Shaoshupai Matrix Digest 159: A 45W Card Charger, a Budget Slingshot, and Apple’s Cook-Era Hits

Shaoshupai said the Matrix weekly digest was restarted to give more exposure to community posts outside the homepage feed and sidebar. Author submissions for the “New Gadgets” section will move to the digest, while submission channels and rewards remain unchanged. The digest also links to the previous issue, 158.

In the first review, author @流歌 said he bought UGREEN’s 45W “Xiaobingpian” charger from JD.com for 97 yuan. He described it as extremely small and flat, measuring 61.3 × 41.9 × 11.7 mm and weighing 55 g, comparable in hand to a Zippo lighter. He compared it with the Cuktech 6 mini and the Cuktech 6 card, calling the latter a benchmark in card chargers, but chose the UGREEN because it is thinner, shorter and lighter than the Cuktech 6 card, which weighs 83 g. The author said 45W is enough for his use: his Xiaomi 14 rarely draws its full 90W and often charges at around 40W, while the UGREEN measured 24W and did not lengthen charging time much; it also works for an iPhone. For a thin MacBook, browsing and video use only a few watts, and the MacBook Air’s original charger is 30W. He listed the drawbacks as a 45W maximum, unsuitability for high-power devices, no support for private high-power fast-charging protocols, and a single Type-C port.

In the second review, author @十七 said he bought a Gongtu Fengdingdingka slingshot set from Pinduoduo for 11.9 yuan and a target box for 21 yuan after his son found an old wooden slingshot. The ABS plastic slingshot weighs more than 40 g and uses a top-card structure that presses the band against the fork with a ball, making band changes easy. The set included five bands, 200 steel balls and 400 clay balls. He added a 40 cm × 40 cm target box for safe indoor practice. After about a week, he said he could hit 80% to 90% of shots at 3 meters, with accuracy dropping at 5 meters, and that he plays for fun rather than competition.

The digest also summarized Pai Discussion No. 296, which asked which Apple products under Tim Cook had truly changed readers’ digital lives. Shaoshupai said 781 participants joined. The discussion concentrated on AirPods, which the community credited with ending wired earphones for many users and reshaping commuting and wireless audio habits, and on Apple Silicon, which readers praised for performance, battery life and lower heat compared with Intel-era Macs. One participant wrote that anyone burned by an Intel-era MacBook Pro would understand Apple Silicon’s value. Another said AirPods seemed strange when launched, like wired earphones with the cable cut, but now looked far ahead. Others said Apple Silicon made thin, powerful and long-lasting laptops possible, while Apple Watch changed watch habits and exercise motivation; some bought most AirPods models. MagSafe was chosen by one reader because magnetic accessories multiplied around it. Several readers also criticized Intel-era features: a 2019 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and butterfly keyboard was called a disaster, with poor battery life and noisy fans, and one said it now sits unused. Another participant said Cook is mainly a businessman, and it is hard to say he changed digital life through products; his business skills in supply chain, pricing and product strength are notable. The digest also noted negative memories of the butterfly keyboard and Touch Bar.

In its weekly comment roundup, Shaoshupai cited debate over a Microsoft executive’s claim that AI scraping is the largest theft of labor achievements in human history, a 12306 statement that third-party ticket buying may be slower or fail, Google’s addition of Pixel-exclusive APIs in Android 17, and an Apple hardware engineering vice president’s advice against screen protectors.