Anker 727 Charging Station (GaNPrime 100W)
Review: Anker 727 Charging Station (GaNPrime 100W)
Excellent travel power adapter with good utility.
TL;DR
Anker 727 Charging Station (GaNPrime 100W)
Super OK!
Looking to replace a bulky laptop charger or to bring less chargers around with you? Look no further! Be the hero at airports with limited outlets - or simply take up less outlets if you have a few things to charge.
Review
My portable computing device of choice is currently a 13" Razer Blade laptop. While a perfectly fine and portable laptop, it's a bit power hungry and so it comes with a huge power brick. I've always found this to be a pain point when traveling as the charger ends up taking up a lot of space in my backpack. The cables are stiff, and they don't coil well. I figured there must be a better way.
Recently, I purchased a smaller Anker 35W USB-C charger for my parents, and it being a Gallium Nitride (GaN) charger, it was very compact. GaN technology enables the charging circuitry to be shrunk down significantly, as well as being more efficient than existing circuitry. Using this logic, I wondered if there was a GaN charger that could deliver more power - my laptop's power brick was 100W, after all.
After browsing Anker's Amazon page for a bit, I had my sights set on one of their standard wall bricks with several USB plugs, but I scrolled a bit futher and discovered this interesting looking device, which immediately intrigued me.
The basic design is a proprietary cable that attaches into the main housing, a flat brick about the size of a large phone. This brick contains two regular NEMA 5-15 plugs which POP UP to meet whatever you're plugging into it.
On the front side, there is a circular light indicating that it's plugged in. This is not a wireless charging pad, as much as the light would like to have you believe. This light is also toggleable using the only button that's on the device, dedicated just for this purpose.
On the business end, there are two USB-C and two USB-A ports. Anker has a handy diagram on their website but the short of it is that only one of the USB-C ports can deliver 100W at once. If you plug in a second USB-C/A device, it shares that power with the first device. The power continues shrinking as you plug more devices in. So, it's 100W for the entire power bus. I don't believe this affects the two A/C outlets, but I also haven't needed to use both at once.
It comes with a USB-C cable. Unfortunately, I don't know if it's Benson approved, but due to his work and reviews, USB-C standards compliance has gotten a lot better. Anker is generally on the safer and more reliable side of things, all things considered. After all, their entire brand is built on this idea.
Using it in practice, the length of the AC cord is extremely useful. I have found myself needing the length in hotels, for example, but the cherry on top is that it's probably just as long as the original laptop charger, but can do so much more.
Summary
This is a perfect travel charger. If you have a lower powered laptop, or have a need to reduce the number of power bricks in your travel kit, this is a good replacement. The ability for it to separate into it's components, as well as the popup plugs, means that you won't feel bad about taking up out all those outlets at the airport again.
