Magsafe power adapter.

I seem to be reading a lot about the Magsafe power adapter now, so I thought I'd post on it.

I love the design. It's the best I've seen out of all laptop adapters. It's got hooks to wind the cable around that stow away when not in use - the next best I've seen is a bit of velcro.

The cable's got a clip on the end to secure it after you coil it. You can fit a plug directly onto it (as shown), or connect it to a cable for extra length, like other adapters.

The connector's got an indicator light to show when your laptop is fully charged.
I don't really see the need for Magsafe though. There are bound to be many other cables connecting to your laptop, so people could trip on any one of them.

The reason I'm thinking about the adaptor so much now is people say using the cable is better than the plug, because the cable is earthed. In the picture where the adaptor is disconnected you can see the metal "button", and a bit of the springs in the cable. I tested the springs, and they're connected to the earth pin. I didn't check where the button is connected to, but I assume they wouldn't go through the trouble of adding an earth connection to lead to a dead end.

The main problem with this adapter I hear about is the cable tends to fray where it comes out. Eventually the insulation wears down and it short-circuits. I guess this a design flaw since the cable winders encourage you to bend the cable here. I try and leave some slack before winding the cable to avoid this.