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Comment by ravenstine | Hacker News Reader

I'll believe it when I see it. I could believe them getting rid of the touchbar, but bringing back magsafe? I'm sticking with my 2015 MacBook until it's irreparable, and I do like the magsafe port, but is there really any point in going back after moving to USB-C? I think I just like magsafe because it's cool more than that it actually has some sort of superiority over USB-C. I've tripped over the USB-C cable to my work laptop(2018 model) a handful of times and somehow the cable always manages to unplug without flinging the laptop across the room or damaging the USB components themselves. It doesn't seem like going back to magsafe would achieve anything.

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My favorite part of my touchbar MBP is that it uses USB-C charging. MagSafe is neat, but I don't miss the $80 proprietary charger with a cable that's fixed to the brick and will probably fail if you do anything other than leave it sitting at a desk.

Could this be talking about an iPhone 12 style magsafe with a large pad? Not sure how that would work, you'd have to set your computer on top of it to have enough contact area. Couldn't go on the back of the screen (too thick), so I'm not sure where else it would be. And can it do a high enough wattage? A thin connection like the pencil charging along the side of the computer perhaps, but I'm even more skeptical of wattage with that approach, and it'd mean yet another special cable.

It's certainly true that Apple has been on a big magnets kick lately. MagSafe for iPhones, Pencil charging on the iPad, the Magic Keyboard mounting, and the Apple Watch charger all come to mind.

> MagSafe is neat, but I don't miss the $80 proprietary charger with a cable that's fixed to the brick

No law of physics requires a cable with a magnet on one end to not be detachable from the brick on the other end. So while I too do not lament that the cable is no longer affixed to the bricks, I would like Apple to make a magsafe cable that is just not attached that is also not shitty (all those third party USBC attachments have terrible weak magnets that can't even hold themselves in place and I believe can cause power delivery problems).

Physics might not, but the tech spec might.

The other important aspect of USB-C versus MagSafe is that I have USB-C cables hooked up on charges all around my apartment. There's a multi-port charger at my desk, one in the living room, and another in my bedroom. Laptop uses the same charging cable from these as my iPad does. Sometimes I hook another charger up in my kitchen if I'm using my iPad for recipes and want to charge it while I cook. There's another a USB-C charger that lives in my bag, along with a USB-C cable which can also charge my iPad and a power bank.

Even if they make this a new cable with USB-C on one end and NewMagSafe on the other, it'd mean buying a whole bunch of new cables if I wanted to actually use it. And I'd need to buy a whole bunch of chargers too, because the ones I have are mainly a single USB-C port and a couple USB-A ports.

If they want to make yet another proprietary charging cable, fine. I don't really care as long as USB-C charging is still supported.

But the new MacBook would still have USB-C for peripherals right? So it could be, if those still would support USB-PD, that the new MacBook can be charged over magsafe or, if you happen to be near USB-C, using your 'legacy' USB-C charger for 'backwards compatibility'. That would be pretty sweet!!

One can hope

Interesting you say that because I've been using a 3rd party USB-C to Magsafe connector to charge my Macbook and it works great. The magnet is even stronger than the OEM ones. Never had a problem with it.

Can you share the link for the cable? Would love to check it out.

This is the exact one I bought:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F7BHZLK

I got it half expecting it to be a piece of crap, but I've been really happy with it so far. Mind you, the power source still needs to have a certain output to charge your Macbook, but it's allowed me to use the same USB-C charger that comes with newer Macbooks with my 2015 Macbook.

EDIT: I hope that was what you were picturing. I suppose someone reading my comment could have interpreted it as a magsafe-to-usb-c connector.

I was talking about the things that add magsafe charging while still allowing data transfer for current usbc macs. I'm simultaneously sad and happy to not be proved wrong. :(

This is what I use with my Intel 16” MBP and M1 Air.

Magnetic Thunderbolt3 USB C Adapter 24Pins USB-C Connector, Support PD 100W Quick Charge, 40Gbp/s Data Transfer and 6K@60Hz 4K@60Hz Video Output Compatible for MacBook Pro/Air and More Type C Devices https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0896QK2J5/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_...

I tried several of those and the magnets were all so bad that they couldn't even support the weight of the cable itself and would lead to fraction-of-a-second disconnects, which in one case led the mac to disable charging on the port (temporarily. the apple store fixed it but I don't know how).

At this point I don't think the reward is worth the risk. But I am glad to hear that at least some of them aren't terrible.

I use it to connect to the dock on my desk, so the cable weight wasn’t an issue, but I can see how the weight of the cable pulling down would disconnect the magnetic connector.

