I’m no cable-management fanatic, but I still don’t want to have to retrieve fallen MagSafe connectors from under the desk (that’s where dust bunnies have their picnic) or mistakenly grab my husband’s earbuds as I’m running out the door.
Buoy Tags are little plastic tags that snap around Apple cables to help you tell them apart. Two fit MagSafe or iPod cables, and one is extra slim for Apple earbud cables. You add a teeny-tiny label in the transparent half, then snap the two halves around your cable. It’s a good idea if you have MagSafe cables for two different computers, or if people in your house have identical cables or earbuds. The labels are so small they’re hard to deal with—I had to pry a label out of the Buoy Tags with the end of a pushpin when my fingernail wouldn’t do the job. And at three for $12, they seem a little on the pricey side.
The AluCube Mini is a hunk of aluminum with a rubber-lined slot. It can hold a cable in place on your desktop (3M double-sided tape is included if you want to tape it down), or keep a coiled cable from unrolling itself. You get two in a package for $16.95, which also seems steep: Staples sells 60-packs of assorted size binder clips for $5.99, so you could tape some of those to your desk, too.
The bottom line. If you want your cable “solutions” to be attractive like your Apple gear is, these both do their jobs. But if you want to save some money, bust out a pack of binder clips and a marker or two.
Buoy Tags
Buoy Tags
www.buoytags.com
Price: $12
Requirements: Apple cables (earbuds, iPhone cables, MagSafe cables, etc.)
Pros: Three to a package, two for whatever and one for Apple earbuds only. Downloadable templates to make you own labels. Snug fit, won't fall off.
Cons: Tiny labels hard to manage. Kind of expenisve.
Alucube Mini
Just Mobile
www.xtand.net
Price: $16.95
Requirements: Cable, fingers
Pros: Keep cables coiled, or from falling off your desk. Two in a package.
Cons: Kind of expenisve.
