This Slim 3-Port Belkin Power Bank Is the King of Laptop Chargers
· Vice
The compuer industry has, for years, been in an arms race against itself. Laptops, specifically. Manufacturers pack higher and higher capacity lithium-ion batteries into their laptops, only to increase performance with more advanced CPUs, GPUs, and displays. As battery capacity goes up, demands by more power-hungry components use more power.
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All these years after the laptop displaced the desktop as the primary computer format for most people, it’s still hard to get an entire day’s worth of use out of a laptop without a power outlet nearby. If you have a big day ahead of you, what you really need is a power bank. And not just a regular one used for smartphones. That doesn’t have enough juice. You need something with 20000mAh of battery capacity or more like the Belkin BoostCharge Pro 3-Port Laptop Power Bank 20K.
what to know about the Belkin BoostCharge Pro Power Bank 20K
Belkin BoostCharge Pro 3-Port Laptop Power Bank 20K – Credit: Matt JancerThe Belkin BoostCharge Pro 3-Port Laptop Power Bank 20K has a battery capacity of 20000mAh, which means it possesses two to four times the capacity of a typical power bank, such as the Belkin BoostCharge 10K Power Bank. You can use it for charging phones, tablets, or almost anything that uses USB-A and USB-C cable for charging, but it’s really meant for charging laptops.
(opens in a new window) BelkinBoostCharge Pro 3-Port Laptop Power Bank 20K (opens in a new window)
Available at Amazon Buy Now (opens in a new window)What we like and don’t like
The Pros
- Fairly compact for its 20,000mAh capacity
- Fast 65W maximum charging speed
- Two USB-C ports and one USB-A ports makes it versatile
- Screen shows exact charge level, plus charging speed per connected device
The Cons
- Awfully big screen for such basic information
- Only one USB-C-to-USB-C included
- Cable is nice, but not as nice as braided cable on 10,000mAh version
How i tested the Belkin BoostCharge Pro Power Bank 20K
Charging in progress on the Belkin BoostCharge Pro 3-Port Laptop Power Bank 20K – Credit: Matt JancerNormally I’m a stay-at-home guy when it comes to writing during the workday. There aren’t all that many days where I’m part of the Laptop Mafia that takes over a café, but from time to time I join a few friends in the afternoon when I need the socialization. And especially when you get a nice, sunny seat near the window and the laptop’s screen automatically adjusts brighter to deal with the sunlight, a laptop battery can drain awfully fast. Forget finding a wall outlet. I bring a battery bank, and not just a regular 10000mAh bank, but one with enough juice to charge a MacBook Pro all the way back up to 100% from near-death.
Testing Belkin’s big boy
Power banks are appliance-like, in the way that a microwave or a Toyota Camry just works without drama. They’re all Comic Sans. They do the job, and there’s nothing fancy about them. Or rather, good brands of power banks are. Belkin is one of the two major ones, and it’s a decent brand that I can recommend or use myself without worrying that it’s going to catch fire like some no-name power bank.
That tends to reduce the variance between models, though. Unlike TVs and smartphones, there’s not much to differentiate them when it comes to performance. There’s capacity, measured in milliamperes per hour (mAh), and charging speed. That’s pretty much it.
the button that wakes up the screen on the Belkin BoostCharge Pro 3-Port Laptop Power Bank 20K – Credit: Matt JancerThe built-in display is how Belkin made the Belkin BoostCharge Pro 3-Port Laptop Power Bank 20K stand out. Is it vital to have? No, but having a screen that pops to life with a button press and gives me the precise battery level, rather than some inexact “three bars out of six,” is nice to have. One more button press swaps the screen to show the charging speed of each of the three ports in real-time.
It wasn’t supremely useful to me, because what am I going to do about it if it’s charging at 18.4W and I expected 25W? I’m stuck with the cable I’ve got and the charging speed of the device I connected to the power bank. But it’s interesting, nonetheless, to have that granular level of detail.
Charging
Charging in progress on the Belkin BoostCharge Pro 3-Port Laptop Power Bank 20K – Credit: Matt JancerThis Belkin’s 20000mAh is enough to charge a typical laptop from zero to 100%, which should be plenty for a long day spent away from a friendly wall outlet, as long as you left home with your laptop charged. And the charging speed of 65W is more than fast enough for even the fanciest, highest-performance laptops to charge very quickly.
