Finds! - Generic Apple Magsafe

Banner image courtesy of joelsuplido from Flickr.
Call me elitist, but I'm a pretty big fan of Apple. Long story short, I got fed up with poor quality PC products from Compaq, eMachines, Toshiba, and HP. Aside from my old Pentium II IBM Aptiva computer from 1995, my other computers have only lasted me so long. My last PC was an HP pavilion laptop that only managed to last me about a little less than two years; quite disappointing to say the least. I was pretty much done with PCs for the rest of my life and several recommendations later, I decided to get myself a Macbook. Two and a half years later, it's still going on strong and loving every moment of it.

This doesn't mean I devoted my life to loving Apple products. I don't have an iPhone, or AppleTV, or multiple iPods (just one--my refurb 30GB iPod video). I like the build quality of most Apple products, however for some reasons you can't help but notice some serious design flaws with some of their other products, especially the magsafe power adapter.

What do you mean? It's an awesome little box that's portable and has little hooks in which I can wind up the power cord. It also has that mini-magnet connector that ensures that it will disconnect if you put any type of strain on the cord. The connector also has a neat trick using an LED light to indicate when your Macbook is charging/fully-charged--it's so clever.

Okay fair enough. I can say those features are pretty nice. Despite all the praise it gets, there are some catastrophic flaws with the design. I'm not sure if this is still a recurring problem with current magsafe chargers, but for a period of time they had a tendency of overheating, creating potential fire hazards. If you take a look on the Apple store website or other online vendors, you can see numerous notes about people encountering problems with the wires fraying, shorting, overheating, and melting. A class action lawsuit resulted because of the defects; since then Apple has offered replacement power adapters for those damaged ones, provided they show no signs of accidental damage. Although this didn't happen to my old power adapter, I've met people who have indeed encountered this problem. Long story short, it wasn't a pretty sight to see.

Another problem with the power adapter is its unbelievably short and thin connector wire. Riiight, wire durability tends to be a problem for a lot of products these days. In this day and age when nearly everything needs to be charged by a power adapter (either for your laptop, cell phone, bluetooth headpiece, digital cameras, etc), it would be nice to have a sturdy durable wire connection in case there's any strain or tension put on it; it simply needs to meet standards of daily wear under normal use. I for one have taken extremely good care of my adapter, never wrapping it around those damned hooks on the adapter nor have I tangled the cord in any fashion. The end of the cord with the magsafe connector must be one of the thinnest charger cords I have ever seen. It's basically a piece of spaghetti, and I bet if I took a bite into it, it might just tear into two. As a result of two and a half years of normal wear, the wire seemed to fray near the box and I was left with no means of charging my Macbook. It makes me wonder sometimes since the AC cord with the ground connector has a significantly better cord and would prefer that same thick cord for the connector. Sheesh, what was Apple thinking?

Regardless, I had to go find a new power adapter. What $80 Apple? I know a lot of PC users like to say that people are paying the Apple tax when people buy their products; and in this case, they're right on point. There's absolutely no reason that small box is worth $80. It's obviously produced in China (most likely by child labor) for $2, perhaps even less, and sold with a 4000% markup. Being a cheap ass, I went into the wide world of eBay looking for a reliable cheap knockoff (hmm that's an oxymoron if I ever heard one) power adapter. Alas, I found one for roughly $16 + free shipping, a huge difference from $80.

In some of the comparison pictures, it's fairly generic looking. No Apple logo engraved into the adapter, but that's not what I'm buying it for. It did not come with the AC cord, but I tested it with my original AC cord and it worked perfectly. I've been using it for a good four months now with no hiccups at all. I definitely was unsure about buying an unauthentic/generic $16 power adapter to charge my thousand dollar macbook with my life in it, but in the end I was glad I made that purchase.

If you'd like to receive information about the particular eBay seller I bought it from, please leave a comment below.

