I recently had a conversation with someone who thought the garage of a tech reviewer is akin to Aladdin’s Cave. The reality is much more mundane. In between kids and family, much of my tech toys don’t stay in close orbit to me regardless of how much effort I put in.
On my desk right now is a Ugreen Nexode 300W USB C GaN Charger-5 Ports Desktop Charger. Why was the backstory relevant?
Last year I painstakingly put together my EDC (everyday carry) kit, everything I will need to work from anywhere packed in my trusty ThinkThank Photo Retrospective. The charger I had was capable (just) to power both laptops that I carry for work. Or it can power one laptop and recharge my phone or powerbank at the same time. The powerbank was capable of 100W output to power my laptop for when I have no access to a general purpose outlet.
Then within two months of thinking I have been pretty clever, I was back to square one. No laptop charger, no powerbank. I ended up giving them all away when the family needed them. As a result I was quite looking forward to the Ugreen 300W charger to well, supercharge my EDC.
First Impressions
The Ugreen Nexode 300W charger is an absolute beast. Just the box it came in was significantly bigger than any other charger to cross my desk.
Size and weight wise, this charger is next level. Being one of the highest capacity chargers on the market, it should not have come as a surprise. Even the power cable is heavy duty to match the power requirements.
The power connectors to the Nexode is IEC C5 on the power cable side, and IEC C4 on the charger side. Speaking of the power cable, it has a ferrite core around it to help prevent/reduce electromagnetic interference.
On the front panel though is a bank of outlets – four USB C and one USB A. These ports can be use in a variety of combination which I will cover off later.
Everything exudes quality and feels solid. Ugreen was not messing around with the power lightly. It came included with a 240W rated USB-C cable at a length of 1.5m. A nice touch is that for all the cables, Ugreen has included three velcro straps to help keeps things tidy.
For the record, the Nexode 300W weighs in at 836.5 grams naked – without any cables, that is a scant 153.5 grams lighter than a Dell Latitude 7350 in the magnesium ultralight format.
In Use
A charger is a charger is a charger right? Let’s break down the ports on the Nexode 300W first.
Going from the top, when used individually the:
- first port is capable of 140W
- second port to 100W
- third port to 100W
- fourth to 45W
- last (USB-A) to 22.5W
The power distribution profile does change when multiple ports are in use. These are summarised in the picture below.
You might ask why would you need a 300W charger? Your laptops would come with a 65W charger usually, unless you paid for the upgrade to 100W. Phones don’t come with a brick anymore (thanks Apple) but if they do, it would be something that max out at 30W. There are 100W, 140W, 200W options below this threshold out in the market.
So right now 300W is top of the line and sounds like a complete overkill, but it really isn’t. If you are in the market for a multi-port charger, it is always prudent to futureproof. And the future is not that far off.
Consider that an average modern laptop with USB-C requires 65W. A newest Macbook (Air and Pro) will take 96W or 140W for fast charging.
Then take into account some of the mobile handsets available globally – the Samsung Galaxy S25 series handles up to 45W, the Motorola Edge 50 Pro up to an incredible 125W. Quite a few of the better known Chinese brands will take 90W to 100W as well.
Between a Macbook (96W) and a fast charging phone (say Galaxy S25), you have consumed 141W between the two of devices.
In my use case, I regularly carry two laptops that are rated at 65W each. On top of that my Pixel phone consumes another 30W. That adds up to 160W already. Out of the common options on the market listed above, I need a minimum of a 200W charger just to meet these power requirements.
If I still have my powerbank, being 20,000A I would ideally charge at it’s maximum input of 65W to get it to as charged up as possible in the time available. And say add another 5W for a headset or earbud. Adding that up, I need 270W to do this all concurrently.
People might scoff and say, who is going to do that all at the same time? Let me just say, yours truly works from some (power) hostile places, and yes I absolutely would recharge every device I have concurrently when I have the opportunity.
My ability to stay on top of work heavily depends on how much portable power I have available on hand. My access to a general purpose outlet when I get to one away from home is largely limited to just one. Therefore carrying multiple chargers is not only messy and bulky, it also does not give me the flexibility that I need. Sure I can also carry a powerboard if I enjoy torturing myself.
Whilst the Nexode 300W is not a small unit and heavy, it is substantially more convenient to manage then a bunch of chargers and cables, and hogging an entire powerboard.
Gripes
It’s a minor quibble. A little LEDs to show that that brick is getting power, or just to indicate that the port is active would be nice.
Conclusions
The Ugreen Nexode 300W USB C GaN Charger-5 Ports Desktop Charger is by far the most powerful charger to land on my desk. To be fair it is named as a desktop charger so I won’t fault it for size and weight.
I have it regularly hooked up to my devices and I never have to worry about which combination of ports will serve my needs. Armed with one of these, you can get pretty popular around a conference table.
At time of publish, Amazon has this at 25% off to A$181 which is quite incredible value. To sweeten the pot even more, there is a 5% promo code, and Prime members get another $5 off which brings it to a sweet final figure of A$166.95. That’s very good from an RRP of $242.95. It’s start of March but really tax time is not that far off.
DRN would like to thank Ugreen for providing the review unit.
And for those wondering what happens to the tech that is not handed out to family and friends, they get donated to the STEM program at my daughter’s school.
Specifications
Protocols
- USB C Port: PD3.0(PD2.0) /QC4+(QC4.0\QC3.0\QC2.0)/PPS /AFC/APPLE 5V2.4A/BC1.2
- USB A Port: SCP/QC3.0/AFC/FCP/APPLE 5V2.4A/BC1.2
- Support multiple charging protocols: PD3.1, PD3.0, PPS, QC5.0, QC3+, QC3.0, SCP(10V2.25A), FCP, AFC, APPLE 5V2.4A, Samsung 5V2A, BC1.2, comes with 240w charging cable 1.5m
Dimensions:
- LxHxD: 9.14 x 5.08 x 10.9 cm
