We understand the importance of innovation but perhaps, Apple didn’t realize that innovation does not mean removing things that actually works. That’s pretty damn frustrating, if you ask me. Yes. We are talking about the elimination of the super user-friendly, super ‘safe’ and arguably, the best feature of MacBook, MagSafe found on MacBook prior to the new MacBook Pro announced last week. And don’t even get us started with the killing of SD card which so many photographers relied on these days. To be fair, we should have already known when MagSafe was missing in the last MacBook, but we still can’t help but to ask: what’s up with those ‘killings’, Apple?
Fortunately, what Apple has taken away, the industry will find a way to give it back, well, kind of and in this case, it is in the form of a third party adapter to turn the God-almighty USB-C port into a MagSafe port. Ok, with regards to this… it is not quite the ideal situation cos’ the MacBook Pro will end up having a piece of MagSafe-like connector jutting out of the USB-C port, which is not exactly, you know, aesthetically pleasing. I don’t own the newest MacBook Pro yet, nor the MagSafe-less MacBook, but I can already imagine the dilemma I would have put myself in, deciding between a jutting piece or the ‘safety’, convenience, and also the ability to use my old adapter.
In any case, if you are already sourcing for alternatives, there are actually two: one from Griffin called BreakSafe and another, called Snapnator, which is now being crowdfunded on Kickstarter. Griffin first introduced it early this year to address the MagSafe-less MacBook, as well as putting MagSafe into non-Mac, USB-C port-equipped laptops. The main draw of MagSafe is, of course, preventing bringing down the entire computer in the event of an accidental tripping over cable and both Griffin BreakSafe and Snapnator does exactly that, but as mentioned, at the expense of aesthetic which, we would imagine, a perpetual eyesore to an otherwise beautiful gadget. Alas! That is also grim reminder that what’s gone is gone and it is never coming back.
Anyways, if you are interested in putting ‘MagSafe’ back into your MacBook, MacBook Pro and the soon-to-be-available 15-inch MacBook Pro, you can pick up the BreakSafe Magnetic USB-C Power Cable from Griffin for $36.99 on Amazon, or back the Snapnator for $29 on Kickstarter. However, it is worthy to note that Griffin’s iteration (which is, btw, not reversible as with other third-party alternatives due to Apple’s ‘iron fist’ patent) only supports up to 60 watts, which 9to5Mac learned from Griffin that it should work fine on the new 13-inch MacBook Pro which draws 61 watts. Having said that, future 15-inch MacBook Pro users will have to look to Snapnator which is designed to support 87 watts charging the larger MagSafe-less MacBook Pro demands.
via 9to5Mac
