Within couple of weeks, we received reports about issues concerning the MagSafe plug shipped with the first MacBook Pro. The problem is mostly localized at the junction between the cord and the MagSafe plug. It seems that the electrical cable is twisting and rolling on itself inside the plastic enclosure and at the end gets either cut or reduced, leading to overheating or even more as reported below:
- Report from Fabricius:
Within the past year, I have been using my MBP and its MagSafe power supply always taking care to spread the cord properly. However, with time I add problem when charging the battery, the orange or green light was not shinning anymore, even though the charging procedure was running properly. I noticed that not only my MBP and the power supply were getting hot, but also the MagSafe plug, till couple of days ago when my discover that the cord started melting just before the junction with the power unit:
Even if I used intensively my MBP, one should definitely pay attention as the MagSafe power unit seems to have a tendency to loose quality rapidly, leading to a short-circuit inside the cord (so not visible till it starts burning or melting).
- Report from Seb:
I own one of the first MBP, and I was recently experiencing a problem when charging the battery, as the light would be displayed only when twisting the cable. So, I decided to dissect the cable near the junction with the MagSafe plug in order to see if I could fix the problem… big surprise, the area was partially carbonized as illustrated by the photo below:
I will contact Apple to know if it is cover despite the warranty is expired.
Apple performed a free of charge exchange.
- Report from Bruno
I am writing to you to let you know that the MagSafe plug of my MBP just caught into fire. I immediately unplug it, of course my power unit is dead, but the MBP is fine; likely I was using it when it happened.
Did you receive similar reports about issues concerning MagSafe plug?
- Hereafter is a report from Maconnect:
As you might know, the MagSafe plug shipped with the first generation of MacBook Pro has a well-known problem with its cord which rolls and twist on itself. Apple agreed to send me a new unit for free, as it became almost impossible for me to work with. Today, while I was working, I had some strange feeling at the end of my fingers when I was touching the border of the lower case on my MBP. Couple of hours later I realize that the case of my MBP was simply electrified!
I performed a small video demonstrating that the case delivers constantly 3V. This is only true when the MBP is directly powered from the DC; no problem when running on battery. One can watch the video here: mbp-decharges.mov
In summary, if you own such MagSafe power unit, please pay attention, let us know if you experienced similar events by posting your report on our forum (
here), and last but not least, do not hesitate to contact Apple to get it exchange even though the warranty expired, it should be exchange free of charge. Avoid leaving your notebook battery to charge without being around.
This will revive all possible speculations about new iMac, the US
Apple Store is closed while European ones are not off yet.
Or will the Mac mini finally be updated?
[update]
The US Apple Store was updated to offer iPhone-related products, explaining why none of the worldwide Apple Stores were closed during the same period.
Xeon 45nm Frequencies Unveiled
Dailytech could put its hands on the document indicating specifications of the future Xeon which will be engraved at 45nm:
Those new Xeon will feature larger cache L2 (from 4MB to 6MB for each pair of Cores) while Core frequency will not really evolve, toping at 3.16GH for Quad Core CPU and 3.33GHz for Dual Core CPU.
If the boost in frequency is limited, the real performance gain should be substantial as those Xeon will be based on Penryn architecture which is claimed to be 25% faster than the current revision, especially for multimedia applications.
In addition, the low number of Dual Core Xeon models indicates that Intel will most likely push OEM and its partners including Apple to use Quad Core Xeon models. So, we might expect Apple to move its Mac Pro offer to 8-Cores only models. The new Mac Pro models will then be an entry level powered by two Quad Core Xeon 2.33GHz, the mid-range model with its dual Quad Core Xeon 2.83, and the high-end unit with dual Quad Core 3.16GHz. Prices should remain unchanged.
It would be interesting for current Mac Pro owners to be able to upgrade first generation Dual Core Xeon with the Penryn-based Quad Core Xeon, maybe not immediately but later on. It would offer Mac users a way to keep upgrading their original hardware regularly without investing massively in an entire new model.
Last week, we were reporting about issues with the last 2.5" HD Spinpoint 250GB model from Samsung in Mac Intel.
According to Mat, issues are not restricted to the model featuring the largest storage space:
I would like to report a compatibility issue with a MacBook Core 2 Duo 1.83 and a 2.5" HD Samsung Spinpoint hm120ji (120GB SATA). The computer freezes and can not even reboot from DVD (OSX or hardware diagnostic), while the very same drive works just fine when installed in an external enclosure. I hope that a standard and easy firmware update will solve the issue.
According to comments published on
Notebookreview, the Spinpoint JI series is known even on PC for being responsible of bugs and performance issues. While Samsung will probably investigate and offer a fix, you should probably stay away of such models for the time being.
