Quirky PowerCurl — My New Favorite Product

The power brick for a Mac laptop sprouts two cords: a skinny one that plugs in to the laptop, and a detachable fat one that plugs in to the wall. You can swap a plug for the fat one to lighten your travel load. (Funny story: a coworker didn’t know what the fat cord was for, so almost threw it away. Seeing our power bricks with the fat cord plugged in was his “aha” moment.)

Apple thoughtfully added fold-out tabs to the power brick to allow you to wind up the skinny cord, and a press-on hook to attach the end of the skinny cord to itself to prevent unwinding. No such provisions exist for the fat cord, however, leaving the laptop-toter with a dilemma:

• Wrap the fat cord around the brick
• Let the fat cord dangle
• Leave the fat cord at home and just use the brick-plug

Perhaps many have come to peace with whatever option they’ve chosen, but I tend to fret about these things. Then I found the Quirky PowerCurl, seen here:

If you can’t tell from the picture, it’s a rubbery, rounded square with various holes and grooves. You press the power brick into its center and wrap the cords in the appropriate grooves. It even has a press-on hook for the fat cord, so you can attach its end to itself to prevent unwinding. It’s simple yet perfect.

It comes in various colors, and has different sizes for the different sizes of power bricks (45w, 60w, 85w), so be sure to get the right size. No, I have no affiliation, and get no kickbacks. I just love these things. I have two MacBook Pros, so bought two: an orange one and a green one.

Wait — now I have a new dilemma: do I pack the orange one or the green?