Be Excellent To Each Other

Hi folks and folkesses,

My power supply on my macbook pro has completely died. I gather this is quite common.

Does anyone know of anywhere that sells them for less than the flayingly painful Apple store £60 pricetag? Or, even better, where you can buy working second hand ones for not quite so much money. And also somewhere that ships relatively fast so that I am not waiting three weeks to use my computer?

Also, advice in the next, err, 52 minutes very much appreciated

http://www.pcandmacparts.co.uk/search.a ... 1&MoID=635

Any help?

Apple. Really. Via their web shop or one of their Jebusphone Churches on the high street.

Yes they are expensive but that's life.

Yes, 60 quid is actually pretty reasonable for a supply for a high end laptop.
I'd offer to fix the old one if I had an MBP but I don't so I won't.

OK, thanks guys.

£60 is too much for me at the moment, but I have managed to borrow a 60w macbook power supply. It doesn't appear to be charging this at all, but is keeping it 'on' whilst I look for replacements. I looked on eBay but they all look pretty dodgy knock offs rather than just second hand ones which is what I was actually hoping to find.

Thanks for the advice.

Guess not

Sorry Dav, I wasn't ignoring what you wrote. I did look but then Chinny said not to buy anywhere else but from Apple themselves, which sort of answered what you wrote. I'm not so sure why Chinny said only to buy from Apple, but I took it to mean 'don't buy from places like that'. Also, they are only 60w ones, mine is 85w. I am borrowing a 60w one now and it isn't doing much.

Well, no, it is keeping it on just fine, but the charge rate is very slow. I have noticed it has gone up by two minutes since I plugged it in about 15 minutes ago.

No probs Meems. I was being flippant.

Also...

http://www.pcandmacparts.co.uk/search.a ... 1&MoID=637

They look like the genuine parts to me and they're cheaper because they don't include the mains extension, which I wouldn't think would be the faulty part.

The mains extension is fine (I've just tested it by taking the old one and swapping it onto this borrowed lead). It's the magnetic attachment part that seems to be faulty as if you wiggle it around sometimes it will briefly alight as it makes the connection.

This is a known fault, unfortunately. How old is it, Mimi? It's worth taking it to an Apple Store and making helpless faces at the tech support; even if you're hopelessly out of warranty they might swap it out for you.

Is it bad I can't remember how old it is? About 3 or 4 years, I think, so probably not.

To be honest the train fare to get to an Apple store and back (the nearest one must either be in Manchester or Liverpool) will be about half the price of the adaptor. I think I shall just have to beg to borrow this 60w lead every now and again and not use my laptop for non-essential purposes. I am allowing visiting here as a means of useful advice

It's possible the pins on the connector may be stuck or dirty. If so this article may help

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1713

Click on 7.Check for stuck pins or dirty connectors on MagSafe Connectors.

It's more likely that the wires have split inside the cord. In which case, you need a new one.

I checked to see if it was dirty when it first happened.

I remember a friend of mine telling of the time she arrived at the apple store in tears because her macbook wouldn't charge at all. The 'Genius' (tut) pointed out that her mag connector was covered in a sticky red stuff, believed to be jam.

Quick clean and it was fine.

Sadly, no jam appears to be affecting mine.

Just had a look at those l-shaped adaptors - they look better than the t-shaped on I have as the lead looks less likely to move about.

The reason I say go for the Apple version is that I bought a spare a few months back as I wanted to keep one supply at home and one in my laptop bag. This would save any problems if I forgot it and also spares me having to plug it in at home each night.

When I looked at the alternatives they all looked shit. The same with the battery I needed. I just had to bite the bullet and shell out to Apple.

I'd chose a second hand genuine unit from Ebay over a clone PSU.

Hmm. Well I bought a clone PSU for my old iBook about six months ago as the plug that goes into the iBook kept breaking. It pretty much seems to be exactly the same as the Apple item with two differences. It doesn't have the green illuminated ring around the plug and it doesn't have the Apple logo on the PSU itself. Other than that it worked faultlessly right up to when I flogged the machine on eBay last week. Just checked my eBay account and it cost a whopping £8.99. In this particular instance I really didn't see the point in shelling out £45-50 for a PSU for a machine that was probably worth about three times that. YMMV.

To be fair the ones in DavPaz's shop do seem to be genuine, from reputable manufacturers (i.e. who make the ones sold in the Apple store anyway).

I wouldn't trust a cloned non-name PSU from ebay.
This is one reason why: http://www.electricstuff.co.uk/acadapter.html

Another reason is that I've recently seen a no-name wall wart go on fire.

Not worth the risk.

Cheap PSU and batteries aren't worth the risk. Often they carry CE stamps without actually being certified.

It's one thing buying a clone PSU or battery from a reputable manufacturer (eg I have clone Hahnel batteries for some of my cameras). It's another buying some cheap chinese crap from Ebay that might well be dangerous.

I have my new Power Supply and the internet is once again mine. Thanks again for the advice. Ahhhh *strokes hardworking little laptop*.

Meems!

yea!