Are power banks worth it?

Omnibus

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Dec 9, 2021
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Saw one on Amazon I'm looking to buy.

I work from Home mostly as I'm a hybrid worker and have to charge laptops like 4 times a day.

Had a previous laptop last year where battery died after over 1 hour and I reported it to Service Desk who sent it to 2nd line hardware team who swapped it out and I still have to charge like every 3 or 4 hours.

I found some power banks on Amazon.

Are they worth buying?

One I like is like £95. Bought one for phone charger a year ago but isn't always powered up.
 

xXxLegendxXx

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In my opinion they are not really useful, only good if you have electric power outages at home.

I have been using my laptop for years plugged in charger, nothing has happened to it, you should try the same I recommend it
 

Valhalla

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Saw one on Amazon I'm looking to buy.

I work from Home mostly as I'm a hybrid worker and have to charge laptops like 4 times a day.

Had a previous laptop last year where battery died after over 1 hour and I reported it to Service Desk who sent it to 2nd line hardware team who swapped it out and I still have to charge like every 3 or 4 hours.

I found some power banks on Amazon.

Are they worth buying?

One I like is like £95. Bought one for phone charger a year ago but isn't always powered up.
I just leave my laptops plugged in 24/7 while I'm using them and unplug once I shut them down, external power banks are good for power outages or if you're travelling and don't have access to a plug socket.
I used to carry 2 large power banks for while I'm out travelling on the bike but have recently put a USB connection on the dash, still nice to have in case something were to happen though.
 

Omnibus

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Dec 9, 2021
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Hardly any benefit in unplugging the laptop when at full charge, use batter and re-charge.
Might as well leave it plugged in.

The 30% idea I will get into the habit of.

Just want to be able to charge my laptop too if I'm driving to and from Work so that's also dawned on me.
 

Tai

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Saw one on Amazon I'm looking to buy.

I work from Home mostly as I'm a hybrid worker and have to charge laptops like 4 times a day.

Had a previous laptop last year where battery died after over 1 hour and I reported it to Service Desk who sent it to 2nd line hardware team who swapped it out and I still have to charge like every 3 or 4 hours.

I found some power banks on Amazon.

Are they worth buying?

One I like is like £95. Bought one for phone charger a year ago but isn't always powered up.
If you WFH isn't it just always plugged in? o_O

Only time my laptop gets unplugged is if I'm on site or working from a coffee shop or something
 

SmavidDavid

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The 30% idea I will get into the habit of.

Just want to be able to charge my laptop too if I'm driving to and from Work so that's also dawned on me.

If your laptop is new and USB-C you could charge it in car via cigarette lighter providing the fuse & usb plug allows a high enough wattage.
 
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mir2pion

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When you have new battery, it is recommended that you charge it fully (often batteries arrive not fully charged), you unplug it and let it be discharged completely by using the device. And its recommended to do that three (or several) times.

After that it doesn't matter much if you recharge when the battery is only partly discharged. Leaving the laptop permanently plugged in just means it periodically tops the battery up when it drops some preset amount. Chargers nowadays are intelligent, they stop charging when they detect the battery is fully charged.

Older laptops, like Apple PBooks had battery very easily removable, so you could remove it and plug the charger in and laptop would run OK. But one Apple laptop I have kicking around won't start up without battery, so it depends. Being able to run without battery means you can use laptops as desktops permanently connected and not ever have to worry about buying battery (they tend to be relatively expensive but mainly, they seem never to be as good as from orig manufacturer (and those have sky high prices, I suppose for a reason).

What doesn't fail to amuse me is this stupidity about electric cars, when everybody knows how it is with batteries when they are used two to three years, like in a phone or laptop.
 

Martyn

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See LTT recommend APC 1200? I've looked at them £100 + odd but if they work it seems ideal, £100 to save your system if "something" ever did happen. Its worth it
 

Omnibus

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Dec 9, 2021
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See LTT recommend APC 1200? I've looked at them £100 + odd but if they work it seems ideal, £100 to save your system if "something" ever did happen. Its worth it
I will look at it and check reviews before I buy.

Thanks for the help.
 

CraZyEriK

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i been using a powerbank of 20,000mah while i was working at amazon, it lasted 1 year, after this the battery was draining very fast so.

Bought on aliexpress 10€
 

sweetfa

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I know this is probably not even close to what you are thinking about but i shall say it anyway Do not be tempted to buy a petrol generator as the power fluxuates on most to a damaging level for laptops sometimes .They do have their uses but not for PC Hardware
 

Skyline

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View attachment 30198 £140 on amazon

less at these 2 places... but IMO i'd pay a bit more to buy something via amazon.


That's a UPS not a "power bank" :ROFLMAO:
Basically to connect PC, Routers etc connected to, then in the event of a power cut it'll keep said devices powered on for a while.

He aint gonna be lugging that around in the car!
 
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Tai

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That's a UPS not a "power bank" :ROFLMAO:
Basically to connect PC, Routers etc connected to, then in the event of a power cut it'll keep said devices powered on for a while.

He aint gonna be lugging that around in the car!

Beat me to it lol...

Net weight7.5 kg
 

SmavidDavid

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I have a UPS on my pc at work.. 100% is NOT portable 😂 ours are only 3KG also enough to let us shutdown in event of powercut, and for blips due to our office location.

Brilliant purchase for our situation.. combined with a battery hoover, during 10-15min powercuts, i can save work, hoover office, then resume work on power coming back... otherwise i would never own one. IF UPS cant sustain pc long enough, and powers still off and hovers dead i then go home 😂
 
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mir2pion

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it lasted 1 year, after this the battery was draining very fast so.
Yes, the battery in power bank becomes too 'shallow', ie, won't take in much charge.

Maybe it is better to buy the cheapest pb around and when its no good anymore, buy another one. May be cheaper that way than if you buy some expensive one. Probably most if not all makes of gadgets use the same battery inside, maybe only with different logic board attached to them (that governs the battery usage, protects it etc).

Skyline mentioned using laptop in a car - there you can plug it into usb outlet, most cars have them.