Dell needs an equivalent to Magsafe!

I work in an electronics shop, and one of my colleagues is a bit of a Mac fan boy (I have nothing against Mac’s don’t want to start a war here lol), and we always have a bit of banter around whether they are actually any good or not. But that is for a different post...

Anyway, I was thinking, why does Dell (or other manufacturers for that matter) not have a similar device? I realise Apple have a patent on a magnetic connector, but surely one of their designers could come up with another solution?

When I am working we do have quite a lot of people getting their laptops fixed due to the issue of a damaged power connector caused by pulling out the wire.

This would probably save quite a lot of expense from fixing these problems, and also could drive revenue as a “premium” feature. What do you guys think?

 

It has patent owned by Apple! The premium must be too high!

 

The could probably use a break away cable which would be much cheaper than having to pay royalties to apple for the magsafe thing.

 

What do you mean breakaway cable? Any pic?

 

http://www.biline.ca/X-Box/xbox_smartjoyx3.jpg

dont mind the text. the 2 roundish parts plug together (they arent in the pic) and if you trip over it they just come apart. and the short end just stays in. its a pretty simple device. it has actually saved my xbox several times.

 

Well.. they could add the option for some user with $50 upgrade or something. Though... I doubt many people will pay for the premium.

 

Xbox wired controllers had this feature, which works quite well. The idea is that the connection between the segment connected to the computer and the connection between the wall has much less resistance than either of the other ends, and would come apart if someone trips on it.

Does Apple have a patent on it? My mouse (Microsoft Mobile Memory Mouse 8000) has a magnet-attached charging cord that easily comes apart if force is applied.

 

Yes, Dell should make every effort to ensure that their products are as flammable at Apple products are. Including the Magsafe connector.

 

so what happened to those people? tripped over the wire or something?

 

Been a few faulty Magsafe connector over the years.

http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=magsafe&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

 

Why don't they just leapfrog Apple and invent an induction charger? There have been $5 electric thoothbrushes with induction chargers out for years now, why not a computer?

 

You waste quite a bit of electricity when charging through induction. Plus an electric toothbrush charges around 1-3 volts with small current. Try cramming 60-80watts 11-13 volts through induction and you'll be generating alot of waste heat.

 

Fair enough. So what tech do these charging pads use?

 

Yeah basically, most common is tripping over the wire and messing up the connection to the motherboard. Also frequent light forces can cause the connectors to fail.

It would be sweet if Dell were to bring out a brand new technology (induction charging for example as others have mentioned) and be the first big brand to pioneer it. Advances like this could certainly strengthen the “high end” image they are trying to achieve with Adamo.

In fact there are many small details which I can quite easily think of that Dell hasn’t included in any of their laptops, none of which would be hard to implement.

So I guess Dell needs to invest in a new design/engineering team

 

Wait for the Chinese government to force a common standard for laptop power supplies and connectors.

They've already done so for cell phones.

 

There already is a standard (within any given country at least) for connectors. As to power supplies, given that some machines need more power than others, this would be obnoxious. It would be absolutely ludicrous to either say that large notebooks could never be built because the universal power supply doesn't provide enough power or to say that your netbook has to come with a power supply bigger than the netbook itself because the universal power supply is made to handle everything up to a 18" desktop replacement gaming rig with SLI and desktop CPU.

 

A 20 volt, 90 amp standardized power supply wouldn't be 'big enough'?

The HP supply I have in my hand right now has those specs and is roughly the size & shape of a pack of ciggys. Even has a green led on it for the mains. Cost me all of $40- on ebay (the stock p/s was 65 watts).

 

Currently I think Dell has the best charging plug setup aside from Apple's magsafe.

The dell power cord just slips in and can be pulled out easily. Other laptops I've seen, the plug clips in and locks in, which is a really bad design.

 

Locks in? I don't think I've ever seen a laptop that has that. My Sager, my Lenovo, and the HP at work all have straight plugs that just slip in and out with a slight bit of resistance so the thing doesn't just fall out all the time. I think a straight pull isn't a problem with any cord design really, it is the shear force that breaks plugs.

 

I guess its just the gateway laptops that i've seen. The end of it clips in and it doesn't come loose very easily.