Baseus put a 20,800mAh battery, four ports, and a digital readout into a one-pound brick that pushes 145W. At $99.99 it costs $20 more than the GR11 it sits beside, and the math on whether that premium is worth it comes down to how many laptops you actually carry.
Baseus has started taking US orders for the EnerGeek GR12 145W 20800mAh Power Bank with Digital Display, a charger built around a single question most travel batteries dodge: can it actually keep a laptop topped up? The short answer is yes, and it can do two at once. The longer answer involves a price tag that lands higher than you might expect.
What's new
The headline number is 145W of combined output spread across four ports, two USB-C and two USB-A. Each USB-C port hits 100W on its own, which is enough to run a 14-inch MacBook Pro or most Windows ultrabooks at or near full charging speed rather than the trickle you get from weaker banks. Plug into both USB-C ports together and the GR12 splits the load at either 100W/45W or 65W/65W. That 65W/65W mode is the interesting one, because it means two thin-and-light laptops can charge side by side without either one starving. The USB-A ports cap out at 33W each, which is plenty for phones, earbuds, or a tablet riding along on the same trip.
Capacity sits at 20,800mAh, built from eight 2,600mAh cells. Baseus rates that for roughly 3.6 full charges of an iPhone 16 Pro (Notebookcheck review) or a single full charge of a 13-inch MacBook Air. The fast-charging support is broad: PD and PPS cover Apple and most Android flagships, and UFCS is in there for the many Chinese phones that lean on that standard. A front-facing digital display reports remaining capacity and live charging output, which beats squinting at four LED dots and guessing how much runway you have left.
Refilling the bank itself happens at 65W, so a full charge takes about two hours. The whole thing measures 2.0 x 1.7 x 6.1 inches and weighs 1.1 pounds, putting it firmly in the carry-in-a-bag category rather than the slip-in-a-pocket one.
{{IMAGE:2}}
How it compares
The awkward part of this launch is the GR12's own sibling. Baseus also lists the EnerGeek GR11 at $79.99 with a 20,000mAh capacity and, notably, a built-in retractable USB-C cable. The GR12 asks $99.99 and gives you an extra 800mAh, a difference small enough that most users will never notice it across a day of charging. So you are paying a $20 premium and giving up an integrated cable for the GR12's higher port count and that two-laptop split-charging trick.
That trade-off defines who should buy which. The retractable cable on the GR11 is a genuine convenience, one less thing to lose or forget, and 20,000mAh is functionally identical capacity for phone-and-tablet users. The GR12 earns its price only if you regularly need to feed more than one power-hungry device at the same time.
Against the wider field, 145W and dual 100W USB-C ports are competitive rather than class-leading. Anker and UGREEN both sell banks in the 140W to 165W range at similar capacities, and several of those match the GR12's display and PPS support. Where the GR12 holds up is the 65W/65W balanced output, which not every competitor offers cleanly. Many higher-wattage banks dump almost everything into a single port and leave the second one as an afterthought.
{{IMAGE:3}}
Who it's for
This is a bank for someone who travels with two laptops, or one laptop plus a tablet and a phone that all need real charging speed at the same time. The 65W/65W mode is the feature you are actually paying for, and if you never use it, the cheaper GR11 with its attached cable is the smarter buy. Single-laptop users get no meaningful benefit from the extra 800mAh and lose the convenience of an integrated cable.
The two-hour recharge at 65W is reasonable for the capacity, though anyone hoping to top the bank itself off during a short layover should know it will not refill from empty in that window. The digital display and broad fast-charging standard support are the kind of details that make a power bank pleasant to live with rather than just functional, and they push the GR12 from a spec sheet into something worth carrying.
The EnerGeek GR12 is available now through Amazon for $99.99, with the GR11 sitting just below it for buyers who would rather keep the cable and the cash.
Comments
Please log in or register to join the discussion