Apple’s MagSafe Adapter: If By ‘Safe’ You Mean ‘Burning Down the House’

I got my MacBook Pro about a year and a half ago. And by ‘about’ I mean I know the exact date and time the stork the UPS delivery guy dropped it off on my doorstep. His name is Steve. The UPS guy, I mean, not my MacBook Pro.

I’ve been in love ever since. As much as I defend Apple though, there is one thing I cannot defend them on and that is the shitty MagSafe adapter.

I can see where they might not have been testing it for a year before they released it and they may not have known that around that year marker they’d begin to fray. And that fraying? Would inevitably cause a lot of them to melt and burn.

There are scorch marks all over mine. It’s almost completely destroyed and, of course, right when it happened to mine? There was a three week back-order on the MacBook and MacBook Pro adapters. I have clips–like the sort they use in salons to keep your hair out of the way–pinching in just the right places otherwise it won’t work.

I think it’s a short or something because only when it’s charging does it start to heat up. I’ve small burn marks all over my fingers from the past couple weeks.

Now they aren’t back-ordered anymore online, but I still plan on taking it to my local Apple Store to see if they’ll give me a free replacement. Word is that they’re giving replacements to anyone whether or not they still have AppleCare¹.

Technology hates me this year which is sad considering how much I love it. I’d elaborate, particularly on more recent incidents, but 1) I’m sure something else will happen within the next few days, and 2) even the abridged version would be novel-length.

That said, I still love Apple, its products, and I’m dying to get Leopard. I’m just not happy with this particular product.

1. This is really good for me because of the effing disastrous milk incident which voided my warranty. ↩

Excuse Me, I’m Off to Mourn the Loss of My Baby

On Monday, for the first time ever since I got my sexy MacBook Pro a year and a half ago, I drank something next to it. I didn’t even think of it. I was sick as hell, my head felt cloudy, I couldn’t breathe, and I just needed some sort of beverage.

Said beverage turned out to me milk.

Milk that turned out to be very bad for my computer. Particularly when I didn’t turn it off right away because my cold-medicine-induced stupor made me, well, rather effing stupid. I’m not even computer illiterate. I just wasn’t thinking.

Very, very, very expensive mistake. Expensive mistake that made me cry. Very expensive mistake that made my keyboard act as if it was possessed by Samara¹.

My dad fixes computers for a living. Spilling milk on it voided my warranty anyway (any problems it has can be blamed on aforementioned evil milk) so he popped it open, cleaned it out, cleaned under the trackpad, tried everything.

Keyboard is fried, trackpad is done for, has massive start-up issues (hit the button, wait for a minute before it makes any indication it’s going to start up at all — and sometimes it doesn’t start up at all) and won’t stay in sleep mode properly.

So today I go to the Apple Store at the mall because 1) I need an external keyboard² for now and 2) I’m applying for a job at another store in the mall. I asked for a quote on what a repair would cost.

Turns out said repair would cost about $1,200 USD. When I could just get a brand new iMac or MacBook with 2 GB of RAM, 2.16 GHz processor, and 160 GB of space (as opposed to my current 1 GB of RAM, 2.0 GHz processor, and 100 GB of space) with about the same amount of money with my student discount.

The thought of spending that much money on an item after only a year and a half of having my MacBook Pro makes me want to cry even more. I was planning on having this computer for several more years. I love this computer–I don’t want a new one! This one is the perfect size, sleek, sexy, and exactly what I need. But I’m definitely not putting up the cash for a brand new one either. I’ll live with a new MacBook despite my dislike of glossy screens, assuming I get this job. I’m probably going to wait until Leopard comes out to buy it to save myself US$119 (again, with student discount).

Hey, whatever computer I get it will always be better than what I had before my current love–a third-hand 400 MHz Dell laptop with broken hinges, 256 MB of RAM, and a 20 GB hard drive that only ran when I got it into the mood.

1. Well, perhaps not as much as that one time on a very, very old Dell laptop I had where I was typing and then everything was inserted backwards (siht ekil tsuj) and my then-girlfriend did not help with my fear that I was going to die in seven days. Have I ever mentioned that I went to a Christian summer camp where part of The Ring was filmed? And I’ve been in the cabin? ↩
2. Turns out it’s very difficult to do anything on your computer when 1) you cannot type and 2) it’s in various naked pieces. ↩

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