Microsoft's 'Replacement' Surface Pro Charger Cable Is an Off-Brand, and Short (theinquirer.net)

Carly Page writes with a story from The Inquirer, where: As part of its Surface Pro charger recall, Microsoft has chosen to replace the sleek, shapely matt[e] plastic original with a cable approximately half the length and ordered from an off-brand manufacturer, in our case China's I-Sheng Electric Wire and Cable Company. Writer Peter Gothard points out a plausible reason for the length, though: "The extraordinarily short length of the cord is presumably to discourage behaviour that resulted in the "tightly wrapped" or "repeatedly bent" cables catching fire in at least 56 separate incidents."

Comments

Cables aren't made for bending and wrapping!

[mnslinky]

It'd be nice if customers would figure this out. They're supposed to be kept flat and straight, or left in the packaging they shipped in. jeez.

For uninformed, article title is disingenuous

[Cutriss]

The AC cable for the Surface Pro series is two pieces like most laptop cables. There's a simple AC cable without ground that goes from the wall to the transformer block, and then the transformer has a fixed DC wire that goes to the tablet itself.

This recall *only* affected the AC cable, and that cable was already pretty short (like two feet tops). The bulk of the cable length comes from the DC cable itself, and that did not shorten (because it wasn't replaced). Don't get me wrong, the DC cable has issues and needs a reinforced boot, but we're talking of a total cable length loss of maybe six inches.

Re:And, it cheaper

[Maxwell]

SP3 owner here. They could have made the power adapter a wall wart - it isn't that big. Wallwart---cable--connector. Simple Instead they went wall--cable--brick---cable---connector. This just begs to have both cables wrapped around the brick when travelling. It's that first cable that breaks open. The second cable is much more robust, has the flexy thing at the joint and is permanently attached to the brick. the first cable is a standard type used in electric razors, old toshiba laptops etc. Very common part. And from the pic the replacement does not look anymore robust than the original...so will have exactly same issue....people will wrap it around the brick..and it will fail.

Re:And, it cheaper

[fustakrakich]

The person who invented the wall wart should be taken out and shot. I can only use two of the six outlets on the power strip. Some are so heavy they fall out of the wall socket. "cable--brick--cable" eliminates that problem. Flexing the cable when you're packing the thing two or three times a day, every day, is going to break it pretty quick, no matter how well it is made.