Power Banks

A power bank is a battery with a charging circuit, and the two numbers that matter most are the ones buyers mix up. Capacity in milliamp-hours describes how much charge the cells hold. Wattage describes how fast that charge can leave through a port. A 20,000mAh pack at 22W will refill a phone several times but will barely wake a laptop, while a 24,000mAh pack at 140W can run a laptop and a phone at once and still cost you a pound and a half of bag weight. Buying well means matching both numbers to the devices you actually carry.

The twelve packs below cover the honest spread. Laptop-class bricks from Anker and UGREEN push 140W to 200W for MacBooks, Steam Decks and hungry tablets. Mid-size workhorses from Baseus, UGREEN and Anker cover 20,000mAh with 100W or less for travellers who want several phone charges without a brick. Everyday 10,000mAh packs from Anker, UGREEN and INIU are the pocket sweet spot, and the 5,000mAh magnetic and nano packs exist for one job: getting a phone through the rest of the day without a cable hunt. Every pick is sold on Amazon with a verified ASIN and a verified listing image, and every wattage and capacity figure is the maker or listing rating.