Apple may be bringing MagSafe back to MacBooks. Here’s why it’s a terrible idea

Exploring rumors about the Mac can be a thankless task. They tend to be filled with as much idle speculation and projected wish fulfillment as with genuine information. But it’s worth paying attention to some Mac leaks and rumors. Last week, just like CES 2021 was ending, both Mark Gurman of Bloomberg and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said new MacBook Pro laptops were coming in 2021.

The idea of ​​new 14 and 16 inch models with Apple M1 arm-based chips it shouldn’t shock anyone, nor that the secondary screen of the Apple Touch Bar may be disappearing.

But much more significant, at least for longtime followers of the Mac, is the supposed return of the MagSafe connector – a unique magnetic power plug that was part of the MacBook line since its launch in 2006.

The phasing out of MagSafe started with the late and regretted 12-inch MacBook in 2015, where it was switched to a USB-C power connection, but a handful of older models remained around until recently. We have complained about his loss and tried to climb with workarounds
for replace.

So, Apple started using the name MagSafe again in 2020 for a series of magnetic phone charging accessories, but there are few similarities beyond the name.

The classic MagSafe had a brilliant design, which came out safely whenever you tripped over it. It probably kept all MacBook protected from at least a few drops of the table. But there were also problems. Because they are so proprietary, losing an old MacBook power supply (or almost any laptop power supply before the USB-C era) meant looking for a replacement, and your options were usually an expensive official model or an often unreliable copy. .

All modern MacBooks use USB-C ports to charge, which does not allow the cable to disconnect safely (at least not by design). But they have an undeniable advantage over MagSafe: no matter what modern mainstream laptop I have – a Dell XPS 13, HP Specter, Acer Swift, Lenovo ThinkPad, Asus ZenBook, etc. – there’s a good chance of himself The USB-C power cable works with the MacBook and vice versa.

Apple laptop chargers are 30W, 61W and 96W. Most 45W or 60W laptop chargers, and I have mixed and matched abandonment in recent years. Try hard and you may eventually find an extreme case where charger A doesn’t work with laptop B, but with other devices like gaming laptops (which only recently started supporting USB-C charging), it’s rare to encounter a problem.

For me, this means that I am finishing a year working mostly at home and not having to worry about the laptop’s power supply in which room. It is frankly liberating.

The iPad Pro and Air have USB-C charging now, just like everything from the Nintendo Switch to the Oculus Quest. Having it on MacBooks has always been a surprisingly non-proprietary move and perhaps too good to last.

If Apple can find a way to bring MagSafe back without losing the standard USB-C connection on the power port, then I agree. If that means going back to proprietary energy blocks, MagSafe should probably remain dead.