It’s overrated. Prone to unwanted disconnections and the interface becoming clogged with ferrous dust and grit in industrial engineering settings. Can see the attraction for some but personally I prefer USB-C. The 90 degree connectors of old weren’t even safe. In certain circumstances you could easily lift the laptop off a table on that corner by the cable before it came crashing down.
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Why MagSafe is a bad thing
- Thread starter DarrylMusashi
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I don’t agree. Very few people actually care about the charging port on their phones.
Magsafe isn't open source. Magsafe existed for about 10 years before Apple killed it last time, and I didn't see any competitors with Magsafe-like chargers.
I live in a very Earthquake-prone area (Japan). Never thought I’d miss MagSafe until we got a decent size Earthquake the other week, which shook my house enough that my MacBook (16”, 2020) which was still charging, was thrown off my desk. It bent the USB-C cable and rendered the cable non-functional. Luckily the laptop was only slightly dented.
It’s for things like the /risk/ of tripping over the cable, or other reasons you’d want the cable to easily come free, that MagSafe is amazing for laptop charging.
It’s for things like the /risk/ of tripping over the cable, or other reasons you’d want the cable to easily come free, that MagSafe is amazing for laptop charging.
You lost one USB-C port for a safe MagSafe port + HDMI port + SD card reader. Not a bad tradeoff as the MagSafe port frees up a USB-C port anyway!
I thought it was a forum for discussing all things mac related, am I not allowed to voice my opinion? I thought that if I conducted myself in a civil manner and presented my opinion I could have an honest discussion. I guess I was wrong, instead I’m being derided for having the “wrong” opinion.
Post/Ask away, but to be quite frank about it I don't believe you thought this through. If you did and are just trolling good job. How you reached the conclusion that USB-C will now somehow be on life support is ridiculous lol.
Several problems in your opening statement that others and I have already brought up.
#1 - Should Apple have made a less powerful laptop that won't need a 140W charger just for the sake of only sticking with USB-C charging? Is the port important enough to give up performance for the illusion of more flexibility?
#2 - Who doesn't want extra security when it comes with such high end devices? Apple has had a very tough time convincing people that they made the best decisions for their notebooks since 2015. Pre DongleBook era the magsafe was an adored feature by the loyal mac users such as myself.
#3 - There are still 3 USB-C ports on these new machines and that should be plenty for most considering what most will be connecting. Good chance a power user will connect their display via HDMI, connect an SD Card and most likely have the battery charging via the new magsafe connector. I counted 3 items connected, no USB-C ports occupied as of yet.
In the DongleBook era that's likely 2 usb-c ports occupied, possibly 3 depending on the hub/cables purchased. And you still also run into the possibility of your cat, your child or possibly yourself tripping over your cable and send your macbook flying because you don't have magsafe anymore.
Bottom line:
The versatility these ports being back is a win for most consumers. This whole idea of having 2 or 4 ultra versatile ports > 3 versatile ports + 3 dedicated ports is bizarre.
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Seriously..? My parents Roomba runs over my mothers (non Apple/magsafe) charging cable every time she leaves her computer on the table and without fail, every time the Roomba spins up the cord and rips the computer off the table onto the rug. Happens once a week at least. If you have your charging cable isolated in an office or something, sure, but otherwise MagSafe is a godsend. Especially like you said, when you've got a 3 year old running around.
Fortunately, you can still use USB-C to charge your MacBook.
Am I the only that got a USB-C MagSafe adaptor? Why didn’t Apple put the magnets to the power and save the USB-C port? ??♂️
MagSafe is bad - Statement of fact.
Why I don’t like MagSafe - Statement of opinion.
Exactly. Dock powers at home, magsafe on the road and at the office! Where there are people and
Absolutely, and choice is a good thing. As I said, I can see the attraction. But unfortunately for me the MagSafe socket will still attract metallic debris wether or not I use it. Not a dealbreaker and it wouldn’t stop me buying one, but for me personally it’s an overrated feature. I earn a living with my MacBook Pro and it doesn’t spend all its life in a nice clean office ?
