laptop

My favorite table for getting work done at my local coffee shop has no nearby outlet. To keep working after my computer hits 10 percent, I use a laptop power bank. Luckily, after a couple years testing batteries for Engadget, I have a good backstock to choose from. These high-capacity batteries are also excellent for travel, with the ability to recharge a phone, tablet and smartwatch— sometimes all at the same time (but, if you can help it, I find charging gadgets one at a time gets the best results). If you’re travelling or like to work away from your desk on occasion, this guide will help you pick the best laptop power bank for your needs based on our testing. We also include info on what different battery terms mean, note the latest info on flying with your bank and answer a few battery-related questions.

Editor’s note (6/16/25): Anker recently issued a recall on its PowerCore 10000 power bank (model A1263) due to fire risk. The recall pertains to units sold in the US through Amazon, Newegg and eBay between June 2016 and December 2022. If you have one of these batteries, you can contact Anker for a replacement or equivalent gift card. None of the batteries we currently recommend in this guide are part of the recall, and we haven’t recommended that model in previous iterations.

Table of contents

Best laptop power banks for 2025

Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget

Capacity: 27,000 mAh, 99.9 Wh | Ports: One USB-C in/out, two USB-A out and three wireless pads | Cable included: USB-C to USB-C and wall adapter | Charge time iPhone 15: 5 to 100% in 2h 56m (wireless) 5 – 100% 2h 22m (wired) | Remaining charge after iPhone: ~ 81% | Charge time Galaxy S23 Ultra: 5 to 100% in 1h 20m | Remaining charge after S23 Ultra: ~ 77% | Charge time iPad Air: 5 to 100% in 1h 55m | Remaining charge after iPad: ~ 64% | Charge time MacBook Pro: 10% to 89% in 1h 18m

Traveling is one of the top reasons people need to use a portable laptop charger — planes, trains, buses and airports aren’t exactly the easiest places to find a power source. Lion Energy’s Eclipse Mag battery pack has a big 27,000 capacity, which is enough to power a laptop through a couple days of use. I also like how its three wireless charging pads cut down on cable chaos, letting you charge a Qi-enabled phone, earbuds case and Apple Watch at the same time.

You certainly could charge all three of those accessories and a laptop at one time, but as with all batteries, that increased drain will quickly empty it and your charge times will slow down quite a bit. From what I’ve seen, the unit works best as an as-needed power supply when you’re out and about, then, after a recharge, it can moonlight as a three-in-one wireless charger in your hotel room. You can even rely on the pass-through charging capabilities to power up the battery while using the wireless pads, making it a sort of travel-ready multi-device charger.

At two pounds, no one would call this light, but the angled corners and narrow design make it feel more compact than other big batteries. There’s no display to tell you how much charge is left, just four lighted pips at one edge, but I found them to provide a fairly accurate estimate. One thing to note is that the wireless watch pad only works with Apple Watches. Since Pixel watches don’t support wireless charging and Samsung only recommends its own chargers for Galaxy Watches, that’s not surprising. 

The only other drawback is the single USB-C port. The three wireless pads and the two USB-A ports will likely be enough for a days’ work, but one more type-C port would be ideal. Compared to other 27,000 maAh battery packs, the $174 price tag on the Eclipse Mag is a decent deal — and it even comes with a five-year warranty.

Pros

• Wireless charging is convenient for travel
• Compact design for such a large battery
• Delivers a fast, 79 percent charge to a large laptop
• 5-year warranty

Cons

• Heavy
• No display
• Could use one more USB-C port

$174 at Lion Energy

Amy Skorheim for Engadget

Anker’s biggest (27,650 mAh) Anker Prime Power Bank Battery either paired with the charging base or on its own is another excellent travel companion (and the one I personally grab when I’m going out of town). The Prime is an updated version of the very popular Anker 737 laptop battery and supports Power Delivery 3.0 technology.

The Prime bank on its own has two USB-C and one USB-A ports and a handy display to indicate remaining charge and output. The base provides two more type-C and one more type-A ports for charging other devices when you’re back at the hotel — and plonking the battery on the base makes for the easiest power bank recharge I’ve tried. But at $235 for the set, or even $180 for the battery alone, it’s a bit of a luxury buy.

Pros

• Large capacity
• Solid brick-like shape is fairly compact
• Charging base makes recharging easy
• Charging base acts as a wired charging station

$180 at Amazon

Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget

Capacity: 20,000 mAh, 74 Wh | Ports: Two USB-C in/out and two USB-A out | Cable: USB-C to USB-C | Charge time iPhone 15: 0 to 100% in 1h 54m | Remaining charge after iPhone: 73% | Charge time Galaxy S23 Ultra: 5 to 100% in 1h 11m | Remaining charge after S23 Ultra: 66% | Charge time iPad Air: 3 to 100% in 2h 13m | Remaining charge after iPad: 42% | Charge time MacBook Pro: 10% to 62% in 1h 6m

I hadn’t even heard of Baseus before I started testing products for these guides. But after reading the many positive reviews, I gave a few of the brand’s offerings a try and have been repeatedly impressed by their value-to-performance ratio. The Baseus Blade is a compact and flat battery that weighs just over a pound. The shape is more tablet-like than the standard block of most power banks, which makes it easier to slide into a backpack or messenger bag alongside a laptop — it’s also the lightest of the banks I tried in this capacity category. 

