As mentioned on a previous post, I ran into trouble with the power adapter on my Powerbook G4. This adapter design gets a lot of criticism, and there are many dissatisfied reviews on the Apple store. This has been ameliorated somewhat with the introduction of the magsafe connector on the new generation of MacBook Pros. However, they still look susceptible to the same kind of fatigue from regular bending.
So I have this bit of advice, which I hope helps other Mac users. I picked this trick up from one of the Apple Store Geniuses. As an aside, since he showed me this technique and confessed that all the other employees use it too, it seems pretty clear that Apple knows the design is flawed.
So the technique can be seen in the picture (click for larger image). The idea is to give the cord a wide, slack first loop before wrapping and then continue to wind it around the brick loosely, giving the cord a half twist each time. It should be just like winding rope.
Seems simple enough. But if you wrap it tightly like in the picture shown in the product promos and on the Apple website, you are likely to wear out your cord and get the same cracks that I had with my Powerbook. We will see if this techniques helps my new brick last longer. Also, I added some white Gaffer tape to the end points too, as reinforcement.
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