The Powercore AC review!

#1

Hello Everyone! I know you all have missed me these past few months, and will still have to miss me as I cannot give as much time as I would like to the forum. I have been caught up with a new job and school but will be back fully hopefully by Christmas.

Any way, here we go the product I have been begging for and bothering anker for for almost a year. Also the First power user product I am reviewing.

The Cons

Anker has finally come out with a battery with the capacity and technology to charge laptops up to 90W with the laptops own power cord. However this will become obsolete real quick, unless you are purchasing an older model laptop, USB-C will be used for charging. This Battery does NOT have a USB-C port any where on it, why? I do not know, it utilizes an older AC adapter that you would find with older products, how would you charge this in a car? This, in reality is a one time use on the go with a laptop, its not a device that you can charge a mac book pro multiple times. The construction is also sub-par compared to other anker products like the Powercore+ 26800 PD which utilizes a metal shell while the Power core AC is entirely plastic. For a premium battery at $149.99 USD it should not be plastic. Sitting here writing this review I have my mac brightness on very low and have noting running in the background, it has charged this laptop 35% in 20 min and used up 50% of its battery, which means I will not get a full charge if using the battery and surfing the web. The case it came with is not very protective at all though the case is too big for use daily as is, you will find yourself tucking the battery into a backpack. The case does not include a handle but instead a wrist strap.

The Pros

Anke has listened and made this battery at the price point that everyone on the forum spoke about in the passed (@nigelhealy, @joshuad11,

Photos

IMG_5878.JPG3024×4032 2.33 MB

CHo8K%LcQ9uqWF0arTbUwQ.jpg3024×4032 1.95 MB

e t2ZdDhTM6exKPvPRCz7A.jpg4032×3024 1.24 MB

H3iiUxXAR4Gsa8f%eVKt%w.jpg3024×4032 2.39 MB

3Szgaz%iTIOVHRtcq7oyww.jpg3024×4032 2.01 MB

G8B5sP VRGGTKZin7ifBpA.jpg3024×4032 2.61 MB

8vK6HlGwQk26IWk7JZC4uA.jpg4032×3024 1.46 MB

Final Verdict

This battery, though with flaws has potential, I do hope Anker engineers take in this feed back and improve upon their start and don’t give up. I did not rip this product apart out of hate as I use anker products every day and trust them, instead this will help fix this issues that could lead to problems. This is a great battery and I do love it for charging things that USB-C PD cannot such as my Razer Man O War headset. The price is steep but it is has the portability of anker great batteries and the power of the Power house. This easily could be my daily driver for a Mac Book Pro especially for trips and spots with out power. For you guys I recommend this for car rides since my younger brother could charge his switch off it when in the car for a few hours to visit family. After 5 days of use this battery has lived up to every thing Anker has said about is and I am excited as to where they go with it. I will provide up dates soon. Thank you all and have a great Evening.

5 Likes
#2

USB Type-C Input/Output (2 way) port would have been fantastic.

Sooner or later, someone will ask if this produces pure sine waves or simulated sine waves. Average consumer won’t care.

#3

@cdarienzo1! Has the PowerCore+ 26800 PD been working to charge your MacBook better?

#4

Very interesting beast!

#5

Thanks I’ve been waiting for a review of this I’ve been thinking about getting it.

#6

I’m taking a wild guess that they may have used plastic instead of metal due to it providing AC current. Just a guess, but I definitely agree it will become obsolete with the little power it supplies. Thanks for the review.

#7

I did not realize how big this would be! I really like how it has a wall plug feature. That’s something I’ve been wanting for a while so glad to see it!

#8

My only gripe with this product is having a TYPE C port for input and PD would have made this the perfect power bank for my uses, but maybe next time.

#9

nice review. that battery pack is something I look forward in owning in the future.

#10

I’m not even sure if this one works with my old laptop. This one is a 2 prong plug where as mine is a 3 prong plug. I would have to carry a plug adapter and make sure the wattage would work. My laptop is about 8 years old.

#11

Thanks for posting your review.

I find it utterly baffling why someone would buy such a thing. If your laptop is so power hungry it cannot last you til your next access to a wall socket, you would be likely using a tablet or one of the more power efficient smaller laptops instead. Those devices would be USB-C 10W-45W recharge.

My work laptop, Windows 10, which is not USB-C rechargable, lasts about 8 hours on battery. I do not need the WIndows 10 experience as much as 8 hours, if you did it would not be for work but play, like playing movies, and as such any of the tablets I own would be fine and they are happily recharged off a $20-$30 Anker Powercore 6700 - 26800mAh 10W-15W type.

I just did a day trip for work yesterday, moving a lot for 12 hours, and I did not pack my laptop charger as I only needed my laptop 2-3 hours, I used my phone most of the 12 hours and packed a Powercore Fusion to opportunistically use any wall sockets I was near as I moved which happened to be on my 2 flights, in the 2 lounges and in the 1 meeting room, so the device I used the most (phone) was kept charged and if there proved to be no wall socket I would have been fine with 5000mAh anyway.

I fail to see why anyone would want to buy a $150 Anker product when you can solve the need with a $20-$30 Anker product.

My current devices:

  • OnePlus6, proprietary charger but can last 3 days of a $20 Powercore 10000
  • Lenovo Tab 4 8 Plus, 10W, lasts days off Powercore 26800
  • Google Pixel C, 15W input
  • Toshiba Chromebook, proprietary charger but it doesn’t leave home
  • Lenovo laptop, proprietary charger, but I never need it to last so long between wall sockets I need to carry this Powercore AC product, I’d be using the phone or tablet above and associated $20-$30 Powercore.

What we need is:

  • USB-C rechargeable laptops
  • USB-C PD chargers
  • USB-C Powerbanks.

I am currently solving the problem of long time between wall sockets with tablets which suit a 10000mAh-26800mAh 10W-15W output.

1 Like
#12

That extra prong is ground. Cutting it off has the same effect as convertor plug.
But obviously it’s no longer grounded when you plug it into the mains.

1 Like
#13

Yea I know how the extra prongs works. I use to work in IT. We had issues with users damanging power supply cords.

I would prefer not to remove ground. Its there for reason… :).

My issue wattage. Its power hunger but still gets the job done. When this one does I won’t have have a need for this. There are other options that would work.