apple is a little ahead of the curve.

That’s the standard for USB-C chargers, not USB-C cables, and Apple’s charger does support that standard. The corresponding USB-C cable standard (USB-C Cable 2.1: https://usb.org/document-library/usb-type-cr-cable-and-connector-specification-revision-21) to support the full power of USB-PD 3.1 chargers wasn’t finalized until September, so there wasn’t enough time for Apple to design, test, certify, and manufacture USB-C cables with the new standard. We probably won’t see cables supporting the new standard from any company until next year.

 

[Tuba]

USB-C ports becoming mechanically unstable just happens to be the main reason for laptop replacement where I work (global company, double digit thousand employees). While the standard is nice, the mechanical design of the plugs and sockets leave so much to be desired it isn’t even funny. Now to try to convince IT to let some of us to go back to Macs (again)…

 

[Vratikranka]

All of the reviewers and early adopters gushing over MagSafe has made me wonder, who the hell goes around tripping over their charging cable every other day?

Jokes aside I guess people with kids could benefit from it, but I have never experienced nor have I heard of anyone tripping over their charging cable and having their laptop fall in the floor. Which is seemingly the only reason MagSafe exists.

USB-C is superior in that it is as close to a universal port as we are likely to get this lifetime, it is small, it carries data, there’s one on each side of the laptop so you don’t need to wrap your cable around the device.

So I hear some of you saying, since I prefer USB-C why don’t I use that and you use what you prefer, choice! Right?

Well on the surface this is a good argument, except the I believe the introduction of MagSafe will all but kill USB-C. We all know how other manufacturers like to copy apple, I expect it to be the same for power delivery, each one will invent their own MagSafe and we will end up with many different standards. I guess we will see what happens to MagSafe in the future, but if lightning is any indication apple will milk it until it’s bone dry. Meaning it might be the only charging port next time around.

In the end I’m disappointed, apple drove usb c adoption in a big way and I doubt it has the impetus to continue without apples help. I made a small trip the other weekend with my iPhone, iPad and new MacBook, I had to bring two chargers, who the hell would want to bring three?

I kind of agree with you. Apple might use this to move futher away from USB-C and use this against someone like Eurpean Union in standardising the charging port.
USB-C on iPhones is long overdue; to the point that for iPhone 14 series, they can all but change the lightning port to USB-C and call it a day. Everything else can remain unchanged and yet enough of reason to make it a supercycle!