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Comment by manigandham | Hacker News Reader

> "iMac comes with a new power connector that attaches magnetically and a beautifully woven 2-meter-long color-matched cable."

Magsafe for a stationary computer...

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I mean, the idea with MagSafe is that if someone trips over it, it won't yank the device to the ground, so that still applies to stationary devices.

But on the other hand, I'm not sure who has a desktop computer with cords draped across areas people are walking.

Cats. They walk everywhere. Especially keyboards

Indeed. I'm taking a break now because my cat decided my work laptop is nice and warm.

Which makes you wonder: why the hell did they remove it from the MBP...only to re-introduce it to another product 3 years later?

Do different product teams just not talk to each other at Apple?

Maybe they reverted their decision and will re-introduce it also to the laptop line.

That's what I'm hoping!

Jony Ive is no longer working at Apple and he was the God-King of industrial design. I suspect the MagSafe charger disappeared because of his efforts to make USB-C the one cable to rule them all. But after all the trouble with dongles and the butterfly keyboards I suspect more sensible heads have taken over and we can have these nice things again.

I don't understand why, with Apple's design chops you'd say they would be able to make a USB-C Magsafe hybrid.

Hell, I can fantasize about one right now: make a specialized Apple USB-C charger cable with a plug a teensy bit smaller than standard USB-C, then magnetize the encasing of the plug. In addition, the furthest left and right side USB-C ports on the MacBook should be magnetic where this encasing would touch the port. This would make it so that the plug itself is loose in the socket and is purely held in place by the magnetism.

Of course this means that particular cable is only suitable for use in MacBooks as it would slip out of regular USB-C sockets. It should have a clear Magsafe symbol because of that.

In a further iteration, that kind of magsafe-C port could even be added to iPhones and iPads.

Something like this?

https://www.amazon.com/Magnetic-Adapter-iSkey-Transfer-Compa...

there are magsafe Usb-C cables. [1] I owned one similar, worked ok but itself was a bad quality, but I'm pretty sure that good quality cables like this are very possible.

[1]: https://www.amazon.com/Magnetic-MacBook-Charging-Braided-Dev...

USB-C everything is a great idea, USB-C ports on macbooks wasn't an issue. It's that they were stubborn and kept lightning on the iphone and provided a lightning to usb-a cable, which was ridiculous

They wanted USB-c charging and less ports I guess.

Here’s hoping the m1x/m2 ones bring it back

Clearly not, since Tim had to steal M1 chips from the Mac team to put it in the iPad.

I guess that they would have used USB-C here too, but the power supply is 143 watts and USB-C only supports 100. As long as they need to use a non-USB-C connector, they might as well make it a nice one.

I think the worse thing is that the iMac needs to ship with a USB-C to Lighting cable in order to charge the terrible Magic Mouse via its ridiculous bottom port that prevents use of the mouse while charging. And even the brand new magic keyboard still charges over Lighting. Lightning needs to die.

I’ve been looking for a Magic Mouse replacement with cable, but I can’t find any with horizontal scrolling.

Does anyone know any?

I had this question too, but couple of days ago, I tripped over USB-C power cable for my MBP, and it just unplugged without taking my laptop from the table or any damage whatsoever. So... may be it fits this use-case anyway?

A sample size of one is hardly data.

But on the other hand, I'm not sure who has a desktop computer with cords draped across areas people are walking.

Photo studios for one. Or anyplace outside of a studio where photography is being done long term. I saw this at a factory where a photographer was hired to take pictures of all 14,000 (!) SKUs for a new web site.

iMac 2013: Simply adjusting the screen yanks the cable off. iMac 2021: Can’t wait to lose my work. It makes so much sense on a Macbook where there is a battery to take over.

It wasn't marketed as MagSafe, just as a magnetic connector. And why not? Magnetic connectors are awesome.

Also, putting the power brick on the floor and extending it so you can route ethernet up to the desk via a single cable is a nice idea. I hope that is a hit with customers and they expand it to other systems (namely MBP) in the future, I wouldn't mind having a couple USB-C ports down there too.

Inductive chargers have quite a bit of energy loss and introduce extra heat into the system while also increasing production cost.

This isn't inductive charging, though. Just a magnet that keeps the physical wired connection together.

I would think they just couldn't fit a standard IEC C-14 AC connector in such a slim package.

It's not even close. The plug portion of those connectors is 18.5mm deep, the iMac is 11.5mm deep.

Does this mean the power supply is external now, and sits on the floor or in the outlet? Because that case is awfully thin.

Yes. This is the case. And the versions that come with Ethernet have the Ethernet port on that brick.

So is it Power over Ethernet or Ethernet over Power? heheh

That’s really disappointing.

Could you elaborate?

That's pretty cool! I never would've thought of that. Nice to have one fewer cable to pull up onto the desk.

apparently they copied it from the chromebook brick which had an ethernet

The lightness, size, wireless connectivity, and boot speed of this device makes it more likely to move around the house than a traditional desktop or even the recent iMacs. I could certainly imagine scenarios in which someone purchases multiple power cables, plugs them in throughout the house, and then brings the computer from their desk into the kitchen while making dinner or something. That is already a common practice with iPads and physically this is basically just an iPad attached to a stand.

