Product Feedback - Laptop Power Connectors

[davemon50]

Feedback:
Power connectors to laptops that are 90-degree port connectors are problematic in my opinion (see picture in this post).


The first two pics below are of the 90-degree power connector from one of my two Asus laptops, and the third is a picture of the configuration I think is better, with a straight connector.

The problem as best I can define it is simply that laptops are mobile (as intended), and in addition tend to sometimes wind up in poor locations as a result of their mobility and their lack for a suitably ideal resting location. In practice, unless someone regularly uses a docking station, they typically don't take the time to go through a rigorous wire management routine every time that laptop is set up anew. For example if one travels a lot, or visits different offices for their company, or if they move to different locations in the house. I use those examples because all three of these actually apply to me.

So with those practical constraints in mind, the bottom line is that the cord tends to get pulled on. Sometimes very hard. Whenever you pull on a power cord with a 90-degree connector, you put a bending moment on the laptop port/power-connection, which stresses the connection within that port. For a 90-degree connector the cord usually won't pull out. Maybe that's the intent, but at the expense of the port's integrity. A straight connector would put little to no stress on the port, but would simply be pulled out. That's not typically an issue because it's momentary and the battery will have at least a small charge (or: should).

Maybe that's the intent of it? "Not" to pull out? I am not an electrical engineer, so maybe there's a good technical reason for this. Please educate me if that's the case.

Suggestion: Either provide straight connectors with a good interference fit, or else provide a mechanical wire strap or clip to hold the power cord closely against the side of the laptop so it cannot be pulled to create a bending moment on the port. The clip should actually be part of the laptop body itself. So you plug the 90-degree connector into the laptop then you clip the wire maybe 1" away from the port to the side of the case. Either of these solutions would be better in my opinion than what we have now.

I noticed this deficiency because my son actually uses his laptop on a tray table. It fits perfectly on the table, but if he slides the laptop to the side just a tad, the wire is immediately caught on the table edge (because the weight of the cord causes it to hang downward, not to the side). Any more movement of the laptop puts that bending moment on the port. I have to continually twist that power cord 90 degrees out of phase in order to keep it from catching the table. The other thing is he has two siblings that walk by all the time while he plays games, and they sometimes trip on the cord. When they do it is an immediate yank on the power connector, again with a bending moment.

Just my thoughts, hope it helps in development. Here are the pics promised from above.

[xeromist]

I don't think the purpose is to keep it from pulling out. it's to keep it out of the way rather than sticking out like a sore thumb. I personally find that a right angled connector is more out of the way and less likely to get snagged at the port because it is snug against the side. I always make sure there is slack in the cord and that it will not get pulled which means a right angle is better for me. So it seems straight connectors are better for cord snags and right angle are better for connector snags. The ultimate fix would be magnetic connectors.

[cl-Albert@ROG]

Haven't seen any recent repair reports about it, but I remember hearing about loose DC jack issues on our older notebooks before and believe the curved angle connector may help minimize this issue, but just a guess on my part since I haven't confirmed this with anybody.

Not sure if damaged AC cords could be another factor or not.

ASUS actually normally uses the AC adapter with straight plug with the ASUS All-in-Ones due to the way the case is designed, so it appears to be a conscious decision to use the curved tip adapter with the notebooks whatever the reason(s).

[davemon50]

Curved angle connector? It sounds like a good idea, but I could not find an image of that online. Do you by chance have a reference for one?

[Korth]

Right-angle connectors are simply meant to occupy less space, they don't stick out as far, they aren't designed to provide any real strain relief but they can often be rotated so there's less strain on the cord, very useful when connectors are squished up against walls or other things. Not at all an engineering thing, just an end-user convenience.

Apple used "MagSafe" power connectors on Macbooks for years. These were famously designed to harmlessly disconnect whenever people yanked or tripped on the power cord, they weren't perfect but they apparently did work pretty well overall and they probably saved countless laptops from being damaged, they were certainly better than ye olde fashioned coax-style power connectors. I buy tech, not fashion, so I don't use Apple ... but this seems like a great sort of little innovation everybody should use. (Although Apple revised it to "MagSafe 2" ... then mysteriously abandoned it altogether.)

Repairing a damaged laptop is far more hassle than replacing a damaged power cord, and I've seen (and repaired) far too many mobile devices that were damaged in this way, so I completely agree that a better approach is needed. Some sort of magnetic power connector is the best idea - even though it does introduce a little more cost and a little bit of electrical inefficiency - but even a power cord which connects/disconnects at both ends (at the laptop and at the AC adapter block) would save a lot of people a lot of grief.

[davemon50]

Yeah I like that idea Korth. It would save some days on my life; those times when I gasped because my 7-yr old tripped on my other sons power cord and almost yanked the laptop off the table........there goes another 12 hours off my life.

[cl-Albert@ROG]

Curved angle connector? It sounds like a good idea, but I could not find an image of that online. Do you by chance have a reference for one?

Sorry, I meant to say right-angle connector or was referring to the 90 degrees connector when I said curved angle connector although maybe you're on to something with that curved-angle design.

[davemon50]

This is not a criticism, but I was just curious if the manufacturer reads this section, or if mods pass this section's information on to them, since this is really a user's forum. Anyone know?

[Korth]

ASUS marketing/sales people seem to read these forums. Not so much the ASUS engineers.

[xeromist]

This is not a criticism, but I was just curious if the manufacturer reads this section, or if mods pass this section's information on to them, since this is really a user's forum. Anyone know?

I don't think anyone at the moderator rank even has contacts to pass information. I know I don't. Most of us are volunteers and Albert is in customer support for the US so I don't think he talks to HQ engineers regularly.

However, they do have this product feedback section of the forum. So someone may be reading it. Keep in mind that this is viewable without an account so any ASUS person can read it if they have the inclination and they would not appear in the visitor list at the bottom of the page. So while I wouldn't invest a lot of time into composing feedback it couldn't hurt to post some brief suggestions.

I probably wouldn't expect to see any change in power bricks though. It's a fairly deliberate choice so they probably have reasons for choosing what they do. Suppliers likely only have tooling for straight or right angle plugs anyway. Anything other than that would be a special order requiring new tooling at increased cost.