Frayed, Broken MacBook Pro Magsafe 60W Adapter Blues

Thinking of buying a MacBook Pro? Is it worth it? Well, it's sort of like buying a luxury car, with the exorbitant bills to fix it if something goes wrong.

And something did indeed go wrong with mine.

I bought my MacBook Pro in January 2013. My adapter cable casing broke and frayed at the end close to the square transformer. I figured this out while I was charging my Macbook Pro and I smelled something burning. The break point was not subject to unusual strain. I've only taken the Macbook on the road a handful of times.

Selling adapters that have a tendency to fray and break at a cost ranging from $69 to $99 is robbery. Apple knows that these cables break frequently (with any given "genius" witnessing five of these breakages a day), and yet when the customer returns with a cable for out of warranty service, the charge for the replacement cable makes a tidy profit for Apple.

Someone has even capitalized on the inherent tendency to fray with creating a special protective overlay!!! The "frayfix." WHY, I ask, why is that necessary? Why doesn't Apple build that kind of strength into the cable in the first place?! Where is the stress relief? It's not like I haven't already paid a 100% premium to buy this computing power in the Apple version vs. PC, that they had insufficient money to build some quality into the adapter cable.

For previous versions of this type of cable there was a successful class action lawsuit in the U.S.

The "genius" insisted that I surrender my frayed adapter for "recycling" when selling me a new adapter for $69. He said that I would have to pay the full price of $99 for the adapter plus cord if I did not surrender my frayed adapter. So this image is all I have left. As far as I know, $69 is more than a fair price for just the adapter and not even the cord connecting to the electrical outlet. You can buy clone adapter+cords on eBay or Amazon starting at $17 for the adapter PLUS the cord.

I wanted to keep my old adapter and cord to fix it and use at home. Now I can't. Apple can re-use the parts in refurbished computers, generating further profit. I, on the other hand, paid an inflated price for an adapter that certainly results in yet more profit for Apple. This reeks of profiteering on Apple's own faulty products!

And... there is only a 90 day warranty on the new cable. That sure shows confidence in your product, Apple.

Knowing the next cable is likely to fray, you can wrap a pen spring around the base of the cable.

So, keep in mind that if you buy an Apple product, you agree to pay another $100 down the road to keep using it if you plan to have it more than two years.

Update: October 29, 2017.

This week by cable broke again, despite my winding a pen spring around the base of the cable. It broke in precisely the same spot. If I hold it in a certain position, it can still charge.

After putting electrical tape on the joint, I put a bubble tea straw over the joint and used scotch tape to keep it in place.

Underfunding Public Education in B.C.: MYTH OR FACT?

I am excited to announce that this will be the laziest post that has ever been published on the Obsessive Researching Mommy Blog to date!

This is my humorous way of saying that I would like to thank Kim Hancock for the following facts and sources to cite when someone, like a Minister of Education, says to you something outrageous such as “there’s nothing to be gained by perpetuating a myth that our public education system is underfunded and broken."

I did not do this research. I wanted to file it away on this page so I can retrieve it later, and because I love you, dear reader, I am making it available to you too.

I was SO lazy that I even borrowed the picture and the contents for the caption from a tumblr blog called Fix BC Ed which you should all go and visit after you are done getting outraged from reading the statistics below.

• BC falls behind in K-12 funding as a % of GDP
• Total expenditures in public elementary and secondary schools as a percentage of the GDP BC as a percentage of GDP 3.3% Canadian average 3.6%
• Source: Statistics Canada (2010)
• BC falls further behind Canada in per student funding (operating expenditures per FTE student)
• 2010-2011 ($988.00 below the national average)
• Source: Statistics Canada (2013)
• Most provinces hired more teachers
• BC lost 3.7% lowest in Canada – PEI hired the most 14.7%
• Source: Statistics Canada (2013)
• BC has the worst student–educator ratio in Canada
• BC average in 2011 16.8 students per teacher
• Canadian average 13.8 students per teacher 
• Source: Statistics Canada (2010)
• If our BC funding met the national average we would have: 
• - 6,600 more teachers in our classrooms this year
• - On average four more teachers per school 
• - $568 million more in the education budget
• Since the contract strips of Christy Clark when she was Education Minister
• Loss of
• 286 librarians
• 120 counselors
• 770 special education teachers
• 342 English Language Learner Teachers
• 11 Aboriginal Education teachers
• Source: BC Ministry of Education Staff by Year and Program Code 2002, 2012
• Increase in classes with four or more designated student with special needs
• 2007 9,559
• 2012 12,651
• Source: BC Ministry of Education Overview of Class Size and Composition in BC Schools
• BC is last or next to last in Canada in the following key measures
• Operating expenditures 12th
• Operating expenditures per student 13th
• Total expenditures 12th
• Total expenditures per student 12th
• Total expenditures per capita 12th
• Source: Statistics Canada (2013)
• BC spends much less that the national average on our public school children:
• Between 2008 and 2012 Board Operating Expenditures on public schools increased by 13.8% in Canada and only 3.4% in BC – if funding in BC had been at the Canadian average there would be an additional $493 Million in education funding this year
• Source: Statistics Canada (2010)
• BC far behind expenditures of other Western Provinces
• Board operating Expenditures for public schools – increased 24.7% in Alberta, 22.1% in Saskatchewan, 15.7% in Manitoba and 3.4% in BC
• Source: Statistics Canada (2010)
• Education funding not keeping up with inflation 
• According to the Conference Board of Canada BC caps education (K-12 and post secondary) spending increases to 0.6% per year between now and 2017 estimates BC needs to increase education spending by 2.7 % per year or 1.6 billion over three years to maintain inflation adjusted funding per student
• Source: Vancouver Sun August 7, 2014
• Downloaded costs are increasing what School Districts need to pay
• General inflation on supplies and services
• Increased Medical Services Premiums
• Increased BC Hydro Rates
• Unfunded salary increments for employees moving up on grid
• Increases to employer contributions for payroll benefits, health / dental benefits and employee pension plans
• 3.5% salary increase for support staff (2013-2014)
• Totalling 192.7 million in cost pressures in 2014-2015 (source: BC Association of School Business Officials)
• Source: Ministry of Education Estimates 2014-2015
• The public is saying to spend more on K-12 and post secondary and if necessary raise taxes to do so:
• What did the public say about increased funding to public education
• 71% chose to increase revenue through taxes
• 72% selected K-12 and post secondary education as a first priority
• Source: Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services