On one hand, this seems like welcome news for many of us. Who doesn't miss MagSafe?
A lot of the previous years was like someone at Apple read Calvino's Six Memos and took the notes on "lightness" a little bit too far.
On the other hand, one wonders if we'll have to replace all the sleeves and bags that have been made with the previous dimensions in mind. Hopefully not. Even the new 16-inch MacBook Pro fits in sleeves and bags designed for the previous 15-inch.
> On one hand, this seems like welcome news for many of us. Who doesn't miss MagSafe?
I don't miss MagSafe 2. The laptops had gotten light enough that the selling point (would come detached if someone snagged the cord) meant that the magnet had to be weakened. The cord constantly came undone.
Bits attracted by the magnet would be lodged in the port sometimes, interfering with the charging in odd ways as well.
I had a lot of Magsafe 1 chargers, which compounded the frustration. I had to use a little magnetic dongle.
The cord was attached to the brick directly, so when it frayed (not if, when) you were out $100. Your brick was now a brick.
It was a big charger I couldn't use to charge anything else I travelled with (phone, ipad, headphones, etc), _and_ there were zero third party accessories (battery packs, etc) that worked with it because it was proprietary/patent protected.
If laptops have enough power to go 12+ hours on a single charge, the value of magsafe goes way down. I'm not operating the thing on a kitchen table with a cord draped down and across the room to the wall. I am charging it overnight.
Not to mention, there's a huge benefit of sitting down at a desk and having a single USB-C/TB cable to plug in to get connected to everything, including power.
If the choice was magsafe or USB-C charging, I'd pay extra for USB-C.
I'm typing this on a MagSafe laptop. I don't like MagSafe.
The cables fray and the MagSafe tips wear out, that means buying an entire new charger (or soldering on a donor cable), I'm on my 5th or 6th. The surfaces get dirty, and because they just butt up (rather than sliding) they become high resistance and heat up.
If MagSafe 2021 doesn't fuse the cable to the charger brick, then I might consider it. The fickle electrical connection is inherent to the design though.
All Apple cables fray because of design decisions around the stress relief area
I'm also typing this on a Magsafe laptop going since 2011 but I'd doubt if it would still be good if it was a plugged in connector, as my previous laptops died around that area.
I enjoy being able to sit on my kitchen table and plug USB-C cable on the right. And if my favorite chair is used by my cat, I can sit on the other side and plug the cable on the left. On the other side of the cable is a third-party charger that I'm using to charge my iPhone (with damn Lightning-USBC cable, when will Apple drop Lightning?), iPad and Nintendo Switch. And when I sit on my desktop, I connect my laptop to the monitor with just one (USB-C) cable.
Previously, I had to have two separate proprietary chargers and hope that the cable don't break; now I can just buy another USB-C cable anywhere.
Not only does the 16” fit the 15” sleeves, it’s nearly identical in dimensions and weight to the 15” models everyone praises before the bad keyboards. It’s basically a 2015 MBP with a slightly smaller bezel.
A lot of the previous years was like someone at Apple read Calvino's Six Memos and took the notes on "lightness" a little bit too far.
On the other hand, one wonders if we'll have to replace all the sleeves and bags that have been made with the previous dimensions in mind. Hopefully not. Even the new 16-inch MacBook Pro fits in sleeves and bags designed for the previous 15-inch.