2. It protrudes more than 1cm from the edge of the case, so we're right back to where we started in terms of things unintentionally dragging the laptop around.
3. MagSafe is patented by Apple, and not licensed to anybody. To get around the patent, other manufacturers had to make an inferior product. In particular, the polarity of the magnets in MagSafe is optimized to make the connection as strong as possible, and that's written right into the patent (https://www.google.com/patents/US7311526). The knockoffs are wimpier.
4. Dropping $2500 on a laptop and then having to spring for a $40 part than came from free with your $1700, last-generation laptop is just annoying.
I really do not understand what Apple is thinking here... Steve is turning in his grave.