The display underestimates the amount of charge left, which is always better than the alternative. When the Blade was down to just one percent, it gave my laptop a few more percentage points before giving up the ghost. It has two USB-C and two USB-A ports along with little feet at the bottom that keep from moving around as you plug charging cables into it. The speeds were admirable, clocking in just a few minutes longer than batteries with larger capacities.

That’s the main trade off here: At 20,000 mAh, it’s not going to deliver the same amount of charge as a bigger bank. It boosted my 16-inch MacBook Pro from 10 percent to 62 percent, which is about 20 percentage points lower than the bigger batteries could do. But for $100, it’s still a speedy portable charger with a convenient shape and a good number of ports.

Pros

• Great value
• Charges devices quickly
• Sleek design is easy to carry along with your laptop
• Two USB-C ports

Cons

• Lower capacity than other laptop power banks

$100 at Amazon

Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget

Capacity: 25,600 mAh, 95Wh | Ports: One USB-C in/out, one USB-C out, one USB-C in, two USB-A, one AC port, one solar input and one wireless pad | Cable: USB-C to USB-C | Charge time iPhone 15: 0 to 100% in 1h 49m | Remaining charge after iPhone: 83% | Charge time Galaxy S23 Ultra: 5 to 100% in 1h 3m | Remaining charge after S23 Ultra: 77% | Charge time iPad Air: 4 to 100% in 2h 11m | Remaining charge after iPad: 62% | Charge time MacBook Pro: 6% to 72% in 1h 21m

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first: Goal Zero’s Sherpa 100AC costs $300. That makes it the most expensive power bank I’ve tested so far. But it’s a high-quality unit that gives you what you pay for. There’s a wireless charging pad up top, three USB-C ports (though one is input only), plus a couple of USB-A ports, an AC port and an 8mm port that can pair up with a Goal Zero solar panel or 12V adapter cable to recharge from your car. There’s even an internal fan to keep everything cool as it deals with all the output and a status display you can turn on or off.

Goal Zero is probably best known for its outdoor-focused power products — power stations for camping, portable solar panels and camping lights, to name a few. The Sherpa has the same rugged/industrial aluminum unibody design, which would make it an ideal productivity companion for field work. I could see this coming in handy for outdoor photo shoots, job-site projects or just snagging some nature-side office hours.

The ability to recharge from a car’s 12V port or even from solar panels is another nice-to-have, but of course, you’ll need extra equipment. In the case of the car charger, that’s another $40, but the solar panels will add another $250 to your mobile set up. If you find yourself working out in the field relatively often you might appreciate the flexibility.

Pros

• Wireless charging pad and an AC port
• Can recharge from solar or a car’s 12V port (with accessories)
• Accurate status display
• Rugged design

$200 at Goal Zero

Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget

Capacity: 27,000mAh, 99.9 Wh | Ports: One USB-C in/out, one USB-C out, USB-A, 100W AC | Cable: USB-C to USB-C | Charge time iPhone 11: 0 to 100% in 1h 40m | Remaining charge after iPhone: ~ 73% | Charge time iPad: 0 to 100% in 1h 56m | Remaining charge after iPad: ~ 53% | Charge time MBP: 10% to 75% in 1h 29m

Mophie’s Powerstation Pro AC is a bit of a beast, weighing over two pounds and hitting the upper limit of the TSA’s 100-watt-hour battery limit (I flew with it twice and never had any issue, though). It even has a handle strap to help lug it around. There’s one USB-A port and two USB-C connections, one with a lower 20W rating and one that can deliver 60W. Then there’s the AC port.

The AC port on any portable charger is a novel thing to have; as mentioned previously, it’s the USB-C port that should power your laptop because it makes no sense to convert a portable battery’s charge twice. That said, if you need to power a light, a portable printer or some other appliance that only has a standard two-prong plug, this port will come in handy. Just be sure to hold down the status button to enable the AC function.

Mophie’s pack has enough juice to give a smartphone three to four charges, fill an iPad twice with a charge left over and it can charge a 16-inch MacBook Pro from 10 percent to 75 percent in under 90 minutes, while in use. The four lighted LED indicators aren’t the best: I found it cycled through the last two dots far quicker than the first two, which might make you think you have more charge left than you actually do.

