A week or so ago, I noticed the power cord for my laptop was becoming increasingly sensitive. If it wasn’t at just the right angle, it wouldn’t charge. Knowing my laptop was out of warranty (I thought it was 90 days, but I guess it is a full year) and with a replacement costing $80, I dealt with it. Sunday, I plugged in the adapter and went back to working on my desktop. I looked over an noticed it wasn’t charging. I reached for the cord to try and fiddle with it to get the magic angle again and immediately became alarmed at how hot it had become. I quickly unplugged it from the laptop and the wall as to not start a fire or damage the laptop. After I did this, I noticed there was a small hole in the plastic coating of the cord and it had partially melted.
Rick, Kristi, and I were planning on going to see Superbad (so hilarious!) at the mall and so we left a little early to stop by the Apple store. Once there, I was informed by an employee that I needed to make an appointment to see someone at the Genius Bar and that their next appointment was right in the middle of our movie time. The nice thing is you can schedule appointments online at any time. I got one set up for 1:30 the following day at the Apple store a few miles from work.
At work the next day, my laptop lasted for about an hour before the battery was pretty much drained, so I was forced to use my old Linux desktop machine. Man is it slow compared to my Macbook Pro. After spending about 2 hours just getting the thing updated to where I could start programming, I tried to get some work done. The results were less than amazing to say the least.
I never realized how much more efficient I am on my Mac. I have to give credit to the excellent text editor, Textmate. I felt crippled without it. All it’s little bundles and keyboard shortcuts add up not only a much more enjoyable programming experience, but a more productive one as well.
As 1:30 rolled around, I took my seat at the Genius Bar. The store was packed and the Genius Bar was obviously behind schedule as I sat around for a good 15 minutes before anyone called my name. Eventually, a Genius, Dave, came over and called my name. He explained that he’d seen the melting power cords before. The cause seems to be when the cord gets bent at an extreme angle and breaks a small wire inside the cord. After some trouble pulling up my info (it was due to the purchase being made under my boss’s name), he replaced the adapter without any further questions. I thanked Dave for his help and was on my way back to being an efficient, Mac loving, web developer for the rest of the day.
