Do You Ever Buy Off-Brand Accessories?

Above: An obviously not Apple power cord attached to my very Apple Powerbook

I've just moved and I'm still getting settled unpacking my things. In an effort to save some much needed cash, I took on the move myself with the help of a good friend with a pickup truck. No moving van. No movers. The extra dough in my pocket was a good thing, but dropping boxes as we lifted them up the stairs was not—my laptop took a crash (The horror!). Thankfully, my Mac PowerBook is ok, but the power cord suffered a tragic death as it split apart...

I was suddenly faced with an important decision.

My local Apple Store no longer sells the power cord for my model, so in order to replace it with an official Apple one, I'd need to find a used power cord in good condition on EBay or Craigslist. But if I wanted to switch to an off-brand used charger, I could overnight a package from any online store.

I picked option two and I've so far been happy with my choice. Have any of you had to bite the bullet and buy knock-off gadgets or accessories in a hurry? Maybe a cell phone charger for the car that you picked up at a truck stop?

Images: Taryn

Comments (8)

Definitely! www.monoprice.com is my favorite for some off-brand but very usable accessories. I bought a car charger, wall charger, and retractable usb-charger for my iPhone through them. None more than $4. The first wall charger went dead pretty quickly, I filled out the form on their website and they promptly sent a new one.

Nice post but you forgot to set your white balance!

I have an off-brand travel iPod charger that I've been using for years. (It lasted longer than the iPod)
It saved me 30$ at the time.
I also bought an off-brand battery pack for my Toshiba laptop. (after the Toshiba pack died a horrible death)

Accessories yes, but for actual electronics though, I like to get the name brands.

i have bought a wall-plug charger for ipod. sooo much cheaper than the branded one.

and the charger lasted longer than the ipod....

I have an incredibly similar off-brand charger. And it stinks. It has destroyed my battery life (now a whopping 12 minutes), overheats to the point of actually burning my skin, and is incredibly difficult to travel with (the cords always get wrapped around something in my bag). I know the real ones are expensive if you can find them, but I would say it is worth it.

I bought an off brand charger for my Powerbook G4 and it totally destroyed my battery life and fried the computer all together. Thankfully I was within 1 month of my Apple Care expiration and they fixed everything. I'm back to using the OEM charger now.

I bought an eBay Macbook charger once. I knew it was a mistake before it went up in a puff of smoke.

Apple still sells the appropriate charger for your PowerBook FYI. If it was an official Apple Store, they should have them back of house, you just need to ask. Otherwise, they are available on Apple.com.