Surface has poorly designed Power Supply

[evilrobot]

Microsoft Store Online

Sure, the magnetic part is cool - but the end that goes into the outlet sucks. Why are manufacturers still making this kind of plug?

Manufacturers: Please, if there needs to be a box on the plug, put it up the line a bit and have a regular cord on the end. Putting the box on the part that plugs in makes it so that I have to cover 2-3 outlets on my power strip.

 

[VagrantWade]

Microsoft Store Online

Sure, the magnetic part is cool - but the end that goes into the outlet sucks. Why are manufacturers still making this kind of plug?

Manufacturers: Please, if there needs to be a box on the plug, put it up the line a bit and have a regular cord on the end. Putting the box on the part that plugs in makes it so that I have to cover 2-3 outlets on my power strip.

...So buy a horizontal power strip instead of a vertical one?

 

[power5]

But the box on the plug allows it to have all the weight supported by the outlet and the fulcrum point keeps it from pulling out of the outlet. If you put it a foot or so down the line and I want to plug it into a high off the ground outlet, it could fall out of the outlet.

 

[jhoff80]

I couldn't disagree more, personally. I much prefer the kind of plug which has the 'box' at the end of the wire like this, to the kind that has two wires with a 'box' in the middle.

Maybe it's a little more difficult sometimes to find an outlet for it, but it's so much more convenient for travel to be designed this way. Less to tangle and get in the way.

 

[power5]

And less to forget. Last trip I went on was rushed packing and thought I forgot the wall to box section of the power cord. Finally found it in the bottom of my luggage. Must have been "resorted" by TSA or something.

 

[Coreldan]

I too prefer having the box on the outlet for my mobile device rather than having it hanging. My Packard Bell netbook has it pretty nicely, as the part that goes into outlet can be taken off and turned around, so you can put it either vertically or horizontally to the outlet so that the "covering 2-3 outlets" is less of an issue.

Sure, it's not always optimal, but I've far preferred that than having my bigger laptop have the box halfway through the cord that weights so much that it puts pressure on some end of the cord. Especially with a magnetic connector on Surface's end, it would mean it would come off unless you could rest the box somewhere, which isnt nearly always an option. I sit in the train 3 hours a day and there are 2 variations of the train, where in the other variation the outlets are on knee height and in the other variation they are half a meter above my head.

 

[evilrobot]

Thanks, those were some interesting insights into why others might have a differing opinion on this. As for the horizontal vs vertical strip, it wouldn't matter much as most of these kinds of plugs are unfortunately just as wide as they are long (or close to). I don't travel, like ever, so the travelling thing never occurred to me. I was actually hoping the surface would charge via micro usb since I have about a zillion of those plugged in across the house already for charging phones/cameras/etc.

 

[evilrobot]

Oh, and I hate to bring this up because I hate macs - but the power supply for a macbook is the perfect solution for this as it converts from being either the box down the line or plugging in directly from the box with an included adapter.