Anker PowerCore+ 19000 PD review: Fresh design and new features make this battery pack very appealing

Battery packs have become commonplace. These small power banks are easy to carry and make it possible to top off a phone or tablet—and more recently with the addition of Power Delivery (PD) capabilities, a laptop even—while on the go.

Anker’s PowerCore+ 19000 has a slightly tweaked design, departing from the standard black brick. The PowerCore+ 19000 features a two-tone aesthetic, consisting of a space-gray top and a matte-black bottom. Its corners are rounded. It looks nicer than older Anker packs, and I hope the company sticks with the new design going forward.

Note: This review is part of our roundup of portable power banks. Go there for details on competing products and our testing methods.

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There are three ports on the front: one USB-C and two full-sized USB, along with a power button. On top is a circular charge indicator, made up of 11 dots.

The far-left USB port provides up to 15W of power, with the port just to its right serving up to 10W of power. The USB-C port is used to charge the pack, as well as deliver up to 27W of power to a tablet, laptop, or Nintendo Switch.

The internal batteries total up to 19,000mAh, or 71.04Wh. In our testing, the PowerCore+ 19000 provided 60.6Wh of power at a consistent 5V/2.5A. That’s good enough to place the pack in the top third of packs we’ve tested when it comes to efficiency. When charging a Nintendo Switch or an iPad Pro, the pack stayed at a steady rate of 14.5v/2.93A.

Inside the box is a 30W USB-C wall adapter and a USB-C-to-USB-C cable. The adapter and cable charged the pack in an impressive 3 hours, 21 minutes.

All things considered, it’s a respectable battery pack on its own. But the PoweCore+ 19000 does even more. It doubles as a USB hub, which will simultaneously charge a laptop and let you access files stored on a thumb drive or connect accessories to your laptop.

I tested this feature on a MacBook Pro and it worked without issue. To activate hub mode, press the power button for two seconds. The power lights will rotate a few times, and then blink every three seconds. Connect the pack to your laptop, then connect a USB accessory to the pack.

I followed the instructions and a few seconds after connecting everything, all of the files on the thumb drive were available in the Finder app. It was a pretty cool trick, and one I could actually see myself using when traveling.

At Amazon’s $85 asking price, the PowerCore+ 19000 is pricey, but when you consider what that gets you—a 30W wall adapter, a battery pack, and a USB hub—it’s a good value for anyone who relies on a battery pack.