UGreen 145W Power Bank review: Powering a laptop doesn't come cheap

UGreen's 145W Power Bank can comfortably power a laptop on the go, but that functionality comes with a premium price tag attached.

Most of our favorite mobile devices last a full day without needing a charge, but it's a good idea to carry one of the best portable chargers with you just in case. Though a lot of these options can give your phone a bit of extra juice, not many of them can sustain a laptop. Even portable chargers that have a USB-C port compatible with a laptop probably don't have the wattage requirements to power them. That's where the UGreen 145W Power Bank comes in. Packing a massive 25,000mAh capacity, it can charge just about anything you need, including the best phones and laptops.

Unfortunately, this functionality doesn't come cheap. UGreen's 145W Power Bank is great for what it is, and it's the best high-capacity portable charger I've used, but it costs $150 at full price. This isn't an accessory that everyone can or should buy. If you need to be able to comfortably and consistently power a laptop on the go to get work done, the UGreen 145W Power Bank is a worthwhile investment. But if you've never even thought about needing to recharge your laptop while you're out and about, it's a better choice to just admire UGreen's power bank and pick a more accessible option instead.

About this review: This review was written after a week of testing a 145W Power Bank provided by UGreen. The company did not have any input in this review.

UGreen's 145W Power Bank can charge all your devices on the go, from phones to laptops. It features two USB-C ports and one USB-A ports, as well as an LED display that can show battery life and charging progress. Plus, one of those USB-C ports can power a laptop with 100W charging speeds.

UGreen's 145W Power Bank is available now, but it's sold out on the company's official online store. Luckily, there is stock available on Amazon, which will ship in as little as a day in some regions. The portable charger retails for $150 and comes with an included USB-C cable in the box. The 145W Power Bank features a 25,000mAh capacity, two USB-C ports, and a USB-A port.

Portable chargers are only useful if you can bring them with you, so their size is important. The UGreen 145W Power Bank has some weight to it, but it doesn't feel as dense as some of the other portable chargers I've tested. Lithium-polymer batteries are heavy, and the UGreen 145W Power Bank has enough density to boast a 25,000mAh capacity. With this in mind, the fact that this power bank only weighs a little over a pound is impressive. You can easily slide this into a bag or backpack without it feeling considerably heavier than usual.

As far as the actual dimensions of the UGreen 145W Power Bank go, the accessory measures up at 6.3 x 3.18 x 1.05 inches. You can cram it into some larger pockets, but by no means would I call it pocketable. Unlike some of the massive portable chargers we've seen made for the best laptops out there, this one is actually quite compact, and it looks to be of solid build quality. The charger has a metallic finish on the front and back, plastic on the sides, an LED display, and a power button.

UGreen's product page for its 145W Power Bank makes a lot of bold claims about charging and recharging with the accessory. Though a lot of these promises checked out during my testing, not all of them did. UGreen says that the power bank can fully charge a MacBook Air in about 90 minutes, so I put that to the test with my M2 MacBook Air. I started at a coffee shop at 2:52 p.m. with 36% plugged in my MagSafe charger to the power bank, and my laptop was fully charged by 4:20 p.m. All the while, I was using my MacBook to type, browse the web, and edit images. Plus, I used the additional USB-C port to charge my AirPods simultaneously.

It's worth noting that Apple Silicon laptops are incredibly power efficient, which is part of the reason that UGreen's 145W Power Bank can easily charge a MacBook. However, the results are still impressive, especially considering that the portable charger still had 29% of its battery remaining even after charging my MacBook Air and AirPods. I'd be confident taking the power bank and a completely drained laptop with me, and that's something I've never been able to say before.

I'd be confident taking the power bank and a completely drained laptop with me, and that's something I've never been able to say before.

The experience that you get with the UGreen 145W Power Bank depends on what ports you are using and how many of them are being used at the same time. One USB-C port supports 100W charging, but the other only supports 45W charging. The included USB-A port only supports 18W charging, so you should only use it when there isn't a USB-C cable available. Both USB-C ports can power devices at their maximum speeds simultaneously, but adding in the USB-A port cuts the secondary USB-C port to 18W speeds. Surprisingly, if you just use the secondary USB-C port and the USB-A port concurrently, they'll both be limited to 18W speeds. This isn't a dealbreaker, but it's something to keep in mind if you are thinking about using this power bank for multi-device charging.

All was well and good with the UGreen 145W Power Bank until it was time to recharge it. Though the company claims that it can be charged in two hours with 65W PD speeds, I never got close to reaching that number. Using a USB-C cable that shows the current power delivery in watts, charging this power bank with a wall adapter only brought speeds of a few watts. It's possible that this particular power bank didn't perform well with my chargers and cables, but recharge times relegated recharging the device to an overnight task.

You should buy the UGreen 145W Power Bank if:

You shouldn't buy the UGreen 145W Power Bank if:

Overall, the UGreen 145W Power Bank will handle just about everything you can throw at it with ease. Powering a laptop isn't easy — especially while using it and charging other devices — but UGreen's portable charger is up to the task. Even if you don't need this functionality, the massive 25,000mAh capacity means it can power smartphones like the Galaxy S23 Ultra multiple times over on a single charge. Though recharging the 145W Power Bank takes time, it's a pretty easy fix to simply recharge it overnight with your other devices.

That leaves the only real problem with this accessory to be the price. At $150, you'll likely either look at the price tag immediately to be a great investment or a laughable price for a power bank. For the people that need it, the UGreen 145W Power Bank does what it claims to do at a reasonable cost. However, people looking for just any power bank should probably grab a lower-spec alternative and save the extra money,

UGreen's 145W Power Bank can charge all your devices on the go, from phones to laptops. It features two USB-C ports and one USB-A ports, as well as an LED display that can show battery life and charging progress. Plus, one of those USB-C ports can power a laptop with 100W charging speeds.

Brady Snyder is a technology journalist that has written about mobile devices and computers for multiple publications. He graduated from St. John's University in 2023 with a B.S. in Journalism and a minor in English. Prior to joining XDA Developers, Brady wrote over 500 articles for Screen Rant's tech team, where he covered an Apple beat. Based in New York City, he reviews consumer technology, software, and services. Brady is an expert in iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and macOS — but experiments with Android and Windows as well.