Did Apple Subcontract To Lucas?

Had a little bit of excitement at the office yesterday.

I was focused and working away on my MacBook, and our secretary came in to my office, and while we were talking she asked if I smelled smoke.

I then also smelled it just a bit.

Turns out the smoke and burning smell was coming from the Mac's power adapter.

Looks like it short-circuited and started to burn right through the wire's insulation.

This was magic smoke indeed, as once it had begun to escape it stopped charging the Macbook.

As soon as I saw what was happening I  unplugged it from the wall, thus ending the escape of the magic smoke.

On the upside, the Apple Store was very quick to replace it with a new one that has so far kept all of its magic smoke inside, so hooray for Apple-care.  No harm done to the Mac itself and everything is fine.

The Apple Store staff person noted it was the first one she has seen that has done that, but it certainly looks like the charging wire is awfully thin for the power its carrying, and that white block power adapted does get hot even when it is working properly, so there may be a bit of a design flaw with these chargers.