Reviews for Apple 85W MagSafe Power Adaptor (for 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pro)

I have an early black MacBook, and the original charger is in perfect shape. My daughter's charger for her new MacBook started to fray after about 6 months, with the white insulation pulling away from the wires at both ends. The difference seems to be in how you use the chargers: mine usually gets used at night, when the MacBook is just sitting on a countertop, while she generally runs hers with the charger in all the time, sitting in bed, at her desk, in a chair - you know, "student style." :-)

I wind my cord fairly tightly when I put the charger away, and that's done no harm over the years. The problem seems to come from tugging on the cords so that the mechanically weak insulation is stretched, while the strong interior cabling takes none of the stress. I can only suggest what might be counter-intuitive: get a really tight grip on the cord before you pull on it, so you're pulling on the interior cable, not just the white insulation. And try to avoid working with the cord fully stretched out.

I didn't buy this as a seperate item, I'm just reviewing the one that came with my late fall 2011 mbp.

The cord is fraying near the connector. I taped it up real ghetto like with electrical tape, and a week later the split just started again above the tape. so idk. It is clear that these won't hold up too well in the long term, and I don't know what the average life expectancy is of power adapters. I got a year and a half out of mine, now I must buy another. I'm not real happy about that. What would make me happy is if the DC out cord was interchangeable, just like the AC in. Then I could just buy a much cheaper cord to replace, instead a whole new adapter.

3 stars for the ingenuity of the mag connector, knocking 2 off for the short lifespan.

So i know that I have had this charger for almost 3 years but I feel like a charger shouldn't tear or break and now I have to spend 80 bucks to get another one. I guess Apple should figure out a way to better design their chargers, and maybe use a different material to wrap the wires in the charger. I know that Apple is all about how things look but maybe they should start also thinking about the quality in the materials they use.

I can't give the product more than three stars because it has started to get finicky here over the last couple of months. I purchased my MBP 17" last year and have had the original cord this long. It is still in good shape, but sometimes when attaching it to the MBP it doesn't connect to charge, and other times it is not readable until it is unattached and reattach. Other times I can wiggle it around and it will be recognized. I feel that this shouldn't be an issue, and it's happening more frequently. There isn't anything obstructing it from connecting properly, so that is not an issue and they are both clean. I just feel that this is too soon for it to be going downhill and possibly having to be replaced so soon.

The 85w adapter gets very hot if i use it for several hours. Usually I have it plugged all the time, but for example when i watch a movie it gets very hot because it has to charge the battery all the time. Today I had a program on that caused a CPU 100% for an hour, suddenly i smelled something burning. The adapter was under a pillow so it got hotter than usual and it stopped working! I unplugged it and let it cool of for 2 hours and then it worked again!

I bought my first MacBook Pro 15" in September 2011. I find all Apple products innovative and logical, as well as efficient.

The Magsafe 85W is an amazing piece of technology, however it needs to be enhanced little bit more.

The EXCELLENT things:
- Small size
- Tough
- Magnetic DC plug
- Amazing feature lets you furl the DC cable for convenient travel size
- Smart charging

The needed improvements:
- Can the DC wire be more flexible? (it is, but more flexibility will make it better)
- More power, 85 W is not sufficient for the MacBook Pro 15" when running heavy programs and games (it gets very hot and even sometimes the Mac borrows some power from battery (playing need for speed THE RUN under windows)
- Is there any chance Apple can make the AC plugs (Universal), it is very useful when travelling
- Finally is it possible to include a USB outlet?

The battery lasted 2years. The charger went sometime after then the new one it's been a year and it started sparking and browning then stripped away at the laptop area and around the block. Hopefully they cover this.

I love the magnetic attachment, finally a way to plug your computer in without having to worry about warping the power connection and having to replace it. This cord does have one MAJOR drawback, the point where the cord from the computer attaches to the transformer frays in less than a year, if you use the clips attached to it to wrap up the cord when storing then it will last maybe 6 months. I have owned my MBP for less then a year and I am already on my second power cord. I like that it doesn't cost as much as the battery (which should last longer if you ask me) but spending $80 every six months is a waste of money, you have no choice unless you want to void your warranty by fixing yourself or buying an off brand power cord.
MAKE SURE when storing or using you bend the cord at the transformer as little as possible to make it last longer, and never wrap it with the attached clips!

These power adaptors do seem to break a lot I have gone through 3 in less than a year, however each time I went to the apple store and they replaced it no questions asked no receipt needed and the genius bar guy said they had a lot of issues with them. So they obviously know its a bit rubbish but they replace it so until they bring out a better one its hard too complain to much.

I have a Macbook Pro from early 2007. I have had the SAME POWER CORD since I bought the computer. At least, I did until yesterday afternoon. After 5 years of work it has finally died out. So I went and bought this newer cord. I REALLY dislike the face that it runs parallel to the computer instead of it's original design where it just plugged in like a lego into another. I can already see that this cord will not last as long as my previous one because of this design flaw. But it works and that's all that matters for me. By the way. To you morons that actually WRAP YOUR CORD AROUND THE ADAPTER PRONGS you completely mangle those wires inside and basically cut the life of the product IN HALF.