TNR tip: MacBook power brick is smart, follows the green movement

We enjoy being green here at TechNest Report: we don’t use paper that often – if at all, turn off our displays when we’re not using them, and have a very efficient recycling system in place.

As such, one of the predominant movements in tech (and the rest of the world) today is going green – a hot-ticket term for being more environmentally friendly.  In the past, Apple has come under heavy criticism (deservedly or not) for not doing all it could do be an environmentally-friendly company.  All that changed when Apple announced the new MacBook lineup in late 2008 – which is rated at the highest-possible standard in environmental friendliness: the EPEAT Gold rating.  The new MacBook line (along with the recently updated Mac Mini and iMac desktops) are made out of highly-recyclable materials, are more energy efficient, and use less packaging than their predecessors.

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I noticed one very cool green bit about my 4-month-old MacBook aluminum 13″ today that I wanted to share with you – it’s something I didn’t know until a few minutes ago: when the notebook brick is plugged into a power outlet but the other end of the cable (the MagSafe adapter that plugs into the actual notebook) is not, the brick does not draw power.  That’s right, when unplugged from the actual machine, the bricks of the new MacBooks cut the power from the wall.  As far as I recall, this was not the case with my old iBook G4 12″.  I welcome this move by Apple in making “smarter” power bricks and reducing wasted energy.

How about my fellow PC users?  Does your Dell, HP, Lenovo, Sony, Acer, Gateway, E-machines, Asus (or other brand) PC notebook do the same?  I hope so.  If not, it’s time to write an email to the customer service department of the respective organization and ask that this feature be implemented – and make sure it gets to the right person within the company.  Contacting greenpeace might be another approach to start some movement in this area (it worked with Apple, didn’t it?).

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