So true, and that is why on the new MBP's the ports are easily replaceable as they are on separate boards plugged into the motherboard. Apple has eliminated another weak spot.
Magsafe is a requirement for the highest end models. There is no way to get around the 100W limit at the moment that I am aware of via the usb ports.
I don't see Magsafe coming back on the macbook air and the less "pro" pros since those will likely not cross that 100W threshold.
This happened to me once: I had a magnetic door stop in my room and the MagSafe connector of my 2012 rMBP fell to the ground and attached to it magnetically, which caused a short circuit and the charger was fried. MagSafe is not “bad” but caution must also be taken.
The 14-inch also doesn’t exceed the 100W threshold. So it depends if Apple wants to add it to the MBA. The 2011 MBA had a MagSafe 2 port for charging for instance.
Dell charges with 130W through USB-C with their own power adapter. Drops to 100W with third party ones.
Probably for the sake of uniformity with the big brother.
Can you imagine the threads on here if Apple decided to not include Magsafe on the 14" and still take away the 4th usb-c port? They might have had to close down the 5th avenue store and the starbucks shops in Manhattan for a few hours.
What is all this about magsafe "replacing" a usb-c port. The number of USB-C's are dictated by the bandwidth available.
The reason you have only 3 usb-c (TB4) ports is most likely due to the HDMI + SDXC card reader.
The magsafe is purely power delivery. you lost nothing due to it, just gained one more way to charge the device.
The reason you have only 3 usb-c (TB4) ports is most likely due to the HDMI + SDXC card reader.
The magsafe is purely power delivery. you lost nothing due to it, just gained one more way to charge the device.
Years ago when Apple removed the magsafe, I felt as though it was truly a great feature. I dedicated, magnetic, easy to hook up and disconnect, and safer way to charge your laptop. Genius.
Then year after year, month after month, day after day passed. We saw keyboard gate, people on youtube putting their MacBook Pros in the fridge to cool it down, throttle issues, dissatisfaction with a useless touch bar for some, and so on.
We charged our MacBook Pros just fine. At least, many of us did.
And now, I'm happy with it. I like having less cables and bricks. I think having 1 port for everything is Genius. It makes moving around much easier, travel, and it's nice just not to think about it.
My only wish is that the iPhone get USB-C as well. That would make things so super smooth.
Then year after year, month after month, day after day passed. We saw keyboard gate, people on youtube putting their MacBook Pros in the fridge to cool it down, throttle issues, dissatisfaction with a useless touch bar for some, and so on.
We charged our MacBook Pros just fine. At least, many of us did.
And now, I'm happy with it. I like having less cables and bricks. I think having 1 port for everything is Genius. It makes moving around much easier, travel, and it's nice just not to think about it.
My only wish is that the iPhone get USB-C as well. That would make things so super smooth.
It will come. They are squeezing out every penny they can from the MFI fees until they come out with something else to charge a license fee for.
I've been on MacRumors and other such sites for years, and I've seen - maybe half a dozen broken laptops due to the power cord pulling the machine to its death.
Personally - I never killed my Pismo or Clam, but there were certainly near misses.
In terms of cost / benefit... maybe MagSafe is not warranted... But if it did happen to YOUR $2k+ machine - I bet you'd wish it had MagSafe...
Personally - I never killed my Pismo or Clam, but there were certainly near misses.
In terms of cost / benefit... maybe MagSafe is not warranted... But if it did happen to YOUR $2k+ machine - I bet you'd wish it had MagSafe...
For starters… MagSafe is old, this isn’t a new thing. This is a return… and pretty much just Microsoft copied the first time… Secondly… MagSafe isn’t meant to become the primary way you charge your MacBook. The wonderful thing behind all of this is that USB-C is still a thing. 1 port docking and undocking, plus a safe way to charge when you’re not docked. Get your “workspace” setup with a USB-C dock and when you’re at your desk, plug it in. Then keep the MagSafe plug handy for when you’re using it on the couch, or in the kitchen, maybe helping your kid with their homework or something. That way in those rare circumstance when it’s more likely to get tripped on, you have the security of MagSafe. But when it’s nice, tidy and protected on your desk you have the flexibility and usability of USB-C.