Ugreen Nexode 300W GaN 5-Ports Desktop Charging Station. Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET
What’s the Black Friday deal?
The Ugreen Nexode 300W GaN 5-Ports Desktop Charging Station is a beast and, right now, Amazon is offering it for $60 off the list price.
Why this deal is ZDNET-recommended
Chargers come in all sorts of sizes — from tiny ones for your smartphone to big ones for your laptop, to bigger desktop units that are designed to charge multiple devices.
The problem with the “one charger to rule them all” is that as soon as you start connecting multiple devices to the charger, the power output falls through the floor. You think that a charger will offer you all the power you need, but once you load it up, it’s just not up to the challenge anymore.
Also: The 75 best early Black Friday deals: Live updates
But I’ve come across a charger that’s an absolute beast. A unit. Built like a brick, it has five ports, will replace a whole bank of standalone chargers, and can output a total of 300W, which is more than twice what Apple’s standard single-port 140W MacBook Pro charger can deliver.
This charger is the Ugreen Nexode 300W GaN 5-Ports Desktop Charging Station.
ZDNET RECOMMENDS
Ugreen Nexode 300W GaN 5-Ports Desktop Charging Station
This charger can power three laptops at the same time, with the USB C1 port delivering 140W, the USB C2 port delivering 100W, and the USB C3 port delivering 60W.
Ugreen Nexode 300W GaN 5-Ports specs
- Total USB Ports: 4x USB-C and 1x USB-A
- Input: 100-240V～50/60Hz 4.2A Max
- USB-C1 Output: 5.0V⎓3.0A/9.0V-3.0A/12.0V⎓3.0A/15.0V.3.0A/20.0V⎓5.0A/28.0V⎓5.0A 140.0W Max
- USB-C2/C3 Output: 5.0V⎓3.0A/9.0V⎓3.0A/12.0V⎓3.0A/15.0V⎓3.0A/20.0V⎓5.0A 100.0W Max
- USB-C4 Output: 5.0V⎓3.0A/9.0V⎓3.0A/12.0V⎓3.0A/15.OV⎓3.0A/20.0V⎓2.25A 45.0W Max
- USB-A Output: 5.0V⎓3.0A/9.0V⎓2.0A/12.0V⎓1.5A/10.0V⎓2.25A 22.5W Max
- Total Output: 300W
- Dimensions: 116 x 95 x 53 mm
- Weight: 0.857kg
Port max output depending on which are in use. Ugreen/ZDNET
Let’s get right to the things I like about this charger.
First, it’s huge and weighty. This is good because unless a desktop charger has a fair amount of heft behind it, it gets dragged about by the cables attached. Sure, at almost 2 pounds, this is no travel charger, but I find lightweight desktop chargers to be a nuisance.
Also: The best laptop docking stations to upgrade your work-from-home…