Anker PowerPort Atom III Slim review: Quantity over quality

Anker is a giant model within the charging and energy recreation. One of many firm’s extra distinctive merchandise is the PowerPort Atom III Slim. This slimline desktop charging hub presents not one, not two, however 4 USB ports. That’s sufficient to be the middle of your charging universe.

Nonetheless, priced at $45.99, Anker’s Slim charger sits proper in the course of a market more and more filled with 60W and 100W multi-port hubs. Let’s discover what the Anker’s hub has to supply and if it could possibly stand out within the more and more aggressive GaN charging market on this Anker PowerPort Atom III Slim assessment.

Learn extra: The most effective cellphone charging equipment.

What you must know concerning the Anker PowerPort Atom III Slim

• Anker PowerPort Atom III Slim: $45.99/£36.99/€39.99

With a single 45W USB-C and three PIQ-branded USB-A ports onboard, Anker’s Atom III Slim is constructed for multi-device charging. All ports mixed, the Atom III Slim boasts a complete output energy of 65W.

Constructed with gallium nitride (GaN) parts, the Anker PowerPort Atom III Slim is an impressively slim charger. The hub measures simply 0.7-inches thick and weighs in at 141g (5oz). The know-how additionally helps it stays fairly cool, even whereas quick charging a laptop computer.

See additionally: What’s GaN and what does it imply on your tech?

The PowerPort Atom III slim is out there in black. The hub sports activities an IEC C7 (determine eight) plug socket within the again and is designed as a desktop charging companion relatively than a wall brick. It comes with a regional wall plug within the field however no USB cables.

What’s good?

With 4 USB ports onboard, this adapter is constructed for charging a number of devices directly and it could possibly definitely try this. The second factor you’ll discover is how compact and well-built the Anker PowerPort Atom III Slim is. It’s concerning the measurement of a small battery pack and the flat design matches very tidily on my desk. The textured plastic appears and feels fairly good too, though it scratches a bit too simply.

With 45W of output energy over the USB-C port, the Anker PowerPort Atom III Slim packs sufficient energy for quick charging smartphones and most smaller laptops. Though for bigger laptops you’ll need one thing with a 60W output to maintain cost occasions underneath two hours. It needs to be famous that the USB-C port helps the USB Energy Supply protocol utilized by Google Pixel and Apple iPhone handsets, however not the newer USB PD PPS variant required to quick cost the newest Samsung flagship telephones at their most velocity. Though it is going to nonetheless cost them.

When charging, I clocked a really spectacular common power effectivity of 84.4%, with outcomes starting from 82 to 86%. This might not be the quickest charger round however it ensures that your units obtain most energy drawn from the wall.

What’s not so good?

Excluding the USB-C port, the Anker PowerPort Atom III Slim shouldn’t be a really quick charger. That’s as a result of it solely helps the Apple 2.4A normal on the USB-A ports, which is proscribed to 12W of output. Non-Apple units I examined acquired nearer to 9W. There’s no Fast Cost, Samsung Adaptive Quick Cost, or different requirements generally utilized in older flagship and extra reasonably priced smartphones, which usually provide 15-18W of energy.

That’s wonderful on your primary USB devices, equivalent to headphones, however trendy smartphones will take hours to cost when utilizing these ports. This severely limits the PowerPort Atom III Slim’s usefulness as a multi-port charger. Though, happily, the USB-C port retains its full 45W energy capabilities when multi-charging.

Anker states that the three remaining USB-A ports share 20W of energy. Nonetheless, I clocked nearer to 30W with all three ports in use, for a mixed energy draw of 87.9W with the USB-C port in use as effectively. Anker’s web site notes that it isn’t really helpful to cost three high-powered units concurrently on the USB-A ports, because it might set off the machine’s overload safety. Regardless of providing 4 ports, Anker clearly doesn’t anticipate clients to utilize them to cost a number of telephones directly.

Anker PowerPort Atom III Slim assessment: Do you have to purchase it?

The Anker PowerPort Atom III Slim packs in sufficient ports to energy up a variety of contemporary devices. Simply don’t anticipate it to cost up older units in a short time. The 45W USB-C port with USB Energy Supply help is nice for many smartphones and smaller laptops. Nonetheless, the dearth of quick charging requirements on the USB-A ports severely limits their usefulness. Significantly for smartphone quick charging.

The PowerPort Atom III Slim’s USB-C port is nice for quick charging most new telephones and laptops. Nonetheless, the three USB-A are solely a superb match for Apple merchandise.

These caveats make the Atom III Slim relatively costly, priced as it’s at $45.99/£36.99/€39.99. These searching for a quicker multi-device desktop charger could be significantly better served by the Elecjet X21 Professional or RavPower PD Pioneer 65W, which each sport two fast-charging USB-C ports.

So who can buy the Anker PowerPort Atom III Slim? Nicely, anybody who wants a bunch of primary USB-A ports for his or her desktop equipment shall be effectively served right here. Or those that don’t thoughts leaving their units to cost in a single day.