I'm loving all the comeptition for the MacBook Air. I just wish that there was one among all of these ultrabooks that had 1) good trackpad software, 2) SD card reader and 3) discrete graphics. I'd be sold.
Some are innovating in some small but appreciated ways. Others seem to be a copy and paste from the Apple store. Take the new Dell XPS 13:
Don't worry, it's still screams Dell on the inside.
Buy a laptop with magsafe and use it for five years as I have, we'll see if you sing the same tune.
Falls out way too easily. If your laptop isn't on a flat surface, it gets pushed out. A wagging tail of a dog can knock the thing out. And now that my battery is so dead in my Macbook that I have to have it removed just for the thing to function, the simplest knockout can cause my laptop to shut off completely. It's a pain way more often than it is useful.
Breakaway cables are clever, but magsafe is too soft. The original Xbox employed better breakaways than magsafe, in my opinion. Broke away when it was absolutely necessary to prevent damage, but didn't annoy you with needless breaks.
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KwitkoSheriff of Banning (Retired)By the thing near the stuffIcrontian
The best thing would be to have an accelerometer in the laptop. When it reaches a certain speed, hooks shoot out of the bottom to keep it from sliding off the desk.
The best thing would be to have an accelerometer in the laptop. When it reaches a certain speed, hooks shoot out of the bottom to keep it from sliding off the desk.
I dread to think what would happen if you decide to throw your laptop out the window in anger. Or if you are on a moving vehicle with the laptop on your lap in a tight turn...
The best thing would be to have an accelerometer in the laptop. When it reaches a certain speed, hooks shoot out of the bottom to keep it from sliding off the desk.
I dread to think what would happen if you decide to throw your laptop out the window in anger. Or if you are on a moving vehicle with the laptop on your lap in a tight turn...
I think that MagSafe is great in theory, we all love the idea, but the technology is not quite at the point yet where it's reliable enough for a top-end machine. I have even seen the MagSafe ports break off inside the laptop, which is something they are not supposed to do. This was an extreme situation where screaming kids were involve, but wasn't that the whole point of MagSafe in the first place? Anyways, would love to see it on a PC laptop when the technology has improved more.
To play devil's advocate: Sounds like it did its job... the cord snapped, rather than the solder on the laptop's motherboard connected to the female end of the power plug (expensive fix) or the entire laptop itself (even more expensive fix).
Sure, that would be its job if it could be reconnected - like the MagSafe and the computer - but no, you can't really call it doing its job when it fails in a place unintended.
Also, if anyone remembers me ranting on Twitter recently about the bad experience I had with the Genius Bar, that was partially involving a bad MagSafe charger that I had to get replaced. I was there exchanging an iPad with a bad home button and the bad MagSafe charger. They were an hour late for my first appointment, then forgot about me for the second appointment. I was there for three hours.
djmeph
Detroit Icrontian
Comments
Some are innovating in some small but appreciated ways. Others seem to be a copy and paste from the Apple store. Take the new Dell XPS 13:
Don't worry, it's still screams Dell on the inside.
Falls out way too easily. If your laptop isn't on a flat surface, it gets pushed out. A wagging tail of a dog can knock the thing out. And now that my battery is so dead in my Macbook that I have to have it removed just for the thing to function, the simplest knockout can cause my laptop to shut off completely. It's a pain way more often than it is useful.
Breakaway cables are clever, but magsafe is too soft. The original Xbox employed better breakaways than magsafe, in my opinion. Broke away when it was absolutely necessary to prevent damage, but didn't annoy you with needless breaks.