AIBU to think mac charger cords are rubbish and overly prone to fraying

[Pangurban]

I have had to buy my second charger for a macbook air today. I do not do anything to the cords, but they have frayed where the lead attaches to the computer. The rubber is really soft and could be reinforced more. Do apple not make them stronger for a reason?

Git Assistant in apple store today kept saying to me 'oh mine has never frayed'. Well, bully for him.

Any ideas on how to reinforce it? Tape or a biro sleeve? At 65 blasted quid, it should already be reinforced by apple.

[cozietoesie]

It's a PITA - you can't use the blasted device unless it's charged after all and then they've got you. (Or rather your cc.)

Are you charging while using it? I've found (after two replacements on one device) that the only way is to charge flat somewhere and then to disconnect and use it. No stress on the cable/device connection.

[MistressMia]

I'm on my third, or possibly fourth. Absolute shite and is a known fault but Apple just won't do anything to improve the design.

Have re-inforced the latest one with some micropore tape.

[TriJo]

YANBU. Had a Macbook Pro for 7 years and the only thing I ever had to replace on it was the charger. Four times.

[HelenF350]

I don't know about Mac chargers bug I take my phone chargers back to the Apple Store when they stop working and they replace them free of charge. Just takes a bit of moaning.

[LongDistanceLove]

My last phone was an iPhone, I went through 4 chargers in two years, poor quality products.

[SelfconfessedSpoonyFucker]

What are you all doing to them? We've been a mac family for many years and have only had one magsafe adapter go.

[Pipbin]

We have used Apple products exclusively since the late 90s. I've never yet had a charger break.
Could it be the way you are using it?

[VivaLeBeaver]

I get it with my iPad chargers. Google Sugru, ive applied that to my latest ipad cable and so far so good.

found a link

[Bunbaker]

Our Macbook charger has been fine so far, but DD has gone through so many iPad chargers. I suspect that Apple deliberately make poor quality chargers so that they can sell more. She is currently using an Amazon own brand version which is just as good.

[MardyBra]

Yanbu. They are shit.

[SoupDragon]

I had to get a new MacBook Air charger but the original hadn't frayed at all, just stopped working.

ipad/iPhone chargers are very delicate though (although the ones that I have sole use of are fine!)

[DisappointedOne]

Haven't had a problem in 12+ years of Mac laptop ownership.

You could reinforce it with sugru.

[Seriouslyffs]

I've successfully got a free replacement if buggered by teenagers frayed within the year.

[UterusUterusGhali]

It's shocking tbh. I buy cheapo alternatives now. I've started saving the receipts too.

[cashewnutty]

We all have mac books in this house an have done for years. We are all on our second or third one. None of the chargers have ever broken or frayed.

[Taz1212]

Yes, we are on our third. Admittedly we use the iPads an awful lot but it's a bit ridiculous!

[DorothyL]

Do you replace them when they fray then even if they're still working?

[ollieplimsoles]

Total pita!

We took my macbook and charger away on our honeymoon last year, when we got there we found that it wasn't charging properly because the mac charger wire was broken and frayed!

Dh had to wrap tin foil on it to get it to charge, and we just had to stop using it once we smelled burning!

[Lyndie]

Amazon do their own brand iPhone chargers which I think are better quality!! They are reinforced at the bit that always used to fray with the Apple branded chargers.

[SelfconfessedSpoonyFucker]

We've had five MacBooks over the years and I think the charger that went is probably the one to the elderly macbook with the broken hinge.

Yes the old 1 inch wide iPod chargers did tend to go, usually after being lent to a teen. We do have one that I mended with homemade sugru. No problem yet with any of our lightning usbs cables though.

[sebsmummy1]

Yep. Mine has just frayed at exactly the same point and I've wrapped electrical tape around it.

[TheMotherOfAllDilemmas]

We need to buy chargers every 6-8 weeks. I really can't understand how can they make such a sturdy product when it comes to software and hardware, and have the most unreluable chargers in the market year after year.

[Gemauve]

Yeah, they're crap. Thin insulation is the price you pay for the ability to smoothly coil the cable including the charging head and have it stay roughly where you put it, but the design where the cable joins the metal charging head is really bad. The price isn't worth it for the small advantage.

The best solution is to, when you buy a new one or twist Apple into giving you a new one is to get some heat shrink tube, work it into place (it needs to be a bit bigger than idea because of the size of the head) so that it's partly on the charging head and mostly on the flex, and then shrink it with a hair dryer. That gives enough strain relief to last. Alternatively, buy a pack of sugru (every house should have some) and fashion strain relief out of that. It means that when you coil the flex up the head and its strain relief will stick out a bit. Hardly a problem.

[wonkylegs]

Have had a PowerBook for years, iPad mini and iPhones and never had a problem with the Chargers.
DS has an old iPad and he has frayed the cable. I put it down to being used and abused by a 6yo.