Except this doesn't have a battery, touchscreen or keyboard attached. It seems extremely unlikely for someone to do this instead of just getting a laptop or tablet for this price.

I think you'd be surprised. I've seen a few people with iMacs who treat them as portables and move them around a lot, and I kind of get it. It's a size that's big enough to be a nice screen for just about any room, and small and light enough that moving it doesn't feel like a big hassle. Really, having to plug it in is the only drawback, but for a lot of people the laptop always stays plugged in as well, so this isn't a total dealbreaker. The fact that it isn't a touchscreen and you need to move the keyboard and mouse is more of a hassle to that kind of use IMO.

>Except this doesn't have a battery

Hence the Magsafe.

>touchscreen or keyboard attached

Hence the updates to the wireless keyboard, touchpad, and mouse.

>Seems extremely unlikely to do this instead of just getting a laptop or tablet given the price.

This is the wrong way to think about these features. Yes, if this is your only use case for the device you are better off with a laptop or tablet. If this is something you do occasionally, but you primary use case is for a desktop, the iMac can now serve both uses and save you from purchasing a second device.

If this is something you do occasionally

Like when the family gathers around the computer to look at photos or FaceTime at Christmas.

I have an iMac pro as my main workstation in an open plan apartment/home office, and will often move it from my desk to the large kitchen table (to collaborate with someone when they're over). The extension cord I use is long enough to keep it powered on.

I quite like it, and with the recent shift to working from home and decrease in travel over the next couple of years I think I'll stick with this set-up for the foreseeable future: powerful desktop driving 3 5k retina monitors + cheapest laptop or ipad I can get away with on the go.

I wonder if magsafe will be back on future laptops? I miss it!

I can see that being a benefit in an open office floor plan where the back of your desk is exposed to the people in front of you.

It wasn't marketed as Magsafe in the presentation, more as a convenience feature.

Just another proprietary cable for them to sell. It is so funny the fan base just goes along with it too.

Also includes Ethernet.

And the previous models had their own cable, too. Not like this is new.

Right, because people typically need to buy several power cables over the lifetime of their desktop computer since they tend to break so often.

No, but you might need a longer power cable.

Hope you don't mind an extension cord and a weird box dangling somewhere! But at least the computer looks sleeker now!

Isn't that a good trade off? Most people would love a better looking computer for their living room.

I can only speak for myself, and I hate power bricks with a passion. You need to find a place to hide them, they are annoying when cleaning, and they are annoying when you move devices (need to untangle not only cable but also power brick).

Why get an all-in-one when it requires attaching a box to it? I might as well get a Mac mini at that point (which still has a built in PSU)

Well...don't they usually go behind a desk? Or behind some furniture? There are solutions to this problem.

Look at the marketing pictures on https://www.apple.com/imac-24/

Every picture features an iMac on a beautiful desk with the power adaptor conveniently not in the picture. There's not really a place to hide it if you have desks like these, it's just gonna lie somewhere on the floor.

No, I don't. My current setup requires several power bricks ("weird boxes") for the displays and speakers anyway. The good thing about those is that you can just hide them away, unlike your monitor. And what exactly is the problem with extension cords?

The nice thing about the All-In-One Macs was always how portable they were. The Mac Plus, the Colour Classic, the all-in-one Quadras, and every previous version of the iMac -- just a single box, a standard power cable, a keyboard and a mouse.

It was always a lot easier to move them around than the PC towers everyone else had. Apple even ran an ad once that showed how few cables iMacs had in contrast to a typical PC.

I mean, it's not a huge difference in portability, but it's an Apple product -- people obsess over details like this, and they pay a premium for a product that gets it right.

Also, it's nice that you can hide the external PSU in your setup, but often that's not easily possible. Eg. if you have a minimal setup with a sleek desk, there's just no place to hide the power brick. Or if you bring the computer to the living room to watch a movie... I mean, there's lots of ways to use this computer, and the external PSU is just optimized for one use case.

And it's made even worse by the fact that many people are going to end up having to attach an external hub with an extra power brick since this iMac severly lacks ports.

EDIT: And you can see that Apple doesn't like the PSU since it is conspicuously absent from their marketing page. Even the "What's in the box" picture hides the PSU: https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/imac

They know that (some) people don't like power bricks.

There are desks that solve the cable management issue by mounting a tray just underneath the tabletop. If it's such a problem for you, a desk like this is probably worth it.

The portability argument I understand though. I regularly move my desktop between two places and having duplicate cables and peripherals for each one has been very convenient. So seeing that, you're actually right, I would need to either buy a probably fairly expensive proprietary cable or always carry the brick; and an integrated PSU would've been more convenient.

But in the end whether this tradeoff is worth it comes down to your particular situation, and apparently Apple have decided that in general it is worth it. Personally I also don't think too many people move their desktops around that much.

The point about the power brick not showing up on the page I'd chalk up to OCD design, not malice, to be honest. It is at least hinted at because the two pictured cables are different.

Contrary to your conspiracy theory, they did change all power cables to USB-C on later Mac laptops.

And people and reviewers lamented the loss of the proprietary MagSafe power...

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