Pros

• Massive 27,000mAh capacity
• Has an AC outlet and two USB-C ports

Cons

• Expensive
• No status display
• Lighted pips don’t accurately indicate remaining charge

$156 at Amazon

UGreen

UGreen’s 25,000mAh power bank is a compact, low-frills bank that delivers a speedy charge to smartphones — my tester iPhone 15 in particular. I clocked a refill from four percent to full in about an hour and a half. That’s among the faster speeds from any power bank I’ve tested and is thanks to its 145W max output. It performed on par with other bricks when it came to refilling a Galaxy Ultra, iPad Air and MacBook Pro.

A small digital display indicates the amount of charge left and it tested accurately. There are just three ports — two USB-C and one Type-A — but that’s more than enough to handle a laptop and a smartphone at the same time, if you must. But I’ve found portable chargers work best when handling just one device at a time. Adding an extra device seems to drain it quicker than charging one then another.

Upon its debut, the UGreen Power Bank 25,000mAh went for $120 so the value wasn’t quite there. But now it’s been reduced to an MSRP of $100 and is regularly on UGreen’s site and Amazon for around $75. I’ve noticed some in-stock issues, but if you can find it, snap it up. It’s a high-performing, low-frills battery with a surprising amount of oomph for its compact size.

$75 at Amazon

What to look for in a laptop power bank

Flying with a laptop power bank

The reason most portable batteries top out at around 27,000mAh is so you can still fly with them. The TSA limits the capacity for carry-on batteries to 100Wh and lower. Note that no portable batteries are allowed in your checked luggage, regardless of capacity. The reason for that limitation is fire danger.

You may have heard about lithium-ion batteries overheating and catching fire — a recent Hong Kong flight was grounded after just such a thing happened in an overhead bin. The TSA’s rules remain the same, but some airlines are implementing additional restrictions. Recently, Southwest Airlines was the first in the industry to take things one step further. Now, flyers on that airline must keep power banks in clear view when using them to recharge a device. If the portable charger isn’t actively in use, however, it can stay in your carry-on bag in the overhead bin. Other airlines are following suit with their own restrictions, so you may want to check the specific rules for your flight before you take off.

Capacity

If you just need to keep a smartphone from dying before you can make it home, just about any power bank will do. But if you need to revive multiple devices or the substantial battery of a laptop, you’ll want something with a high milliamp-hour​​ (mAh) capacity. A power bank capable of delivering enough power to a laptop will have a capacity between 20,000 and 27,000 mAh.

If you want something even bigger than a laptop power bank, and don’t need to fly with it, you’ll likely want to look into portable power stations. These can be the size of a car battery or larger and can potentially fuel an entire weekend away.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the capacity listed in a power bank’s specs is not what will be delivered to your devices. As I mentioned, the capacity of these banks is around 25,000mAh. Even the huge battery on a 16-inch MacBook Pro or a Dell XPS 16 has a mAh rating of around 5,000 – 6,000mAh, so you might think you’d get five full charges but in reality, you only get about a single 70-percent charge. The voltage is different (typically 3.7V for the power bank and 11.4V for a laptop) which makes the watt-hours, or the amount of energy each battery can hold, different (working out to 92Wh for the battery and 72Wh for the built-in laptop batteries). On top of that, in order to feed a charge from a power bank to a laptop, a voltage conversion takes place and that dissipates a decent amount of energy.

Without turning this into a physics lesson, this all means that a power bank with a 25,000mAh (or 92Wh) capacity will typically fill a 5,000mAh (or 72Wh) laptop battery to about 75 percent. In my tests, I averaged about a 60-percent efficiency rate between a power bank’s listed capacity and the actual charge delivered.

Ports

Every large power bank I’ve tested has at least three USB ports, with a mix of USB-C and USB-A, which should cover nearly any portable device you need to recharge — earbuds, phones, tablets, laptops, you name it. In addition to the different plug formats, some ports supply power at different wattages. For example, one built-in USB-C port might be rated for 60 watts, while the one next to it is rated for 100 watts. So if you’ve got a device that’s capable of 70W fast charging, such as the new MacBook Air, you’d want to opt for the 100W port to get the best charging speeds possible.

Note that devices with a smaller wattage draw won’t be negatively affected by connecting to ports with high ratings. For example, a Galaxy S24 Ultra, capable of 45W super fast charging, can happily plug into the 100W port. A device will only draw what it can take, regardless of what a port can supply. Just remember that the port, device and charging cable need to be at or above the desired wattage rating to achieve maximum charging rates.

Some of these larger batteries also have AC ports. It might seem like a natural fit to plug in your laptop’s power adapter for a recharge. But really, the AC port should only be for devices that can’t use USB — such as a lamp or a printer. Plugging a power adapter into the AC port only wastes energy through conversion. First, the battery converts its DC power to supply the port with AC power, then the power adapter converts that AC power back to DC so your laptop can take it in. And as you’ll remember from physics class, each time energy is converted, some is lost to heat and other dissipations. Better to cut out the middleman and just send that DC power straight from the battery to the device.

