Power Banks That Actually Charge a Laptop: 100W+ Picks Compared (UGREEN Nexode 200W/165W vs Baseus EnerCore CR11 vs Anker Prime)

The two numbers that decide whether a power bank can feed a laptop

A “200W power bank” tells you almost nothing about whether it will charge your laptop. Two other figures do.

First, the sustained wattage of a single USB-C port. Laptops negotiate USB Power Delivery on one port. Apple publishes the thresholds: the 13-inch MacBook Air ships with a 40W adapter (60W max dynamic); the 14-inch MacBook Pro is fast-charge capable from a 96W or higher PD source; the 16-inch MacBook Pro from 140W or higher. Dell’s XPS 14 (9440) ships with a 60W or 100W USB-C adapter. A bank whose headline is 200W but whose strongest port is 65W is a tablet charger with a big battery.

Second, the watt-hour rating. Milliamp-hours are quoted at the cell voltage, so they overstate what reaches a 20V laptop. Convert: mAh × 3.7 V ÷ 1000 ≈ Wh. 25,000 mAh ≈ 92.5 Wh; 20,000 mAh ≈ 74 Wh. Makers round differently (UGREEN labels its 25,000 mAh unit 90 Wh and its 20,000 mAh unit 72 Wh), and the printed Wh is the number that matters both for “how much laptop is in here” and for airport security.

Everything else — display, cable, recharge speed, weight — is secondary to those two.

The four banks, side by side

Specs below are manufacturer-published unless marked as a third-party measurement. Anker’s current 26K model (A110A) is the reference because the older Prime 27,650mAh 250W (A1340) is listed as sold out on anker.com.

Three things jump out.

Only two of the four reach 140W, and only one of those is under $150. The UGREEN 25000mAh 200W is the cheapest bank here that can fast-charge a 16-inch MacBook Pro at Apple’s published 140W threshold. The Anker does the same on both ports simultaneously, for $100 more at sale price.

The retractable-cable banks are 100W banks. That is not a criticism. 100W covers every MacBook Air, the 14-inch MacBook Pro’s 96W fast-charge line, and the XPS 14’s 100W adapter. It does not cover a 16-inch MacBook Pro at full speed (it will still charge, just at 100W).

Recharge input is where the price gap shows. UGREEN’s 25000mAh unit refills at 65W in roughly 2.5 hours; its 165W sibling takes 100W in and refills in under two hours; Anker’s takes 250W across two ports and reaches 80% in 40 minutes. If you drain a bank daily, that difference is the one you will feel.

Check the UGREEN Nexode 25000mAh 200W on Amazon

Check the UGREEN Nexode 25000mAh 200W on UGREEN.com

How much laptop is actually inside each one

Rated Wh is the energy in the cells. What reaches your laptop is less, because the bank boosts 3.6–3.7 V cells up to 20 V or 28 V and the laptop’s own charger circuit takes another cut. The industry rule of thumb is that roughly 80–85% of rated Wh is delivered to the device. Treat that as a planning number, not a measurement of these units — though for what it is worth, TrustedReviews’ bench run of the UGREEN 25000mAh unit recorded 74.58 Wh delivered from 92.65 Wh put in, an 80% figure that lands right on the low end of the rule.

Applying 80–85% to the published laptop batteries (Apple: 53.8 Wh 13-inch Air, 66.5 Wh 15-inch Air, 72.4 Wh 14-inch Pro, 100 Wh 16-inch Pro; Dell’s owner’s manual: 70 Wh XPS 14):

Read that table as “one full refill of a 13-inch Air, or most of one refill of a 14-inch Pro.” Nothing in this class refills a 16-inch MacBook Pro from empty — that would need a bank over the 100 Wh airline line — which is why the 16-inch question is really “can it hold 140W for an hour of heavy work,” not “can it recharge me twice.”

Built-in cable or separate 240W cable

This is a genuine fork in the road, not a feature tick-box.

Retractable cable (UGREEN 165W, Baseus CR11). The cable is always there, it cannot be left in a hotel room, and both makers rate theirs at 100W. UGREEN’s extends to about 0.65 m and ChargerLab’s teardown reports a 10,000-stretch test claim; Baseus quotes 70 cm. The trade-off is a hard 100W ceiling through that cable and one fewer free port when the cable is in use. The second output on the UGREEN 165W is a full 100W USB-C port; Baseus’ US page lists two outputs but does not publish the second port’s wattage.

Separate cable (UGREEN 200W, Anker Prime). To get 140W you need a cable e-marked for 240W (5A, EPR). Neither bank ships with a built-in one, so budget $13–27 for a UGREEN or Baseus 240W cable if you do not already own one — our USB-C cables explained guide covers what the e-marker actually does and why a 60W cable silently caps a 140W port. The upside is flexibility: any length, easy replacement, and both bank ports stay free.

