Is this the laptop charger you were looking for?
| Pros | Cons |
| The tiny size is a big plus for travel or commuting. Three ports on a single device is really handy and efficient. The power available provides speedy charging | It can be fiddly to use all three ports. The port labelling is almost impossible to read. It does get a bit warm when pushed |
What is it?
Alxum have created a 3 port, 65w USB wall charger, but is this just another charging brick? Let’s start with some specs.
The GaN charger has 3 USB ports. The first is a USB type A, providing between up to 30w of power, and the other two are both USB type C providing up to 65w. One of the most striking things about this charger is its tiny form factor – it’s only 5.3 x 3 x 5.3 cm and 200 Grams, making it far smaller than many laptop chargers, but with the ability to charge three devices at the same time. Out of the box, it comes with a UK or an EU spec plug to attach, giving you easy to switch travel options.
I can’t say I’ve ever spent a massive amount of time thinking about my charging devices before this, but there’s something fascinating in finding out that in order to make this so small, the team at Alxum have used Gallium Nitride (which I’m going to assume is effectively some wonder material that might as well be called unobtanium). A little google-fu has taught me that GaN is a ‘wide band-gap semiconductor’ which is a very hard substance with very high thermal conductivity which has allowed Alxum to shrink this charger down, while continuing to keep it cool enough to do its work.
Saying this, I have found on a couple of occasions when testing the GaN charger that it got quite warm. This isn’t hugely unusual, but I think if I was going to be really pushing its capabilities, by charging two laptops and a power brick for example, I keep half an eye on whether that Gallium Nitride magic was really delivering what was needed to keep everything safe and sound while it does its work. I have no doubt it has passed all of its testing and offers as safe an experience as any charger but given how much power is going through such a tiny device, if you’re going to run it at full capacity for a longer period, it is no doubt going to get pretty warm even with its unobtanium super substance!
Something I have worried about from time to time is whether I am damaging the batteries in my devices, particularly when using anything that claims ‘fast charging’, but the GaN charger comes certified by CE and UKCA, which is a comfort in a device from a smaller manufacturer and they’ve built in enough intelligence to the charger that it protects against short circuits and over charging, whilst also spreading the 65w of power to its best effect when multiple devices are connected.
Are there downsides?
So, is there anything wrong with it?
Well, there are some minor niggles, yes. When you use the UK style 3 pin plug, it attaches so that the main body of the GaN charger is upside down, making it even harder to read the descriptions on the ports, although to be fair, the text is already so small that it’s really quite hard to read anyway! So hard in fact, that I ended up taking a photo of it and zooming in before I could make out any of what was written, but that might just be my eyes! It’s also not really made clear on this labelling (once you have managed to read it) that the power claimed by each port is only what you get if you plug in an individual device. It’s a little odd that the USB-C ports are labelled as providing 15-65w and 45-65w respectively, when actually, just saying up to 65w would have been simpler and more accurate certainly if you’re using all three ports.
I’ve generally been using the GaN charger to commute with a MacBook Pro, and the performance for replenishing my battery when I need it has been really good, delivering around 50% recharge (up to 80%) in under half an hour. It definitely slows down if you’re charging three devices at once, but it still moves at a good rate across whatever I’ve tried attaching to it so far. For me, the real benefit of the GaN USB-C PD Charger though is its size and weight. I commute around 2 hours each way to the office, albeit less than I used to, and the fact that the GaN charger is half the size and weight of my MacBook brick, whilst doing not only the same job, but additionally charging my phone and having a USB-A spare should I need something else makes this a great option and doing that little bit to save my back as I carry my portable office around in my bag.
Is it worth it?
At time of writing the GaN charger is around the £35 mark, putting it as a pretty competitive option for a laptop charger, and certainly a three port charger. There are other options on the market that are higher powered, but larger and some that are of the same size and power, but generally more expensive. In summary, if you’re looking to really push fast charging for long periods for any reason, I would go for a full-size charger with more ability to disperse any heat that’s created, but if you’re expecting ‘normal’ charging needs and you travel a lot, or commute like I do, this is a great option!
Products were provided for this review. For details on out promise to you please read our Afiiliate Disclosure