> I would like Apple to make a magsafe cable that is just not attached that is also not shitty

Bonus points if they make them in a flavor/odor that cats hate. Apple chargers are the only gear my cat has ever chewed on, and I'm not alone in that. I've had to replace 3 cords now. https://www.google.com/search?q=apple+charger+cat+chew

Weird. When my puppy was teething last year, he chewed the ends off a bunch of Apple USB-C and Lightning cables, but didn't touch any other cables (including our non-Apple USB-C and Lightning cables, of which we have plenty.)

Wonder if it's something like this:

https://www.prestigeimports.net/are-rodents-chewing-the-wiri...

> My favorite part of my touchbar MBP is that it uses USB-C charging. MagSafe is neat, but I don't miss the $80 proprietary charger with a cable that's fixed to the brick and will probably fail if you do anything other than leave it sitting at a desk.

Magsafe is more than neat, it pretty much solved the major annoyance with laptop power cables (e.g. someone trips on cable, and laptop gets jerked around, eventually damaging something).

Apple likes to toot its own horn way to much, but they deserve tons of credit for Magsafe.

I love the design of the MagSafe chargers, you point out a great advantage of them, but sadly they aren't durable. And like the parent comment said, they are expensive. I'm on my second for my current laptop and it's frayed on the end so I'm soon to be on my third. Hopefully a next iteration of MagSafe takes this issue more seriously.

Shore it up by wrapping electrical tape around it. To be stylish, find some white electrical tape.

That works for a while so long as it's not fraying near the Magsafe connector itself. I eventually threw out my older charger because there was more electrical tape than original coating. My current one started deteriorating right at the connector so it's patched up with epoxy paste to provide strain relief.

I tend to agree that Apple isn't going to retreat on USB-C. That just doesn't make a lot of sense. And whatever minor virtues Magsafe may have, I'm happy when traveling not to have to remember a one-off charger for a laptop. (Which I have forgotten a couple of times.)

I just bought my first macbook, a 2015 model. Looking at the charger, the connection with the magsafe connector looks ok (but definitely weaker than regular barrel jacks), but it seems to me that people get the tendency to unplug it by pulling the cable instead of pulling on the connector. Perhaps that's why they deteriorate rapidly?

I'm sure people do at least now and then. I almost certainly have--are at least I'm not super careful. And I know mine does get accidentally yanked out every now and then.

And I find the covering of the whole cord tends to deteriorate over time, which isn't strain related.

Or some Sugru if you want to get real fancy.

Use self-amalgamating tape, I use this on all new cables where I suspect strain relief is needed.

I have a couple MagSafe chargers (for the 15 inch Pro) sitting in a drawer with no Mac that can use them. I can’t be bothered to sell them on eBay, I’d be happy to pass them on if you cover shipping.

> I love the design of the MagSafe chargers, you point out a great advantage of them, but sadly they aren't durable.

I was only talking about the MagSafe connector, which was genius. I agree that they made a few very poor decisions in other parts of the charger (specifically: the cable itself).

This can only be planned obsolescence. Anti-fray cable ends have been a standard feature of headphones for decades.

I too loved MagSafe. It wasn’t without issues though. The cables didn’t have strain relief so ended up destroyed in certain hands. The other issue may be more region specific - New Zealand has iron sand beaches and fine black sand gets everywhere. Presumably some got into a bag of mine and a very small amount go into the laptop charging ports of multiple laptops. It caused the charger to not connect perfectly and this generated hear and blackened the plug and laptop around the port.

Also if you have small children who put the magsafe connector in their mouth it kills the power brick. If you plug a faulty power brick into a laptop it would sometimes fry the power circuit on the laptop as well.

But I'm 100% in agreement that Apple underdesigned the strain relief on the MagSafe connectors, probably for aesthetic reasons.

Here's an alternate solution to that problem: build a laptop with 20 hours of battery so that people aren't sitting on the couch with their laptop on the coffee table and a power cord dangling across the living room floor.

I don't have an M1 machine, but the impression I get from people is that "Plug it in overnight at your desk and literally don't worry about its battery running out" is a reasonable thing to do now.

That's the experience I have with my HP "windows on arm" laptop (one of the launch devices - not the newer more powerful CPU). And of course in the last few rounds of Windows updates they broke "Instant On" which besides battery life was the only other great thing about it. Now it's a slow laptop with great battery life that's frustrating because it takes 20 seconds to turn on.

Connected Standby is still functional today... you might want to do a reinstall... (sadly Windows still doesn't always _remain_ stable with time)

>Here's an alternate solution to that problem: build a laptop with 20 hours of battery so that people aren't sitting on the couch with their laptop on the coffee table and a power cord dangling across the living room floor.

