With a 22,400mAh, 84Wh battery on board, this $200 backpack can charge your smartphone up to nine times, your tablet up to three times, and your HP laptop fully. You can’t charge all three devices at once, but it’s still nice to know you’ve got some extra power with you when you hit the road.
It offers some cool features. A built-in heat sensor helps adjust temperature, stopping charging when things get too warm. Charging can also be prioritized — if you want your phone to charge fully before your laptop gets anything, you can do that, or you can do the opposite.
But there are downsides. At 4.2 pounds, this backpack is heavier than many laptops on the market today. Throw in all the electronics this thing can charge, and a few books, and you’ve got a pretty heavy load to carry.
The laptop charging is specific to HP laptops, or at the very least laptops compatible with HP’s 19V 4.5mm or 7.4mm barrel connectors. There is no way to plug in other laptops, so Macbook and XPS fans should look elsewhere.
And the USB micro cables included are only compatible with Android phones, not iOS devices. Fans of the iPhone and iPad can solve this by buying some extra lightning cables to plug into the battery pack.
We think the default color scheme — black canvas with a tan handle — looks pretty good. Other than a few subtle HP logos, there’s not a lot to suggest a laptop maker produced this.
The backpack meets Transportation Security Administration regulations, but you might want to check regulations in other countries before traveling to them with this massive battery in your bag.
The HP Powerup Backpack will be sold come October, though you can pre-order it on Amazon right now.
