Review - HP Spectre USB-C 20100mAh Laptop Battery Power Pack

I have been looking at a battery pack for my laptop to use while traveling on work trips, and with this unit advertising 20,100mAh and 60w charging rate via USB-C (Power Delivery Spec), I decided to give it a try. This is not the first "Laptop" capable Power Pack I have tried, and up until now the ones I have tested have been a disappointment.   Here is a link to this product if you would like to give it a try.

HP Spectre USB-C 20100mAh Laptop Battery Power Pack - $139 (as of 12/20178)

I have 2 laptops that I tested this with, 1) HP Spectre x360 15t w/ Dedicated GPU, 2) Lenovo T570 ThinkPad 15.6in.  The look and feel of the power pack is top notch, as would be expected from a “Spectre” accessory which in my opinion are the best looking laptops on the market right now.



The unit comes with a nice carry pouch, and a USB C to USB C cable with one end at a 90 degree angle.  This cable supports at least 60w, but is limited to USB 2.0 speeds.



This Power Pack has 3 ports:

• USB C - 60w Output / 45w Input (Power Delivery Spec for more wattage hungry devices)
• USB C - 10w Output
• USB A - 10w Output

The top is a faceted matte plastic and the bottom has a rubberized foot so it won’t slide around. There are also marking on the rubber showing the functions of the various ports.



My Lenovo ThinkPad uses a 65w AC Adapter, and took a charge from this unit without issues. My HP Spectre comes with a larger AC Adapter (90w) as it has a dedicated GPU and Quadcore Processor. I was pleased to see this power pack charge my Spectre without issue and even kept increasing the battery percentage while under heavy system loads like video editing, gaming, and synthetic benchmarking. Impressive.














This Power Pack can be charged to full capacity in just over 2 hours.



I fully drained the battery in my HP Spectre 15t, and this plugged this unit in.  It was able to get my battery from 0 to 70%, which took about 1.5 hours. Interestingly, it actually outputs a higher wattage if the connected laptop is powered down, 62w vs 56w based on my earlier testing.




The other 2 ports performed as expected, and are great for charging phones and tablets.



The only negatives I can find is that it is a bit pricey, but as I have found very few Power Packs that can actually deliver on the 60w promise, not going to hold the price against it. The other thing that is more of an annoyance than an issue, is that when you are fully discharging the battery, after about an hour the unit begins to get a bit hot (around 60c) and you can hear a slight coil whine. It’s not very loud and probably can’t be heard over the laptop fans, but is noticeable in a quiet environment with the laptop turned off.  This doesn’t seem to hinder the devices operation at all, but is something to be aware of.



In my testing, here are the maximum Discharge Rates for each port.
USB C (Power Delivery) – 62w  (19.5v X 3.18A)
USB C – 10w  (4.89v X 2.03A)
USB A – 9.7W  (4.80v X 2.03A)

Charging Rate, USB C (PD) – 47w  (20.3v X 2.35A)

Pros

• 20,100mAh capacity (TSA Approved)
• Build Quality looks excellent 
• Can charge larger laptops via USB C (PD)
• Can charge 3 devices at the same time (Laptop, tablet, phone) 

Cons

• Coil whine after extended use
• Housing heats up to around 60C after about an hour of use 
• No Pass-through charging 

Overall it’s the only Power Pack I have found that can actually charge larger laptops with a Dedicated GPU like the HP Spectre 15t. The price is on the higher side for a Power Pack of this capacity, but it performs well, and looks really nice so I am ok with the pricing for now. The unit comes with a 1yr warranty, and I will update this review if the coil whine or heat become an issue.

HP Spectre USB-C 20100mAh Laptop Battery Power Pack  (Amazon Link)

Hit me up with any questions you might have in the comments.  Thanks for stopping by!