That's a non-solution, since a large majority of the people will use the laptop on their office desk/home desktop, and prefer to have it plugged in while so.

I’d argue that using the laptop at a desk negates the need for a “yank-proof” charger since in most office situations there’s an outlet near or under the desk. Thus the cable won’t be draped across a walkway where someone might trip on it.

Do you have people tripping over the cords under your desk?

Are all people's desks conveniently placed for cable management?

Well I’ve got a power strip so I’m not running separate power cords for my computer, a powered USB hub, a lamp, an external hard drive, etc. since that would need a whole bunch of wall outlets that I definitely don’t have.

Having more than two things plugged in at a desk is pretty common situation and literally everyone solves it with a surge protector / power strip. So the laptop cord isn’t dangling across the room, it just runs from the power strip under the desk up the wall to the laptop on the desk. Not a situation where MagSafe would do anything for it.

There are well setup home office desks (I use one, now, didn't always have one), and there are all kinds of office makeshift desk situations, from a simple small ikea desk with a laptop on it and not much else, to the kitch table used as a desk (and cables going to the wall).

Sometimes you're also on the sofa and need to charge, and so on...

Right, but my point in the original comment is that with a 20 hour battery life you wouldn't have the "on the sofa and need to charge" problem anymore.

Apple deserves credit for bringing magnetic power cords to laptops, but they didn't invent it.

It's been used on Zojirushi kettles since 1982: https://www.zojirushi.com/blog/?p=4147

I do like Magsafe. I always wonder how may plug/unplug cycles the USB-C charging will last. I never worried about magsafe.

I did not like magsafe at all - i couldn’t sit on a couch with my laptop without inadvertently disconnecting the charging cable every once and then.

> I don't miss the $80 proprietary charger with a cable that's fixed to the brick and will probably fail if you do anything other than leave it sitting at a desk.

The Surface charger is a version of MagSafe that's pretty much immune to that.

I have always believed that the MagSafe connector should be on the brick. A short, regular USB type C cable to the power brick and a MagSafe connector between the brick and the wall.

Bonus points if the brick incorporates a small hub with additional ports. This would allow you to choose between using a regular USB type C power cable or the proprietary brick with MagSafe built in.

+1 I really like the interoperability of the USB-C charging on my 2019 Mac. With the same charger I can charge my phone, laptop, headphones and bluetooth speaker. Having to carry only one cable (and one brick) around is great.

I've been using these -https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07N1CB4B1/

basically anything I own with a lightning or usb micro port gets a magnetic plug (and any usb c device that I dont charge once a day) and becomes an instant magsafe device.

I’m with you about USB-C. I really like my MagSafe but many of them worn off (just like Apple Lightning cables). What I really love in USB-C is that it’s a standard! Brave Apple switched everything to this type of connector. I actually get that. but if you’ve sticked to it for 6 years. keep it.

Likely Apple will still support USB-C charging even after adding back MagSafe.

I wonder if the "MagSafe" they are talking about is the new magsafe wireless charging on the iphone 12?

It would be nice to be able to have a charging pad for my laptop rather than needing to mess with wires at all.

Speculation time! I wonder if they will be able to put a magsafe wireless charging spot both under the laptop, and on top next to the trackpad! They could let you charge your iphone from your laptop, and charge the laptop via some fancy new magsafe pad.

In fact I wonder if this could include some of the "air power" tech that was reportedly cut a while back?

> Speculation time! I wonder if they will be able to put a magsafe wireless charging spot [...] on "top" next to the trackpad!

Apple patented that idea just recently: https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/5/22215413/apple-patent-devi...

This would be amazing, when traveling becomes a thing again. It sucks to maintain so many charging devices in a hotel room

Apple patents are an evergreen topic for tech journalists, but Apple never announces features or products through patent filings. If you're seeing a public filing for a patent from Apple on a thing that they aren't currently shipping, that means it's something they have no plans to ship.

if so, I will be very interested to see how they manage the thermals. wireless charging for a laptop will dump a lot more waste heat into the chassis than it does for a phone.

The Apple Pencil 2 and Magic Keyboard case attach to an iPad extremely well. Wouldn't be hard to imagine the new MagSafe being somewhere in the same spot as before but not having any kind of "port" that juts out or in.

Imagine a USB-C compliant version of MagSafe. That would be awesome. not sure if the physics work out (can you efficiently push that many bits through a magnet like that?)

Yes, I have a magnetic adapter which works very well. Apple could integrate the magnetic ports on both sides and still have 4 usb c ports (which you could still charge the MacBook with).

Yes, they exist and I use it. Works quite well.

