This is a first, I’m posting a review of the power bank I’m currently using with my MacBook Pro 13-inch, 2020. But this review is as a Playwright. You can definitely replace that title with writer… or non-tech user. As a self-confessed coffee house writer, the main reason I bought this was because of my unfortunate disdain of going somewhere where there isn’t a table near an outlet or doesn’t have an outlet! If you’ve checked out my Nomadic Playwright Listing of places I’ve written at combined with my aversion to working at home, I was in desperate need for something that would provide me with an opportunity to write and work while ingesting something in liquid form: almond chai, black iced tea, or a soy vanilla latte.
So after doing some research I chose Anker – PowerCore III Elite 25600 mah 87W USB-C PD Portable Charger – Black that I found at a local Best Bu which was on sale for $87 something (reg price is $149). I searched for something that was specifically targeted for laptops since most of the other power banks I’ve used are more geared for phones. This Anker works out not too shabby for what I need, but has a couple of drawbacks, but for the cost, I’ll be using this for a while. Here are some of my findings:
- It keeps my laptop powered when there’s no outlet available
- On a full charge (there’s a ring of 8 lights in the circle thing and each light disappears as the battery lowers), it can go up to about 4 hours, and that’s if my laptop is also at 100%. After the Anker is depleted of it’s power, then the regular laptop battery kicks in… so I’m guessing that I might have 6-8 hours of plugless writing/work. Which isn’t bad as breaks are good too!
- It really helps to get a USB-C Cable that can handle the output of the Anker. I still don’t know what that means technically, but after doing some reading, it helps to find a cable that will match the Wattage. So I got this 100W cable (I think it was about $30). It’s a lot thicker than the USB to charge a phone, but I totally saw a difference in 1) charging up the powerbank and 2) charging up a phone.
- To fully charge the Anker, it usually took a day or 8 hours. Knowing this, I know that I can plug these in before I go to sleep and wake up to a fully charged powerbank to drag somewhere in the morning!
- It’s a lot heavier than I thought it would be at 1.3228 pounds.
I think that’s all for my review. If I had the resources, next time, I might look for something with a higher wattage which in theory provides a longer usage time. But overall, I’m pretty happy with the purchase. Happy writing!