Why rubber-banding my power brick is, like, the neatest thing I’ve ever done [Hacks]

There were 15 of us clustered around a not-large-enough table at CES , almost all plugged into identical power adapters. I put a rubber band around mine to keep from mixing it up with someone else’s. Turns out, I’m a genius.

Almost a month later, the band is an everlasting fixture on my brick-it’s proven to be equally MVP at home. No, there aren’t 15 scumbag tech writers packed around dining room table (without delay, anyway), but the rubber band remains pulling its weight. More to the point, it keeps the ability brick from pulling its weight. Right off the table, dragging the remainder of the ability cord with it, yanking the MagSafe connector clean out of my laptop. Sound familiar? Yeah, we need to be related, because this used to happen to me for all time.

As beautifully designed as the MacBook power cord assembly is, it has two fundamental design flaws. One is that the plug-side cord is HEAVY. Combine this with the brick’s slippery shiny surface, and you have got a recipe for a plastic block being dragged off a table by a cable that’s slung like a catenary between the hole and the table’s edge. Unless you band that shit, within which case the brick doesn’t move at all.

You’re welcome, Humanity.

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This post is tagged: cord assembly, design flaws, dining room table, fundamental design, power-adapters, shiny surface