For data transfer or just charging? I’m sure they work for charging but I think the questioner was wondering if you could actually run 10Gbps through the magnetic adapter.

No, I just use it as a MagSafe replacement.

What I miss about the MagSafe was that it would bump off if I adjusted my computer on my lap or my bed where USB-C bends and eventually breaks. I’ve never needed to replace any of the MagSafe chargers on old MacBooks and I must be on my third or fourth USB-C cable.

There are many third party mag-safe like "adapters" for USB-C, that fairly flush in the port. It does require that port being a dedicated charging port though.

It will not be the magsafe of old. I could see them making a magsafe adapter similar to the iphone’s, that snaps onto the back of the screen on either side.

could even mean a magsafe charging area for your phone/airpods too

That was my assumption just upon reading the title.

Someone recently found a patent filing from Apple suggesting this very possibility

https://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2021/01/apple-h...

This makes most sense to me as the induced charging area needs to be big enough for it to work so I think that would rule out the sides as the place where the magnetic charger would snap on. But this raises another issue what happens when the charger is snapped on the back of the screen and the screen angle is adjusted, will there be a wire hanging off the screen that moves with it as I lower or raise my screen? Seems a bit un-Apple-like.

> It will not be the magsafe of old. I could see them making a magsafe adapter similar to the iphone’s, that snaps onto the back of the screen on either side.

What would even be the point of something like that? It makes no sense, and would introduce a lot of unneeded complexity and inefficiency.

Wireless charging only really makes sense on the bottom of devices. The value proposition is to give you a place to easily set the thing down and get power. Wireless charging for a laptop would mean the "antenna" is on the bottom of the machine, which you place on a desk-sized charging pad.

But then you would be back to the problem of a yank on the power cord throwing the laptop on the floor. At least with usb c you have a chance that it unplugs. With a bottom charging mat there’s no chance. What would be the point?

If you bothered to read the article it said that’s not the case

I'm doing the same with my 2015, it really was the pinnacle of MBP design. Mine still works flawlessly, and typing on it is such a joy.

Surely I can’t be the only one whose usb-c charging port is kinda loose and have to double check to make sure it’s taut? My personal 2015 Pro on the other hand chucks along fine.

>I'll believe it when I see it. I could believe them getting rid of the touchbar, but bringing back magsafe?

They already brought it back in the sense of reusing the trademark for their snap-on charging.

They might want to expand on the use of the name, plus it's removal has often been lamented by users and in reviews.

The new magsafe might even be similar to the iPhone/iPad tech (e.g. one can imagine it snap to the back of the screen).

> I could believe them getting rid of the touchbar

Either they should get rid of it or add it to more products.

Devs can't rely on a touchbar being present since as soon as you plug in an external keyboard it's un-reachable or simply not there for Apple's desktop offerings.

I'd love it if Apple sold an external keyboard with a touchbar, because there are genuine uses for it.

The USB C connection on my laptop loosened over time. To the point that the cable now just falls out unless I keep the laptop completely still. Having a magnet in there to keep the cable in place would be nice. No reason you couldn't use a magnet with a USB-C connection though, best of both worlds and whatnot

Huh, that happened to my Galaxy S9 phone, but I haven't noticed issues with my MBP. Geez, something else to worry about...

It's also possible you have lint in your connector. Try poking around for a while with a thin non-metal object (e.g. toothpick). If you keep your phone on your pocket you'll need likely get lint in there with time.

I don't really see the issue, since the laptop will still be chargeable by USB-C anyways, unlike iPhone's with a single port. I believe Microsoft also uses their own charger port but also have power delivery USB-C port. As long as they add more ports, best of both worlds, really.

I imagine they wouldn't remove the ability to charge over USB-C, but simply add a new MagSafe port. This would effectively free up an extra port when traveling, and you could still use USB-C charging from hubs, monitors, or third-party chargers.

This sounds very plausible. I have a Dell Windows laptop with an ordinary barrel charger port which can also be kept charged by a dock plugged into the USB C port. It seems a good arrangement. I haven't tried charging the laptop from a USB C wall wart rather than a dock, but it seems plausible it would work and it could be a handy feature if you forgot the charger somewhere.

well I really like the idea of "connecting everything - keyboard, monitor, and even power" of usb-C... but it's a security nightmare. One rogue device can pretend to be a keyboard + monitor, and can run some commands without user knowing.

though I expect apple to put usb-c port for ordinary people / people who don't like to buy magsafe (I ran over them with my chair several times, resulting in 5 replacements...)

My broken usb c charger cable plug and port tells a different story. Please bring back a MagSafe style charging connector.

They can just have both charging methods tbh

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