I’m Fluffy the Cable Slayer

MagSafe Power Adapter: Cable Butchered by Accident

How’s 2017 been treating you so far? Mine has been up and down. But 2016 ended with another blow to my already ‘unsavoury’ year.

I have never dropped my electronic devices but it seems that my carelessness lies in taking care of cables. I wrote about how my tablet went bonkers about a year ago because of a broken cable. The tablet has since sadly died from its injury.

This time the victim is my MagSafe power adapter. What exactly happened this time is a little bit difficult to explain. It involves a girl, a laptop and a bed… heh make up your own jokes here.

One Moment it was Fine…

As you can see from the photo, the condition of the cable is pretty bad. One moment it was fine, I left my laptop for a few minutes, and when I came back I was shocked to see the state of the cable. The trauma of what happened to my tablet came rushing back. I can only guess what exactly I did to make the cable the way it is by tracing my steps, but I can’t really pinpoint what exactly happened. I didn’t wait to find out if the adapter was still usable and didn’t want to take a chance; I immediately bought a new one. I thought it would be better to be safe than sorry.

Vibrating Laptop and Uncooperative Trackpad

Upon charging my laptop with the new MagSafe, I was quite surprised to discover something like a vibrating sensation while running my hand over the keyboard, in particular the surface around it, not the keys themselves. I don't feel it if I simply place my hand over. This never happened with the older MagSafe. Also, while charging, the trackpad isn’t quite itself; the cursor jumping here and there and clicking places where none is clicked.

I think the vibrating and uncooperativeness are related somehow. Just to be clear, both incidents never happened with the older MagSafe, and my laptop is a MacBook Pro 2011. I have since tried the power adapter on another power outlet in my house and none of the problems occurred; so it seems the problem is not with the MagSafe itself but with the power outlet in my bedroom [which is where I usually charge my laptop] and or with this particular MagSafe.

The Solution

However, I have found a solution to this problem: if you place your hand or arm on either side of the trackpad, the vibrating is gone and your trackpad works normally again. I found the solution here: 

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3874542?tstart=0. Whoever ‘fabinh’ is, give yourself a pat on the back because you have helped a fellow human being tremendously and possibly a lot more others; and I thank you for corresponding to that query; your suggestion has helped me a lot - yes, a lot because I was quite anxious and wondered whether the new MagSafe was broken, or worse, my laptop was broken because of the broken cable. 

MagSafe Power Adapter 3-Pin Plugs
Left: Old  Right: New

A Pet Peeve

One little thing that bug me; just a little pet peeve [a little little] is the new 3-pin head plug. It is as thick or thin as the iPhone’s 3-pin plug. I’ve never really liked the thinness of it; it makes grabbing the plug slightly difficult especially when your hands are moist or even sightly greasy; when you have some lotion on your hands for example. I can simply change the 3-pin plug and have half of the adapter in the older cable, but that will make the whole adapter half new and half yellowish; not inconvenient at all, just a bit of an eyesore he he. So thin head it is. At least the new MagSafe’s plug is rubberised, so there’s more grip to it unlike the iPhone's 3-pin plug. 

So, why ‘Fluffy’? Because I’m a panda.