I'm an Old Fart. Let me Rip...Snow

It's been a long time since I've written anything substantial. Call me lazy, but I'm lacking any type of motivation to write this month. Come to think of it, I've been slowing down the number of posts since the winter started. I guess it must be a seasonal thing. I just want to curl up in a blanket when it's cold outside; not to mention all the snow that came this past winter. It's pretty sad really, since I used to love the snow as kid. Nowadays, it's just a big burden whenever it starts piling up.


If you ever grew up in a region with four seasons or in one with typically colder weather, snow kicked ass. Not only could you engage in some awesome snowball fights, you could make a snow man, go sledding (if there's a nearby hill), lie down and make some snow angels, or if you're ambitious enough, sculpt an igloo (I never got around to making one).

It's still only April, so there could still be a possibility of it snowing again. Everyone or at least I think everyone knows the saying "April showers bring May flowers." Well, in Michigan, April snows bring May woes, the spring April owes, I suppose. When will Spring come? Who the fuck knows? That was a terrible rhyme, but it's that strong Dr. Seuss influence from all of his books I read during my childhood. Living in Michigan, those damned lakes will most likely be affecting the weather as spring rolls around.

Since I've grown up, snow has become more of a burden for me. During college, you weren't really offered any type of snow day, if it snowed five to six inches, you were still expected to make the trek to class. The only time I had a class canceled in college by means of snow accumulation was when the professor wasn't able to make it to class. Even at that time, I still made the cold bitter journey to class only to be infuriated by a paper notice on the classroom door notifying class was canceled. What about an email? Eh, regardless, I was pretty pissed to know I could have been snuggled up in my bed at the same time.

Nowadays I work a temporary job at a freight carrier. Snow is never friendly to them honestly. Snow causes delays upon delays and dangerous roads for truckers going through a given area. As far as I know, Pennsylvania experience record snowfalls this years in terms of accumulation which definitely did not make my job any easier trying to explain to customers why they hadn't received their freight or whatever they may have. To them, regardless of rain, snow, hurricane, tornado, tsunami, or shine, they want their freight--and on time. A heavy case of tunnel-visioned customers makes for a very unpleasant day on my end; taking verbal abuse nearly every minute of the day. This is not to lessen the severity of a typical day since I do get yelled at at least three or four times daily. People just don't understand that it's extremely dangerous for a 53' truck and trailer to be moving through slick unsalted roads and try to power through snowy days. Some shipments are just going to take longer to get to their destination as a result.

Alright this is probably an extreme case of trucker trouble, but it really is risky for truckers to be out in snowy conditions.

Speaking of dangerous conditions, this last winter was the first one I experienced commuting on a daily basis. Honestly, it's scary as hell when snow and freezing rain are involved. Just think about it. It's already scary enough to be traveling down the road trusting everyone in your vicinity is competent enough to stay in his/her lane and to maintain a safe distance away as well as abide traffic lights and signs. Add in some hazardous and snowy conditions and you'll have one hell of a commute.

Boy do I hate the snow. It sure creates more problems than it solves. I guess you can take into account that it is imperative to have balanced seasons, but for me, snow is just mere eye candy every three the four months of the year. Alright...Perhaps I'm being a little bit too cynical. I could technically still have fun during the winter after a snowfall. It's purely the lack of free time that's driving me insane. Snow also isn't particularly that hazardous compared to a hurricane, tsunami, earthquake, or some other natural disaster; it's fluffy and wants to be left alone, but can be pushed and packed away when need be. There's simply no stopping hurricane when it comes around--Katrina you bitch.


So honestly, I felt pretty angry and flustered all about nothing. With anything regarding the weather, there are going to be some good and bad aspects. Some people could say rain sucks equally hard, or some people might not like sunny days. Snow doesn't completely suck; it blows sometimes as it interferes with your daily grind, but whenever I gaze outside my bedroom window after an overnight flurry, the view is quite nice.