Using Power banks is normal in the world of smartphones, but in the laptop-space they are not seen that often. One of the reasons is that only a few battery packs have enough power to charge a laptop. Hoping to profit from accessory sales, the PC manufacturer Lenovo has now released a power bank made explicitly for its ThinkPad and IdeaPad laptops.

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Everybody knows this situation: You are on the go and the smartphone runs out of juice. In the past days of feature-phones, this wasn't a huge problem, but in the times of high-res screens, ever-faster CPUs and thinner designs it definitely is. Even a few years ago, many smartphones had hot-swappable batteries, which enabled users to mitigate that problem, but only few such smartphone designs remain today. The only real relief in the case of a drained battery (when there is no outlet available): A power bank.

While power banks are common for smartphones, you don't see them that often in the laptop world. There may be multiple factors contributing to that. For one, the usage of laptops is typically much less mobile compared with smartphones. Many laptops are just transported from one outlet to another and for the transit, the internal batteries are mostly sufficient these days. Of course, some users have higher expectations. In the past, the PC manufacturers gave people the option to use bigger batteries that were attached to the device. Recently, this feature has vanished almost entirely however, the Lenovo ThinkPad X280 for example dropped the hot-swappable and expandable Power-Bridge battery.

Also, many power banks used for smartphones and tablets do not deliver enough wattage to actually power a laptop. This makes the search for a compatible battery-pack more difficult. Plus, not all laptops have a universal USB-C charging-port.

Lenovo wants to capitalize on this potential market for accessory sales, which is why the Chinese manufacturer has released its own power bank. This Lenovo USB-C Power Bank is made specifically for ThinkPad and IdeaPad laptops, which is why the power bank can be charged via USB-C as well as via the proprietary charging ports of the ThinkPad and IdeaPad lines. A discharge on the other hand is possible over USB-C or the ThinkPad Slim-Tip adapter, which has been used on ThinkPad laptops since 2013. The needed power-cables are included in the package, laptops can be charged with up to 65 W. Of course, the Lenovo power bank also allows users to charge their Smartphones with two regular USB-A ports.