Tech review: New Anker laptop chargers bring small size but plenty of power

Jim Rossman, Tribune News Service on Mar 19, 2025

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As device charging becomes more important to our daily lives, I’m drawn to better and smarter chargers.

When I leave town, I’m usually carrying a laptop, my phone, an iPad and my watch. Now add my wife’s laptop and phone and her Fitbit and we have a serious nightly charging requirement.

I’m the kind of person who puts together a separate small bag just for my chargers and charging cables when I travel, and lately my charging kit has a lot of Anker products in it.

I’ve been testing two new laptop charging products from Anker — one’s a battery with built-in cables and one that’s a wall charger. Both can charge up to four devices at a time.

Anker Laptop Power Bank (165W)

The Anker Laptop Power Bank is a really convenient tool to use to keep your devices charged up when you’re on the go.

The power bank features a 25,000 milliamp-hour rechargeable battery that can provide up to 165 watts of power from its four charging ports.

It measures 6.22 inches by 2.13 inches by 1.93 inches and it weighs 21 ounces. It’s about the size of a can of Red Bull, so it’s a little too large to carry around in your pocket, but it is just the right size to keep in a backpack or computer bag.

As most devices have moved to USB-C plugs for charging, this power bank has two built-in USB-C cables so you can charge without having to worry about bringing along the right cable. The power bank also has one USB-C and one USB-A port.

The built-in cables are really handy. One is retractable and rated for more than 20,000 retractions. It extends out to 2.3 feet and slips back into the case with a tug. There’s a magnet to keep the cable’s tip from sticking out — a very nice touch.

The second built-in cable doubles as the power bank’s handle. This cable is about one foot long and can support up to 44 pounds of weight and is rated for more than 20,000 bends, so you don’t have to worry about it being tough enough to last.

The power bank has a very nice LED smart display to show you the status of each port as well as the amount of power moving in or out of the battery. It can also show the battery’s internal temperature and battery health, including a count of how many times the battery has been recharged.

The power bank has built-in protection against overheating.

As for performance, Anker says it can charge a MacBook Pro to 50 percent in just 33 minutes or an iPhone 16 to 50 percent in just 25 minutes.

You can charge up the power bank through any of the three USB-C ports. Recharging from empty takes about 90 minutes.

Anker Laptop Charger (140W)

At the end of the day, or perhaps during your workday, connecting to a fast charger will keep your devices ready for action.

The Anker Laptop Charger is a small GaN charger designed to replace up to four separate chargers. GaN stands for Galliumnitride, which is a material used in chargers. It enables them to push more power with less heat. This means faster charging.

The charger has an unusual port configuration.

The wall plug flips out from the body and the cables connect to the bottom of the unit. This configuration puts a lot less stress on the cables and doesn’t pull the charger away from the wall.

The charger can provide up to 140W in total across its four charging ports — three USB-C and one USB-A. Two of the USB-C ports can provide 140W and the third can provide 40W, while the USB-A port can provide 33W.

Like the power bank, the charger has an LED status screen showing the input and output of each port. You can press a touch button below the screen to cycle through a few different screens showing different information, including total output, individual port outputs, temperature and a screen showing total runtime of the charger in its lifetime.

The charger is small — 2.72 inches by 2.72 inches by 1.42 inches and it weighs 9.7 ounces.

This isn’t a super sexy device, but it makes me very happy every time I use it. The charger doesn’t take up a lot of room in my kit and it can provide all the juice I need to keep my gear going.

Pricing

The Laptop Power Bank will run you $109.99, while the wall charger costs $89.99. You can buy these chargers as a pair for $199.98 from Anker.com, but currently an online coupon will knock the price down to $167.99.