Daily Archives: September 13, 2008

Fixing the Mac Air Audio Plug Design Flaw

Yes – I know – if it was “Designed in Cupertino” – that means that it is perfect and that I should change. Unfortunately Cupertino went through a phase where they decided that the typical headphone/speaker plug was too big – and so they were going to force a new size down folks throats. Given that Apple wants things thinner, lighter and smaller – it made sense.
But the world simply did not change fast enough. The original iPhone and the Mac Air assumed a very small headphone – jack (the diameter of the plastic) around the jack. For a while – I just used my iPhone headset with my Mac Air and conformed to the new Cupertino way.
But as classes started, I was stuck trying to plug my air into the large audio plugs in the lecture rooms and was doomed – I want to make a simple extender cable that has the small diameter male plug and then it is a 3-inch wire ending in a female plug – then I could plug into anything – kind of like those short USB extenders.
But I decided to just fix the design flaw. First I grabbed some wire cutters and cut off most of the aluminum that was in the way just below the audio plug. I cut and bent and got most of the aluminum removed.
This took out most of the aluminum out but left it a little ragged. So the next step was to use masking tape and cover every single opening of the Air (including where the little flip out audio plug was). The *last* thing I needed was little aluminum particles floating around my Air’s innards.


The next step was to grid off the rough edges with a Dremel tool and then use a bit of emery-paper to get them smooth again. Then I blew all the aluminum dust off before removing the tape.

The I removed the tape and viola – I can plug in any audio plug into my mac Air!

Don’t blame me if you zorch you Mac Air with aluminum dust. I was really nervous and careful about the aluminum dust. Your mileage might vary. I do wish Apple would fix this in some upcoming Air – just like they fixed it for the iPhone 3G. Or at least sell the audio extender.