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[Mobile Battery] Cheero Power Plus 5 Premium 20000mAh That Charges a 15-inch MacBook Pro
In a nutshell
- Tokyo's most scarce resource is power outlets.
- There are a few mobile batteries that can charge laptops, but ones that can deliver the 60W a 15-inch MacBook Pro needs are rare—Cheero Power Plus 5 Premium 20000mAh finally solved it for me.
- With USB-PD 60W, USB-C 18W, and USB-A 12W output for a combined 90W, it pushed my MacBook Pro 15-inch from 0% to 82% in one hour and twenty minutes.
Tokyo, the Power Desert
You might think deserts exist only in the Sahara.
But Tokyo has its own desert: power.
When I have meetings on the go I inevitably end up working from cafés. As an engineer about to run power-hungry tasks, locking down an outlet is top priority.
Especially when building an iOS app in Xcode—the power draw is ridiculous and my laptop's life bar plummets.
I trek to cafés in search of an oasis, only to find the outlets—Tokyo's rare springs—already encircled by Let’s Note, VAIO, and ThinkPad users.
In frustration I slammed my iced café au lait glass onto the floor. Shattered glass and ice scattered, sparkling for a fleeting, beautiful moment.
"If only I had the power to secure my own electricity."
And so I set off on a quest for a battery. Destination unknown.
A 60W Battery for the 15-inch MacBook Pro
The conditions were tough. Most mobile batteries are geared toward charging smartphones like the iPhone. Powering a laptop is a much higher bar.
On top of that, my machine is a 15-inch MacBook Pro, so anything under 60W is a non-starter. Very few batteries can output at that level.
Even on Amazon, all I could find were phone chargers or questionable no-name products. None were confidence-inspiring.
One day an MdN article popped up in my RSS feed introducing a battery that checked every box.
The Cheero line is legendary for pioneering the mobile battery market. Back in university I carried the Cheero Power Plus 2 everywhere. It was reliable, affordable, and served me well for about three years.
The new model comes in three capacities (5000mAh/15000mAh/20000mAh), but the highlight is the 20000mAh version with 60W output. At last, something that can feed my Mac.
I bought it immediately and tested charging with the Anker USB-C PD cable I already owned. Pro tip for newcomers: you need a USB-C cable rated for 60W output, otherwise the laptop won’t actually charge, so grab a cable like the one below.
Plugging In
Time for real-world use.
I headed to a café right away.
I scoped out the seating. While the Let’s Note, VAIO, and ThinkPad crowd swarmed the outlets, I strolled over to an outlet-free sofa and claimed it like a boss.
Ordered my usual iced café au lait and settled in.
Then I pulled out my Mac and started building an iOS app. The fans whirred through the shop. A ThinkPadder glared as if to say, "Are you really going to last without an outlet?"
That was my cue to draw the Cheero Power Plus 5 Premium 20000mAh, connect it, crank the screen to full brightness, and get to work.
Soon the business folks camped at the power seats were all staring. "Why isn’t he sitting over here? Why, Japanese people, why?"
Feeling like the panda at the zoo, I submitted my app to the App Store.
Even with heavy workloads like builds, the battery alone kept me powered for about two hours. That’s more than enough.
By the end the ice in my café au lait had melted, so I was pretty much just drinking water.
Side Note
Maybe "Cheero" written in kanji would be "知老"—"knowing elder."
Oh, and I forgot to mention the price. The list price is around 6,000 yen. Not exactly cheap.