There are two USB-C ports and one USB-A port on the Belkin BoostCharge Pro 3-Port Laptop Power Bank 20K, with one included USB-C-to-USB-C cable. Most devices these days use USB-C, but there are still a few that require USB-A. It was nice to have one of them so that I didn’t have to hunt down an adapter when I had a USB-A device that needed a sip of the electrical juice.
Alternatives to the Belkin BoostCharge Pro Power Bank 20K
(opens in a new window) AnkerPower Bank 20,000mAh (opens in a new window)
Available at Amazon Buy Now (opens in a new window)Anker has a lot of very similar power banks clustered together with similar names, similar looks, and similar capacities, so it’s tough to pick out just one of their 20000mAh-capacity power banks. The Anker Power Bank 20,000mAh is the one I’m choosing to underline here. It has a screen with an exact charge level, like the Belkin, and it’s similarly slim. It, too, has a maximum charging speed of 65W, but instead of the Belkin’s two USB-C and one USB-A port, it has one each of the USB-C and USB-A ports, plus an integrated USB-C cable attached to it.
(opens in a new window) BelkinPortable Charger 25K (opens in a new window)
Available at Amazon Buy Now (opens in a new window)Rather than choose one of Belkin’s other 20000mAh-capacity power banks, which have maximum charging speeds of 23W and 30W, I’m putting the spotlight on the Belkin Portable Charger 25K. Belkin isn’t much better than Anker when it comes to naming their bread-and-butter models…
Aside from the added 5000mAh battery capacity, this model lacks a screen but has a hugely impressive 158W maximum charging speed. You could charge two laptops at the same time without much slow-down with such speed.
can i use a laptop charger to charge my phone?
Belkin BoostCharge Pro 3-Port Laptop Power Bank 20K – Credit: Matt JancerOf course, you silly goose. You can charge all sorts of devices from it, and not just laptops. Phones, smartwatches, tablets, headphones, earbuds. It’s called a laptop charger because, with 20,000mAh of battery capacity, it’s capable of charging a laptop from zero to full. That’s not easy to do, and not something that a typical 5,000mAh or 10,000mAh battery bank is meant for; they can do it, but they run out of juice before charging a laptop all the way full.
The BoostCharge Power Bank 20K can charge a smartphone anywhere from three to five times from zero to 100%. It’s probably overkill if all you want is a power bank for keeping your phone going and not something more power hungry, like a laptop. If that’s the case, check out the Belkin BoostCharge Power Bank 10K with Display. It’s lighter, smaller, and cheaper; perfect for when you just need to keep your smartphone alive.
is belkin better than anker?
Belkin is on the same plane as Anker when it comes to performance and quality, in my book. I’ve used tons of both for many years, and I’ve never noticed anything that’d make me steer somebody away from or toward one brand over the other. They have their little attempts at standing out from the crowd, like Belkin’s screens on the BoostCharge, but for the most part you can’t go wrong with a power bank from either brand.
the bottom line
Belkin BoostCharge Pro 3-Port Laptop Power Bank 20K – Credit: Matt JancerEvery 5000mAh- and 10000mAh-capacity power bank I can think of off the top of my head is portable. Some are slimmer than others, but none of them are what I’d consider a boat anchor. That changes once you get to 20000mAh and beyond. The Anker Prime Power Bank 27650mAh comes to mind. It’s a chunk. Compared to it, the Belkin BoostCharge Pro 3-Port Laptop Power Bank 20K is downright slim. Add in the fact that you have two USB-C and one USB-A port, you won’t have to hunt down for an adapter for most devices. Needing enough juice to keep a laptop—and maybe a smartphone, too—alive all day, there isn’t a power bank I’ve met yet that I’d reach for over the Belkin.
(opens in a new window) BelkinBoostCharge Pro 3-Port Laptop Power Bank 20K (opens in a new window)
Available at Amazon Buy Now (opens in a new window)The post This Slim 3-Port Belkin Power Bank Is the King of Laptop Chargers appeared first on VICE.