I also use my 2015 and refuse to upgrade. And use it a lot; lot of the letters on my keyboard are long gone. But the keyboard keeps working, which is a major plus compared to the newer models. If only the MagSafe 2 wasn't such bad design...
It could be a little lighter, but I carry it around in a backpack so I don't mind, and it's still not too heavy to balance on my belly if needed to, so I don't mind either.
Thinner? I also had an Air, and while it was a pleasure to carry around, I never liked the feel. It was too thin for my taste already.
On the other hand, the later magsafe cable was finally the design that seemed to work the best in more chaotic environments like at a cafe where someone can kick the cable.
People complain about how it falls out "all the time", but to me that suggests that it's doing its job.
Meanwhile one of my two usb-c ports on my 2017 MBP is already damaged from normal wear (jiggling a cable will challenge the connection), probably from the times the port took the whole load of a pulled cable. Magsafe did the right thing of sparing the port.
Though as Apple macbooks become lighter and lighter, we increasingly deal with the ridiculous failcase where a pulled cable can launch the entire laptop off the table. I feel like magsafe is even more necessary now than ever before.
>People complain about how it falls out "all the time", but to me that suggests that it's doing its job.
I wasn't aware this was even a complaint. The magsafe always just seemed like it did exactly what it needed to; I think I can recall just a few occasions when I didn't realize I had set one of my MacBooks down at an angle on the bed or something and separated part of the power cord just enough to stop charging it.
I upgraded to a 2018 MacBook Air just earlier this year, and the lack of a native magsafe option is my only regret on the purchase. The plus side is that the battery really is pretty amazing, so most of the time I am just running without it plugged in at all, and at night the laptop peacefully charges.
There were two different designs for MagSafe 1... the design used on the 2008 Macbook and 2008 unibody Macbook Pro had a plastic rectangular end that jutted straight out. The design used on the early Macbook Air is like you describe, with a right angle and an aluminum body. Both designs work with the Magsafe 1 to Magsafe 2 adapter.
I preferred the L-form plug you're describing, but that's not my main issue.
I used an MagSafe 1 L-form one for a couple of years as well, and now the MagSafe 2 T-form one.
With the MagSafe 2 the cable sheath started to become kind of porous and would fray after a year at the connector, which I had to fix (used some excess sugru my sister had lying around). This worked, but made the connector end a little heavier meaning even more chance it will slip if the laptop is moved ever so slightly.
Another half year later or so the cable showed the same symptoms in the middle of it, where now a large area of the cable sheath would become rigid, porous and would eventually rip open. That part of the cable was usually in the air, did not touch anything and of course was not in front of a heat source or anything like that. Imagine my confusion. I patched it up again with some electric tape.
I never had these problems with the MagSafe 1 cable. When I googled a bit, this seems to be a common issue for Apple cables, and a lot, lot, lot more common for the MagSafe 2 (anecdotally from what I saw in the google results)[1]. That and a lot of people would have the entire cable fray and stop working (usually at the power block end), at which point you'd either have to open up the thing and solder it together or more likely buy a replacement for 80 bucks, but that didn't happen to me (yet) thankfully.
I've used a lot of laptops, and while the magnetic connector is certainly an improvement (so of course, Apple replaced it with USB-C), I never had a cable slowly shed the cable sheath before. That's what I meant by bad design.
As far as I can tell, things didn't improve. Instead Apple decided to not even ship a cord with new models, so you either have to buy one yourself (another 20 bucks) or plug the power block directly into the wall socket. I'm cynic enough by now to believe they didn't stop shipping one because they are cheap, but to make the packaging box "thinner".
Anecdotally, I'm on my third magsafe 1 charger. They are all shit. My GFs current magsafe 1 has like 3 patches of tape throughout the cable after the block, and a big beefy wad on the L connector. I've ran into a couple other people still rocking the 2012 mbp, and they are all on their second or third magsafe charger too.
They used to not have that grippy coating and I think those smooth cables worked great (until I ran over mine with a desk chair), even the original ipod cables were pretty solid in my experience, but every L shaped magsafe 1 is a time bomb just like any other apple cable these days.
My USB-C to Magsafe adapter is currently in the prototype phase. I'm really interested in what you didn't like in the design so I can fix it in the final product.
I'm in the same boat as you, but most of my devices including my work laptop uses USB-C for charging. I want to cut down on the number of chargers I have to bring with myself I going somewhere. Also, I really like that I can "dock" my work laptop with only one cable.
It could be a little lighter, but I carry it around in a backpack so I don't mind, and it's still not too heavy to balance on my belly if needed to, so I don't mind either.
Thinner? I also had an Air, and while it was a pleasure to carry around, I never liked the feel. It was too thin for my taste already.