"How you really feel after a week of business trip with it?"
In fact, the charger market has been tepid in the past two years, first, there is no new technological breakthrough after the gallium nitride heat; Second, many manufacturers have downplayed the dual pursuit of design and performance, and seem to be more keen to do IP premium.
In the history of charger development, many classic products have been born. But the most discussed in the past two years, I think it is the Flash Retro series.
Last year, Flash released the Retro 35W charger, and that smile from 1984 first appeared on the charger.
Re-evolution of the Macintosh
" Quite a bit of a showmanship of the 67W,
More than a little improvement"
A year later, Flash introduced the new Retro 67W.
I think this can be seen as a flashy product, USC-C*3 blind plug 67W, AC+DC double-ended gallium nitride, multi-port charging continuous connection, array screen + power display design.
The Gift Box version was available in advance, and the Macintosh's outer packaging included the Retro20W, 35W and this time the 67W.
Personally, I like this box very much, and I will store it in a prominent place in the office. The same shell color scheme as the Macintosh, the front optical drive, the side heat vents, and the rear interface are all made.
" Doing derivative evolution on a successful ID,
It is a very correct approach. ”
The 35W released last year, the previously released color 20W, and this new 67W, one ID is derived from three different power versions. More products should be released in the future, covering a more complete power range.
The 67W version adds a rainbow pattern similar to the Macintosh Apple logo on the left side, as well as a new and more advanced screen.
In terms of Macintosh reproduction, the new 67W is better. At first glance, the difference from the real Macintosh is minimal.
When I first heard that the flash pole was going to make a high-power Macintosh, I thought that it would be made into a single port due to the volume and shape, but I didn't expect that the flash directly gave 3 USB-C.
Take a few 60W-65W gallium nitride chargers to compare, the flash pole has been controlled very well while maintaining 3C.
And at the moment when the appearance of the charger is similar, the Retro is very recognizable.
Flash called this screen "dot screen", and the green dot shape is designed according to the green code of the 60s and 70s. Single-port use will show the power of a single port, and multi-port use will display the total power.
If the device is not connected and only powered on, the dotted "code" will run in the form of animation. And you can perform detailed brightness change control to make the animation display more realistic. For this reason, Flash also applied for an invention patent, and it is estimated that it will not be copied so quickly this time.
Without access to the device or trickle charging, the screen will automatically turn off after 5 minutes, so there is no need to worry about light pollution.
Supports protocols and distribution modes
"3 blind plug 67W, very top."
First, let's look at the specifications.
C1 / C2 / C3:5V/9V/12V/15V 3A、20V/3.35A;
Speaking words: three C ports support blind insertion 67W, you can plug it in at will.
C1+C2 / C1+C3:45W+20W
Speaking of people: C1 is used with any other two interfaces, 45W + 20W are PD fast charging.
C2+C3:15W
Speaking of people: C2 and C2 cannot turn on fast charging together, sharing 15W power in 5V gear.
C1+C2+C3:45W+15W
Speaking words: three ports are fully loaded, C1 maintains 45W PD fast charge, and the other two ports share 5V 15W.
The measured is indeed the case, the three-port support agreement is completely consistent with the PD gear.
Protocol support: PD3.0, SCP/FCP, AFC, QC3.0/2.0, Apple 2.4A;
POD报文:支持5V/3A、9V/3A、12V/3A、15V/3A、20V/3.35A,以及3A的PPS。
Equipment measurement
The three ports are connected to the MacBook Pro 16 inches, all of which can run full, and the power is about 67W.
iPad Pro 12.9 inches, running nearly 36W no problem.
The iPhone 14 Pro Max can also touch a peak power of nearly 27W.
C1 MacBook Pro + C2 iPad Pro, the distribution mode is 45W + 20W, and both interfaces are PD fast charging.
C1+C2+C3, C1 maintains 45W PD fast charge, C2 and C3 share 5V 15W.
(Here in order to test that C1 is connected to the mobile power, it is recommended to connect C1 to the computer when the daily three ports are fully loaded)
Multiple mouths are constantly connected
" Functional points to improve the experience, I don't want to buy chargers in the future without this."
First of all, let's talk about what is "multi-port disconnection", which is a pain point that almost all multi-port chargers except for Apple 35W have before, which is a problem in the industry.
Simply put, when you plug in the device C1 to charge, plug in the second device, the C1 device will definitely power off and restart, and then reassign the protocol to continue working. Not to mention the impact on the experience, the key is that this process is very prone to allocation bugs, resulting in protocol allocation failures that cannot match the fast charging gear.
What is multi-port disconnection?
Put a GIF and everyone understands, it is not about the brand, almost all multi-port chargers are like this. After plugging into the C2's power bank, the iPad will power off and restart, and then reassign the protocol. The bugs that everyone talks about occur at this stage.
Apple 35W solves this problem, you can see that C1 does not power off and restart after C2 is connected, but the output mode changes from a single port 32W to 16W + 16W after the current is cleared.
