For the past few years I've I've used my 2011 macbook pro & over the xmas / new year the genuine apple item died, apple wanted £65 for a new unit. i did some home work on eBay & found this seller in the link £10.99 posted & work a treat also looks the same as genuine / if anyone is looking for a replacement be careful you chose for the correct model shown on the underside of the mac as there are a few direct types.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281865081714?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

http://www.righto.com/2014/05/a-look-inside-ipad-chargers-pricey.html

 

You get what you pay for - Apple chargers are expensive, agreed, but so is the equipment if you need to replace it because it's damaged by poor power circuitry. And I've had many friends with third party chargers for their Windows notebooks, you'd struggle to get anything like the original life out of one. Each to their own of course, but unless your laptop is already living on borrowed time and you'd be happy to replace it I don't think I'd take the risk personally, and that's without rogue heat/safety issues.

I looked at the cheap chinese chargers when the one on my 2013 rMBP died, decided against it and got a genuine one. I've read of poor quality components and unregulated output. Much rather have a working macbook with an official one than a working charger and dead macbook or blown battery.

My Apple power unit has the common broken wire where it exits the power brick to the computer.

Typically it means replacing the whole power unit!

So I started looking at replacement units like the Chinese ones on eBay and found that I could get a replacement wire for £5. It means opening the power unit, removing the existing wires and soldering the new ones in place but it looks quite straight forward on the videos I've looked at.

Am still waiting for it to arrive from China, but at least I get to keep the genuine Apple power unit.

My MacBook is from 2009, so not too bothered about it. How much difference can the wire make if the power unit is the same?