If your heaviest laptop is a MacBook Air or 14-inch Pro, the retractable design wins on convenience and you lose nothing. If you own a 16-inch Pro or a 140W-class Windows workstation, you need the separate cable regardless.

Check the UGREEN Nexode 20000mAh 165W retractable on Amazon

Check the UGREEN Nexode 20000mAh 165W retractable on UGREEN.com

Pass-through, recharge speed and weight

Pass-through. Charging the bank while it charges your laptop is useful at a desk and unpublished by most makers. Anker’s product page explicitly addresses it: output pauses when the input falls below 30W, so it works with a real charger, not a phone brick. UGREEN’s and Baseus’ US pages for these models do not state a pass-through policy; assume it is not guaranteed and test before relying on it.

Recharge speed. Published figures only: UGREEN 25000mAh, 65W in, about 2.5 hours; UGREEN 20000mAh 165W, 100W in, under 2 hours; Anker Prime 26K, 250W dual-port or 140W single-port, 50% in 13 minutes and 80% in 40 minutes; Baseus CR11, up to 67W in, no time published. Note the UGREEN 200W unit’s 65W input is the slowest of the group despite being the bigger battery — TrustedReviews clocked a full refill at 1 h 55 min on its own bench, which is quicker than UGREEN’s 2.5-hour figure but still the weakest input-to-capacity ratio here.

Weight. 609 g (UGREEN 200W), about 534 g as measured by ChargerLab (UGREEN 165W), about 417 g (Baseus CR11, spec), 600 g (Anker). The Baseus is the one you will carry every day without noticing; the other three are a deliberate addition to a bag. On paper the UGREEN 165W is the best energy-per-gram of the UGREEN pair, and the Anker packs the most Wh into 600 g.

Warranty. UGREEN lists a 2-year warranty on the 25000mAh 200W page. Anker and Baseus do not print a duration on these product pages; see our Anker vs UGREEN vs Baseus charger comparison for how the three brands’ general warranty terms compare.

Check the Baseus EnerCore CR11 20000mAh 100W on Amazon

Check the Baseus EnerCore CR11 20000mAh 100W on Baseus.com

The 100 Wh airline line

The FAA’s PackSafe guidance is the reference for US flights. Spare lithium-ion batteries and power banks up to 100 Wh are allowed without airline approval; 101–160 Wh requires the airline’s approval and is limited to two spares per passenger; over 160 Wh is forbidden on passenger aircraft. All spare batteries and power banks go in carry-on baggage, never in checked bags. Airlines may set stricter quantity limits, and several have tightened in-flight usage rules recently, so check your carrier.

Every bank here is under 100 Wh: UGREEN prints 90 Wh and 72 Wh, Baseus prints 72 Wh, and Anker labels the 26K unit flight-approved. The practical consequence is that this whole category tops out at roughly 100 Wh, which is also the size of a 16-inch MacBook Pro battery — the ceiling on “how much laptop” a legal carry-on bank can hold is set by regulation, not engineering.

One habit worth keeping: make sure the Wh figure is legible on the casing. Security staff look for the printed rating, and a worn label on a 90 Wh bank can cost you time.

Who should buy what

Buy the UGREEN Nexode 25000mAh 200W if you own a 16-inch MacBook Pro or any 140W-class laptop and want the cheapest bank that hits Apple’s 140W fast-charge threshold, with the largest Wh under $130. Accept the slow 65W recharge and bring your own 240W cable.

Buy the UGREEN Nexode 20000mAh 165W retractable if your laptop is a MacBook Air, a 14-inch MacBook Pro or an XPS 14 and you want a cable you cannot forget, a second 100W port, and the fastest recharge input of the three under-$130 options at 100W.

Buy the Baseus EnerCore CR11 100W if price and weight decide. It is the lightest and cheapest of the four, 100W through the built-in cable is enough for any MacBook Air or 14-inch Pro, and 72 Wh refills a 13-inch Air once with room to spare. It gives up the second port’s published wattage, the USB-A port and a stated recharge time, and it is intermittently out of stock on Baseus’ US store.

Buy the Anker Prime 26K 300W if you regularly run two 140W-class laptops off one bank, or if you drain a bank daily and the 13-minute-to-50% refill is worth $230. For a single laptop, the UGREEN 200W does the same job for a lot less.

Check the Anker Prime 26K 300W power bank on Amazon

If a wall charger is the actual gap in your kit, the port-allocation tables in our Anker vs UGREEN vs Baseus 100W+ GaN charger comparison cover the same three brands. More charging and travel gear guides are on gadget-hub.jp English.

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