The Macbook Struggle

[ pictured from L to R: Adapter A, Adapter B, Adapter C]

[ not pictured, currently using: Adapter D ]

My Mac was given to me as a hand me down during my school days. Fun fact: it was originally won at a work raffle! I actually used to be a Windows user until about 2010, when my computer malfunctioned and died completely. My Windows was a Vista, and it would have been really expensive to replace it.

I've always enjoyed Macs though, since I was in middle school. My school had the interesting predicament of only having updated computers in their library. Every other system was behind or nearly outdated as a whole. A lot of people complained about the difficulty, but I was always interested. When this MBP was given to me, I was pretty excited (especially since it was already loaded with stuff).


I have four different chargers for this Macbook Pro. As stated in the under-picture caption, the pictured adapters are A, B, and C from left to right. The one I'm using is Adapter D. This is just to minimise confusion some.

My first charger is Adapter A on the far left. The jack is a Magsafe 1, but it fit perfectly. I believe those were in more abundance at the time this MBP was sold. They're a pain in the ass to try and find now (especially for a decent price). Not gonna lie, when I first got my MBP, I was fascinated because the adapter's magnetic. My eyes widened, and I kept pulling off and snapping it back on. I'm very in touch with my child like sense of wonder.

The outlet cord is two - three feet, and it's actually attached to my new adapter. The main body of the adapter stopped working in…… early 2015, I think? That's a pretty long time, but that's also something I'm used to. I've never had to replace my laptop cords. Actually, my computers were more likely to break than their adapters/power cords were.

I bought the second one, Adapter B, to replace the first, and it worked for a little while. According to my Amazon receipts, I bought it March 28, 2015 for $18 on the nose. So yeah, it lasted a decent amount of time. The tip of the cord underneath the metal bit just started fraying away and eventually, the inner wires snapped. I was pretty disappointed, but I knew that I couldn't afford a new, decent cord yet.

I didn't intend to buy the Adapter C. The current one I'm using was supposed to be my third, and hopefully final, purchase. I bought Adapter D from BatteryArc but accidentally bought a Magsape 1 charger instead of a Mag2. I had to do an exchange, and that took a bit longer than I expected it to. Since I was one a deadline, I bought the pictured Adapter C from Amazon. As you can see, it's the exact same as Adapter B, except this cost $25.09 instead of just $18. It was supposed to be a temporary replacement, and it very much was one.

I bought the charger from Amazon on January 20. One month and nineteen days later in the early morning of Feb. 29th, it bit the dust. Don't buy Singo 60W Power Adapters and rely on them as a main source of power. They work best as temporary/substitute adapters at best. You can also replace certain parts if they malfunction if that's your bag. It's very much not mine because they're very weak. Approach these with a F.O.R.D (fix or repair daily) mindset.

I did receive my final cord, Adapter D, from BatteryArc, so I didn't have to spend more money.

One thing that I hate about Macs/Apple products in general is that they are incredibly expensive to repair and incredibly fragile. There are many things that I love about my Macbook Pro, but I can see many things that need to be fixed in regards to the market surrounding them, but that's a long and wordy argument for some other time perhaps.

I've only had to replace the hardware for my Macbook once in all the time that I've owned it, thankfully, but it still needs a new battery. That's going to be a chunk out of my pocket. The adapters are most expensive part of my MBP ironically enough. Even though the hard drive was a $300 investment, that's (ideally) long term. I'm keep dropping money on short term solutions, and that can quickly build up. I've already spent $68.28 on three adapters!

I won't have to buy another power cord myself as I have a 1 year warranty from BatteryArc (bless them), but I might juuuust in case to be on the safe side. (Call it paranoia; call it a gut feeling.) In spite of these equipment hiccups and hardware/software obstacles, my Macbook has been a great companion. I've gotten used to using Mac as my primary OS. That being said, I'm still looking forward to the day I get a Windows again as well. I still keep up with Windows news and have cursory usage of the OS through my community center and friend's computer. But that's a dream for the far off future. Right now, I'm in with my MBP for the long haul.