The Gadgets Page

When you live on airplanes, you need to power up your computer somehow. Unfortunately, the Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter isn’t a good option for people with Apple computers:

• apophenia: dysfunctional product design: Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter

After spending $60 on the adapter, it was obvious that the design had a major flaw:

I bought a new Macbook and ordered the Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter with it since none of my other airline plugs would work. When i opened it, i was horrified to see that it was a two-part thing: the cord and the cigarette plug part. I knew this was going to be a disaster. Sure enough, FIRST flight, the damn cigarette part gets stuck in the power plug on the plane and i have to leave it behind. I grumble the whole way off the plane about dysfunctional design. Who thinks it wise to make such a thing two-part when the entire structure of a cigarette lighter is to get stuck?

Sadly, there was no help at Apple for the issue…

He tells me he can’t do anything for me but he will tell his manager about the blogs. I ask him if i can just order just the head of the damn thing and finally, he tells me that’s possible but not through the site and i’m like i don’t care, just send it.

It doesn’t look like there are that many options for when you need to charge your computer on an airplane. The only other one I could find was the APC 150Watt DC to AC Inverter with Airline Adapter. Considering how poorly designed the Apple product is, this might have been a better option. APC is a company that specializes in power and battery backup systems and it looks like this adapter won’t get stuck in the airplane.