The last few months have seen a renaissance of smaller, cheaper, and more powerful USB-C chargers (if you haven’t noticed, we’re here for it), and RAVPower’s latest models are some of the most impressive of the bunch.
The company’s brand new 61W charger does what few chargers to date have managed by matching the Apple’s 13" MacBook Pro charger watt for watt. It can output the exact same 20.3V and 3A as Apple’s $69 charger, but at a much lower price ($36 vs. $69) and in a considerably smaller package. I plugged my dead 13" MacBook Pro into it for 10 minutes, and got a 14% charge. The same amount of time with Apple’s stock charger got me an extra 13%, so they really do seem to be at parity.
If that weren’t enough to convince MacBook owners to add it to their cart, there’s also a 12W USB-A port onboard for phones and tablets, but note that when it’s in use, the USB-C port automatically cycles down to 45W, which is still plenty for most use cases.
Deal Alert: For a limited time, our readers can get the 61W RAVPower PD charger for $25 (down from $36) with promo code KINJA018.
For $17, the company is also selling an 18W PD version (the USB-C port drops down to 15W when both ports are in use) that looks like the 61W model got hit with a shrink ray. 18W can generally charge a 12" MacBook or a Nintendo Switch fast enough to keep up with battery drain while in use, and it’s the maximum charging speed for the latest iPhones with a USB-C to Lightning cable, making it an ideal pocket-sized airport charger to quickly juice up your gear before a flight.
Neither of these chargers are as shockingly small as the newest gallium nitride chargers, even those from RAVPower itself. But they’re still compact compared to similar chargers from the likes of Apple, and they’re well-built, affordable, and yes, they feature folding prongs. That’s a winning combo to invest in as more and more of your gadgets start to charge over USB-C.