Anker 737 (PowerCore 24K) Review: 140W Charging That Actually Solves Laptop Battery Anxiety
A rare 24,000mAh bank that gives true laptop‑grade 140W USB‑C charging and ~1‑hour refills — great for travellers with heavy devices.
Shortlistd Editorial
Editor
Anker 737 (PowerCore 24K) Review: 140W Charging That Actually Solves Laptop Battery Anxiety By Editorial Team | March 2026
Intro You know the feeling: you're mid‑flight or on a long train ride and your laptop is bleeding battery while a tiny phone bank stares back helplessly. The 737 claims to fix that by offering genuine laptop‑grade power in a flight‑legal size. This review tests whether that promise actually changes how you travel and work.
The Bottom Line
Buy it if you carry a power‑hungry laptop — the 140W USB‑C output and ~1‑hour recharge make this one of the most useful travel power banks available (Score: 8.3/10). Skip it if you only want a pocket phone top‑up or need wireless charging; this is a deliberate trade of size and price for raw charging capability.
How it feels in the hand (The Design)
The 737 feels like a small brick you won’t mind tossing in a backpack but won’t slide into your jeans pocket. Its matte plastic shell is sturdy, slightly warm under heavy use, and the weight is what you expect from an 86.4Wh unit — reassuring rather than fragile. The digital display is sharp and practical; seeing real‑time watts and an estimated time‑to‑full removes the guesswork other banks force on you. No wireless pad and no attempt at being ultra‑compact keep the design honest about what it is: a travel workhorse, not a fashion accessory.
Putting it to work (The Performance)
That 140W PD 3.1 headline isn’t marketing fluff — it gives you headroom beyond typical 60–100W banks, so high‑wattage laptops charge faster and stay usable while you work. You can run a laptop and two phones at once from the two USB‑C ports and a USB‑A port without feeling like you’ve crippled performance. Recharging the bank itself in about an hour when paired with a 140W charger is a real workflow win: quick top‑ups between meetings or flights make the bank genuinely usable for multi‑day trips. It does not, however, act like a UPS — reviewers and real‑world tests report it won’t provide a seamless passthrough to both power a laptop and recharge itself as an uninterrupted mains substitute.
Who should (and shouldn't) buy this
- Buy this if: you travel with a 14–16‑inch laptop or juggle a laptop and several devices and need fast, repeatable USB‑C charging without exceeding airline limits.
- Skip this if: you want the lightest pocketable bank, or you need wireless charging built into the battery pack.
Is it worth the £75.99?
The 737 sits at a sensible price for what it offers: laptop‑grade 140W output, 24,000mAh capacity under the 100Wh airline cap, and a fast recharge cycle. If you want the highest possible output and don’t mind paying a premium, the current category reference is the Anker Prime 26K (300W), which reviewers like HowToGeek and Macworld highlight as a top pick and which retails around £170–£180 in the UK. You’re not paying an innovation tax with the 737; you’re buying a pragmatic sweet spot between capability and cost — substantially cheaper than the Prime 26K while still delivering enough power for most laptop users.
Maintenance and Long‑term Thoughts
The simple physical design means there’s little to clean or maintain beyond keeping the USB ports dust‑free and avoiding knocks to the display. Battery degradation is inevitable with any high‑use power bank, but keeping the pack within normal temperature ranges and using quality chargers will extend useful life. The lack of wireless charging and no UPS‑grade passthrough are permanent trade‑offs you must accept if you choose faster wired charging and airline‑friendly capacity. If your travel and work routine depends on predictable, repeatable charging, the 737 will repay its cost over many trips.
Final verdict: the Anker 737 (PowerCore 24K) earns its 8.3/10 by doing the specific thing it promises very well — fast, laptop‑grade USB‑C charging in a travel‑legal package.
Buy it: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anker-Portable-Charger-PowerCore-Compatible-Black/dp/B09VPHVT2Z?tag=tomisindev-20 (£75.99)
Products in this article
