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Comment by BugsJustFindMe | Hacker News Reader

> and it doesn't get accidentally knocked out if I use it on my lap

Man, my 2017 MacBook Pro's USB-C charging cable (the official one, not third party, and in pristine condition) constantly disconnects itself to the point where I'm basically traumatized from the annoyance of it now. It only provides power if it's ALL the way in, and the damned thing just pushes itself out half a millimeter and cuts power repeatedly.

I really want to like the generic nature of USB-C charging, but proper magsafe with a strong magnet is just miles better (third party magnet adapters for USB-C both break the spec and also tend to have very weak magnets which can cause damage from sparking at the port).

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Man, that half a millimetre difference between connected and disconnected drove me nuts. It is absolutely infuriating because there is zero physical feedback when you try to connect the cable.

I don't have anything helpful to offer but I feel your pain. Reading your comment almost brings on PTSD from remembering what it was like.

I actually restored my 2015 Macbook Pro and have been so happy and content using that in the past two years or so. Not sure about the other sizes, but my 13" from 2015 does everything better than the one from 2017. Performance, keyboard, connectors. None of the overheating bullshit where the fan is constantly going and performance is throttled.

I had similar problem with MagSafe; the culprit was the dust that both the charger and the laptop collected over the years. After some compressed air treatment, it was as good as new.

Everything is pristine. There's no dust. It happens anyway.

FWIW, I was very unsatisfied with my 2016 MBP USB-C ports and found them very unreliable, but am quite content with the ports on the mid 2019 MBP and the 2020 MBA (M1). So, maybe they've improved over time.

I have a 2017 for testing at work. It has never moved. I ssh into it for some macos specific testing. I have plugged and unplugged the charger maybe 5 times.

Yesterday I moved it around. And noticed what you described. The plug will come back out by a millimeter. And then it won't charge.

Maybe just a bad design of the usb-c port then.

How about cleaning the connector?

There's nothing to clean. Everything is pristine. The problem has even persisted across replacement cables and a full top case replacement (the keyboard, of course) where Apple scrubs the whole thing down before they give it back. Maybe I should superstitiously blow on it like it's an NES cartridge. It won't help, but maybe I'll feel like I have some agency.

You sure your power brick is fine? Mine randomly disconnected until I got a replacement. No problems now.

The problem is the laptop connection, not the brick connection.

Maybe bend the male usb out some.

Haha yikes. I'm not saying that your idea wouldn't work, but I'm definitely not going to do it. :)

Yes, but how about the _inside_ of the USB-C port? Sounds like the inside to me

> Sounds like the inside to me

Yeah, well, it's not.

> Yes, but how about the _inside_ of the USB-C port?

It's pristine, like I said elsewhere already.

I had a 2017 MBP with the same issue. Replacing the ports was the fix.

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