Sunday 22 February 2009

Apple Charger - apple, laptop battery chargers


I originally bought this as it was pictured with the "new magsafe 90 degree" design, but when I received it, the "old magsafe" style was what I got.



The seller refunded my money, and let me keep the adapter for my trouble and confusion! Great customer service!



The adapter itself works well, but behaves a bit differently than the original Apple one I have.



- When plugged in, or removed, the light on the tip stays lit green. It does show "amber" when charging, and "green" when fully charged (or disconnected).



- The dimensions of the brick are thicker than a stock item It appears to be the same WxH though.



- No Apple Embossing (obviously)



- The "duckhead" (Where the AC plug snaps in) is wider, to match the contour of the thicker brick, and uses polarized AC prongs (one wider than the other), requiring you to match your plug's orientation, whereas the matching prongs of Apple's adapter allow regular or "upside down" insertion to get around other AC adapters, which is especially helpful with surge protectors and power strips.



Overall it works very well, is well made (the cord seems more flexible, but stronger than the Apple one that splits and frays). I would reccomend this for anyone looking for an extra cord at a great price! Replacement 60W MagSafe Power Adapter for Apple MacBook Pro Charger

Initially, I was hesitant to buy one of these 3rd party power adapters after reading the horrible reviews about how some of the other adapters heated up so badly they melted the plastic down and some of which caught on fire. I must say, this adapter works great! The light is amber when charging and turns green when fully charged (just like the apple OEM adapter). One thing, the amber light does stay on even if you don't have it connected to the laptop...I guess this just lets you know the power is running through the adapter. You will know if your laptop is charging or not because the light turns green when the charger is first plugged into the laptop (then turns to amber once charging begins or stays green if the battery is at 100%), also the battery indicator on the taskbar tells you if the battery is charging or not. I have gone through one full charge cycle, it took about an hour to charge my battery from 0%-100% and the charger was NOT hot, barely warm to the touch at times not even warm at all. This charger has a few great safety features with an automatic overload cut-off to prevent the charger from overheating and melting the plastic or catching on fire. It does what it is supposed to do and serves as a perfect replacement for the original OEM charger, which goes for over $100. I don't have a single complaint about this product, hence the reason for the five star review. Also, I was able to use the extension cord from my OEM charger as this charger doesn't come with an extension cable for the power as you can see from the picture it plugs directly into whatever power source you are using with the two foldable prongs attached directly to the white box. So if you're replacing your original OEM Power Adapter and you still have the extension cord that slides off the white box (the extension cord that plugs into the wall) still in tact, it IS compatible with this product so make sure you save that for added convenience. Overall I'm extremely satisfied after reading all the horrible reviews and almost spending the $100+ for an OEM Apple power adapter. Don't let all of those reviews scare you...I am here to say that this product is legit, powers and charges your MacBook efficiently and safely! Hope this review helps somewhat, I don't know about the other replacement chargers for MacBooks, but this one is a GREAT DEAL!

Honestly, I dislike this design of the 60Watt power adaptor. I have have gone through 2 60Watt power adapters already due to a certain problem I had been having. Many people do not realize that there is considerable wire strain from the 60Watt model because the wire would often turn either to the right or left if you weren't careful on your position. Whereas 85Watt model has the wire coming from the side to prevent this strain and this is incredibly important, just google "magsafe burn" and you'll see what I mean.



Here a some really important recommendations to consider provided by Apple:

Reduce Cable Strain-

support [dot] apple [dot] com/kb/HT1630

Remove magsafe properly-

support [dot] apple [dot] com/kb/HT1453?viewlocale=en_US



Pros:

1-Somewhat sturdy, each of my adapters lasted about 1 year



Cons:

1-Strained really easily and can lead to burns!

I got this charger for my MacBook (one of the newer aluminum ones) after my original Apple brand one died (by completely separating the small cord that goes from the transformer to the computer from the transformer). The apple brand ones were significantly more, around $75. When the cord got here the only observable difference was the lack of an apple logo on the side and the charger only came with the travel plug (which is fine if it's a replacement because one should still have the extension cord plug).



However when using this charging cable, you can not reliably charge the computer and run it at the same time. So you have to either turn off or close your computer until the battery is completely charged in order to run off AC power. Otherwise frequently you will get a message saying *Not Charging* on your battery and slowly the battery will drain to 0% and the computer will start bouncing in and out of emergency sleep mode (the mode the Mac goes into when the reserve battery is dead as well). Also if the battery is close to full (between (95-99%) the chord simply will not charge the battery at all.



As well when using this power cord it runs incredibly hot, to the point where after an hour or so of usage it is painful to touch for more than a few seconds.



This product is truly an example of you get what you pay for. I ended up breaking apart my power chord and repairing the wiring just so I could have a reliable power source again.



In short:

Pros: Cheap, aesthetically similar

Cons: Unreliable, computer must be at 100% charge or you can not use the computer and on AC power, if battery is not at 100% the chord will slowly drain the battery, and runs extremely hot. - Macbook Charger - Apple - Macbook - Laptop Battery Chargers'


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