The small portable battery you use to charge your smartphone probably can't also charge your laptop. In order to charge a laptop, a portable battery needs to have two things.
First, it needs to have a USB-C port that supports Power Delivery (PD), which is a charging standard that allows it to output higher currents and higher voltages. But just because a portable battery supports PD it doesn’t necessarily mean it can charge your laptop. PD technology can be integrated into many devices whose power outputs can range from 18-watts to 100-watts.
Secondly, the portable battery needs to be able output at least 29-watts or 31-watts of power. The higher the wattage the better and we recommend a portable charger to be able to output between 45-watts and 96-watts — that's a safe range to ensure it will definitely charge your laptop.
The below portable batteries are all powerful enough to charge a laptop. Most are able to fully charge your laptop once — 20,000mAh is about enough to fully charge your laptop (although it's not an exact science) — so it really depends on how much you're willing to spend as well as what other devices you want it to be able to charge.
Mophie Powerstation AC
Best All-Around
The Powerstation AC is a 22,000mAh portable battery that's capable of recharging any USB-C laptop at 30 watts. It has three ports — USB-C, USB-A and an AC output — and supports pass-through charging: when plugged into the wall and into a laptop, the Powerstation AC will charge your laptop first and then recharge itself. It also has a premium fabric finish which helps it look nicer than other portable batteries.
Price: $200
Goal Zero Sherpa 100AC
Best Upgrade
The Sherpa 100AC is a beast of a portable battery. It's fairly big, weighing two pounds and packs a 25,600mAh capacity, but it's rugged enough to survive pretty much anything you can throw at it. It has two USB-A ports and two 60-watt USB-C ports, both of which support Power Delivery (PD), as well as a Qi-wireless charging pad and a built-in AC inverter. Goal Zero also sells a number of accessories, such as portable solar panels, so you can really live off the grid if you want to invest in building out your kit.
Price: $300
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RAVPower 30,000mAh AC
Best Budget
RavPower's portable charger is the best option for anybody on a budget. It's significantly more affordable than the other options on this list and, at 30,000mAh, it also has a larger capacity. It doesn't have the most ports, but it still has one USB-C with Power Delivery, one USB-A and one 100-watt AC output — which is all most people will need.
Price: $130 $116
Mophie powerstation USB-C XXL
The Powerstation USB-C Power Delivery XXL is a 19,000mAh portable battery. It's a basically a smaller and cheaper version of Mophie's Powerstation AC (above) that doesn't have the AC port. It has a USB-C PD input and output, meaning you can charge it with the same USB-C cable you use to charge a MacBook Pro. And it has a fabric-wrapped body, making it feel more premium than other portable batteries.
Price: $150
Omnicharge Omni 20+
The Omni 20+ is a super versatile 20,000mAh portable battery. It has two USB-A ports that support QuickCharge 3.0, a USB-C port that supports Power Delivery, and a 100-watt AC port so you can recharge quickly when it gets depleted. The top of the Omni 20+ is actually a 10-watt Qi-wireless charging pad. And there's an OLED display that shows how much power the portable charger has left. Again, it's super versatile.
Price: $199 $160
Goal Zero Sherpa 100PD
The Sherpa 100PD is basically a lighter, smaller and more affordable version of Goal Zero's Sherpa 100AC. It lacks the AC wall outlet and has one less USB-C port, but other than that a lot is the same. It has the same capacity (25,600mAh) and has a 60-watt USB-C port that supports Power Delivery, so it's capable of providing power to your laptop. It has the same two USB-A ports and works as a wireless charging pad, too.
Price: $200