Also, you can use more than one port at a time with these devices; just remember that the speed of whatever you’re charging will likely go down, and of course, the battery is going to drain proportionally to what you’re refilling.

Wireless charging

Just in the last year and a half that I’ve been testing portable power banks, wireless charging capabilities have noticeably improved. The first few I tried were painfully slow and not worth recommending. Now the wireless pads built into power banks are impressively fast — particularly, in my experience, when charging Samsung Galaxy phones (though the lack of a stabilizing magnetic connection like Apple’s MagSafe means they only work when rested flat on a pad). Most wireless charging connections can be used while other ports are also being employed, making them convenient for some mobile battlestation setups.

Of course, wireless charging is always less efficient than wired, and recharging from an external battery is less efficient in general. If you want to waste as little energy as possible, you’re better off sticking to wired connections.

Design

All power banks are designed to be portable, but there’s a big difference between a pocket-friendly 5,000mAh battery and one of these laptop-compatible bruisers. Most of the latter weigh between a pound and a half to two pounds, which is a considerable addition to a backpack. Many of the options listed here have a display to tell you how much charge remains in the battery, which is helpful when you’re trying to judiciously meet out charges to your devices. If a bank has a wireless connection, the pad is usually on the flat top and any available AC connection is usually at one end. Both may require you to engage those charging methods. Don’t be like me and grumble loudly that you got a bum unit without pressing (and sometimes double pressing) all the buttons first.

How we test portable laptop chargers

For the past two years, I’ve been testing and using dozens of portable batteries for our other battery guide. Some of those batteries include the higher-capacity power banks you see here. I also got a hold of a few extra banks just for this guide to make sure we covered what’s available. I went for brands I’m already familiar with, as well as battery packs from well-received manufacturers I hadn’t tried before (like UGREEN and Lion Energy). I only considered banks with at least a 20,000mAh capacity and mostly stuck with those that rated 25,000mAh and higher.

Here’s everything we tested:

I tested each power bank with an Apple phone (iPhone 15), an Android phone (Galaxy S23 Ultra), a tablet (M1 iPad Air) and a laptop (16-inch MacBook Pro with the M1 Pro chip). Even though these banks can charge multiple devices at once, I refilled one at a time, to make side-by-side comparisons more straightforward. I drained the batteries of the phones and tablets to between zero and five percent and then didn’t use any device as it refilled.

For the MacBook, I let it run down to 10 percent before plugging in the power bank. That’s when most laptops give display a “connect to power” warning, as draining any battery to empty will compromise the battery life. I then used it as one might in a mobile office, with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, while connected to Wi-Fi and a VPN.

For each test, I noted how long a completely charged battery took to get a device back to full and how much of the battery’s capacity was used up in one charge. I also noted things like portability, apparent durability, helpful features and overall design.

For reference, here are the battery capacities of the devices I used:

• iPhone 15: 3,349mAh

• Galaxy S23 Ultra: 4,855mAh

• iPad Air (5th gen): 7,729mAh

• 16-inch M1 Pro MacBook Pro: 27,027mAh

Laptop power bank FAQs

How do laptop power banks differ from phone power banks?

The main difference is size. Phone power banks tend to have a capacity ranging from 5,000mAh to 20,000mAh and laptop powerbanks are typically rated between 20,000mAh and 27,000mAh. There’s no official definition, however. Laptop batteries are simply larger and need a bigger supply of power to give them a meaningful charge.

How do you fast charge a power bank?

You can charge a power bank exactly as fast as the power bank’s internal mechanisms will allow. Most batteries are limited in how quickly they can accept and deliver a charge to avoid dangerously overheating. But to make sure you’re charging a bank as quickly as possible, make sure the wall adapter and the USB-C cable you are using have a high wattage rating — using a 5W power brick and a 10W cable will take a lot longer to refill your bank than a 65W wall charger and a 100W cord.

What size power bank do I need for a laptop?

Look for a power bank with a rating of at least 20,000mAh. Slightly smaller batteries may work, but they won’t deliver a significant charge laptops.

How many mAh to charge a laptop?

A milliamp hour (mAh) is how much a battery can hold, and most portable batteries list their capacity using mAh. If you get a battery rated at 20,000mAh or above, it should be able to charge your laptop.

Using mAh to discuss laptop batteries can be confusing. Due to differing voltages, you can’t directly compare the mAh ratings of a power bank battery to a laptop battery. Using watt-hours is a better gauge, as that calculation takes voltage into account.

Recent updates

June 2025: Added testing results from UGreen Power Bank 25,000mAh and included it as an honorable mention. Added updated information on airline regulations pertaining to battery banks.

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