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Comment by sfifs | Hacker News Reader

Don't use Macs but I'm surprised Apple apparently didn't give an earthed power adapter by default on a metal skin product. This seems like negligence.

Now that I think about it, my iPad's the same when charging.

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In the U.K. they come with earthed plug.

However I still noticed "buzzing" in the MBP, MBA and even iPad when I would touched them.

Took the MBP in to the store. It didn't buzz there. They gave me a new power supply anyways and recommended I connect the plug directly into the wall socket.

Turned out that the power strip I was using is not grounded even though it has three pin sockets !

When I plug Apple devices directly into the wall socket I don't notice any "buzzing".

So now I don't connect the Apple devices via a power strip.

Throw away that power strip.

As in, right now. It violates every electric safety law around.

I would rather at least try to disassemble it before throwing away - otherwise it is likely that someone will pull it from the bin and use it or sell it.

My UK MacBook came with two plugs; one with a long cable and an earth connection, and one "short" one that's just the plug head, with no earth connection (the slot that the earth ring from the transformer connects to is just plastic inside).

I get the shocks when using the short connector, and always have.

Here is a DIY guide by someone who figured out how to fix the issue (danger, electricity, don't kill yourself)

http://garethhayes.net/apple-power-plug-not-earthed/

They do give one by default, but you can disconnect it if you so choose.

FWIW, I have never had a problem using the two pronged plug in the US. It's interesting to see all this preexisting problems with MacBooks surfacing after the recent release of the MBP

They don't include them anymore in the 2016 MacBooks

They stopped as of the new MacBooks this month :/

Wow. More expensive and includes less... I don't know what they are thinking... I never even though of Mac's shocking people under normal use. wow.

There's also a good chance that, at least in part due to Apple's greed and extravagant prices for chargers / fragile power cords, many people are using knockoff chargers and don't know it. See also Amazon happily selling knockoffs as real -- Apple claims 90% of chargers it recently bought on Amazon are fake and is suing the supplier, though unfortunately is not suing Amazon [1], which might help Amazon find the will to stop people selling fakes.

[1] https://9to5mac.com/2016/10/19/amazon-fake-apple-chargers-ca...

Have you seen a tear down of the authentic chargers? There's a lot going on in there.

Right, but even still, you don't think Apple's commanding actual profit from them? They're up to $90...

This was a really good teardown.

http://www.righto.com/2015/11/macbook-charger-teardown-surpr...

The author also does consider the cost of the components.

As mentioned below, a reasonable estimate of the cost is $30.

They could also sell replacement user swappable magsafe cords and defang many of the complaints. But then they couldn't effectively charge $90 for a replacement cord.

I have wanted that cord to be replaceable forever. At least it finally is now. Given how many the kids and dog destroy I consider it an improvement.

I have wondered if the degradation of the cord wasn't some sort of safety guarantee rather than planned obsolescence. When the cord wears out you buy a new one instead of using the ancient one from eight years ago.

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