Any long-time Apple devotee has struggled through the charger situation. Those Mag-Safe T-shaped chargers fray pretty easily, at which point you have to twist and turn the cord to pull in a charge. It’s a huge pain, to say the least. But it appears those struggles are coming to a close, as Apple has lost a lawsuit which will now require the company to either replace MagSafe power cords or hand over a chunk of change.

In 2006, Apple made a smart move by introducing magnetic power cords. The idea was that people would stop damaging the charging port and/or their MacBooks if they happened to trip over the cord. The only problem was that the T-shaped adapters ended up fraying at the end, probably since everyone felt free to trip over them and yank them out of the computer.

Still, they should’ve been more durable, and now Apple has to clean up the mess. After now realizing that the 60W and 85W MagSafe MPM-1 power adapters are defective, users will have until March 21, 2012 to file a cash claim, or until December 31, 2012 to go get a replacement, reports the Register. Simply take your damaged charger into an Apple Store or an official Apple partner and ask for a replacement. But know that any signs of accidental damage (which to me would look a lot like “stress relief” damage, so who knows how they’ll determine that) will invalidate your claim.

Here’s Apple’s official wording on claims:

Strain Relief Damage means fraying, melting, straining, sparking, weakening, discoloration, bubbling, overheating and/or separation of the Adapter’s strain reliefs.

If you’re a more recent Mac convertee and own the L-shaped MagSafe charger, no worries. You shouldn’t have the same fraying issues. No word yet on whether non-U.S. MacBook owners will get the same deal.

• APPLE

Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007.

Among the key offerings from Apple’s product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod (offered with…

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