Flash has solved the pain point of this industry
This time, the Retro 67W is equipped with "Non-inductive Charge 1.0", which solves the problem of multi-port disconnection. It should be the second mass production and large-scale shipment after Apple's 35W, and it also raised its own power to 67W.
With the C1 plugged into the MacBook Pro, plug in the C2 or C3 iPad Pro. It can be seen that the C1 computer is not powered off and restarted, and it is also the same as Apple after the current is cleared, the power is reduced to 45W, and the iPad Pro maintains the output mode of 45W + 20W.
Unplug the C2 or C3 iPad Pro, and the C1 computer will still not be powered off, and the power will be increased from 45W to 67W at full load.
If C1, C2 and C3 are connected to the device successively, only the C1 port will not be disconnected. If C2 and C3 are connected sequentially, there will also be disconnection. But after all, it is currently "senseless charge 1.0", I already feel good to achieve this level, and I look forward to continuing to evolve in the future.
After a week of business trips, let's talk about it
"The 3C mouth is in line with the current trend of design, and the flash is very brave"
Many manufacturers always keep a meaningless and large USB-A when making products. It is true that port A is indeed used by some devices, but most of the equipment can already be solved with port C. Even if PD fast charging is not supported, C-C cable can be used to solve the power supply.
Therefore, it is recommended that manufacturers do not feel that cutting the C port will be scolded and tied up, and this backward interface will be swept into the garbage heap sooner or later. If you dare to cut, the user will dare to accept it. Flash has always been ahead of the industry in this regard, so this time it was brave to directly give 3 USB-C.
I recently ran for a week on a business trip and I only brought a flashing 67W. The benefit of three ports, you can always adjust the charging interface according to your needs.
Drop off at the hotel and charge your phone while working. At this time, the double port is used, and the working state is 45W+20W. The general thin and light book is 65W of power, even if the MacBook Pro 16-inch big guy, although it has a PD3.1 of 140W, 65W is completely enough to use. After all, the power consumption of M1/M2 is low enough, and there is basically no problem to cope with daily life.
It is very convenient to come with a power meter, and you can know the working condition of the current charger at a glance.
When I need to charge power banks or AirPods, I can output three ports with full load. At this time, although C2+C3 share 15W, the computer still maintains 45W.
With MagSafe Duo, all three of my travel essentials can be charged at the same time.
Here is a little tip, you can suck the MagSafe external battery to the iPhone, and then charge the battery and iPhone together when charging the phone. So the flash pole this 67W, 3 USB-C can actually meet my four devices to charge, daily is quite enough.
iPhone + Apple Watch + AirPods + Power Bank + MagSafe external battery, four devices, meet at once.
When I wake up at night, the lights are not very bright, so don't worry about light pollution. And it will automatically go out after entering the trickle, but the charger still keeps working.
Extreme performance testing
" Small but still strong "
Directly loaded on, let's take a look at the limits and stability of the Retro 67W.
20.2V/3.36A stable operation, but also slightly beyond the calibration a little, the measured stable output of 68W is no problem. The green voltage, purple current, and yellow power curves show that the performance is very stable. Even a 20-minute test with an ultra-high sampling rate device and 60,000 sampling points did not fluctuate abnormally.
A MacBook Pro 16-inch power supply was recorded for a short time, and the three curves performed steadily, and there were no abnormal fluctuations.
For a 20-minute full load test at a room temperature of about 20 °C, the thermal imager looks at the heat situation. The left side is 42.7°C, the back is 50.7°C, and the right side is 52.7°C. Because it adopts the GaN bis-nitride scheme, GaN is added at both the AC and DC ends. One is to improve the output efficiency, and the other is to press the temperature.
Considering this volume and 67W of power, the current heating situation is even lower than I expected.
What to think of the newly released Retro 67W of Shanji
" It seems that there are no more competitors "
Let's first strip off the design halo of the product itself and assume that it is an ordinary 67W gallium nitride charger.
- Three USB-C, support blind plug 67W;
- Multi-port plugging and uninterruptible power reconnection, no protocol allocation error will occur;
- AC+DC double-ended GaN scheme;
- Chip-level temperature control + multiple protection;
- 500 days only change without repair.
Looking at these parameters alone, it can already be top-notch in the 65W charger camp.
Add to that the Macintosh retro look, built-in power meter and animated array screen, and you don't think it's worth it?
"Uncompetitive Retro 67W"
The reason why I say it is "uncompetitive" is that I feel that there is no direct competition at all.
Previously, some people said that the Retro 35W was a different shell to play with feelings and cut leeks, but now after the release of the 67W, they seem to be able to shut up.
Do not do Macintosh styling, parameter performance are the top in the industry, so is there anything wrong with adding a retro look to be the same?
Finally, let's mention premature improvements.
First of all, the brightness of the screen display is somewhat low, I hope that subsequent versions can be optimized for it;
The second is to hope to add a switch control to the screen, allowing users to choose according to the scene;
Finally, there is no problem with ID convergence, which is the case for cars. But I also hope that Shinji can develop another style to make such an excellent inner presentation more way.
End...