Anker 20,000mAh Power Bank on a MacBook Air: Measured
Anker's 20,000mAh power bank measured on a MacBook Air M5: 62.3 W delivered from a battery, PPS up to 5 A, and a charger that reports its chipmaker's name instead of Anker's.
Anker’s 20,000mAh power bank (three ports, 87 W max, built-in USB-C cable), tested against a MacBook Air M5 with a low battery, per the methodology.
The numbers
| Rated | 87 W max (bank), 65 W on this port |
| Negotiated | 65 W (20 V up to 3.25 A) |
| Live draw | 62.3 W (19.8 V at 3.15 A) |
| Protocol | USB PD 3.0 |
Profile menu:
| Profile | Rail |
|---|---|
| 15 W | 5 V up to 3 A |
| 27 W | 9 V up to 3 A |
| 36 W | 12 V up to 3 A |
| 45 W | 15 V up to 3 A |
| 65 W | 20 V up to 3.25 A - active |
| PPS | 3.3-11 V, up to 5 A |
62 watts, from a battery
Worth pausing on: this is a battery in a bag delivering 62 W to a laptop - more than several mains chargers in this series manage from a wall socket.
The 3.25 A top rung is also past the 3 A limit of a cable without an e-marker, so the full 65 W depends on a 5 A-rated cable. The bank’s built-in cable handles it.
The PPS entry allows up to 5 A, which is unusually generous - more current than most wall chargers offer on any rail. PPS (Programmable Power Supply) is an adjustable range rather than a fixed rung: a phone can request a precise voltage in 20 mV steps to match its battery’s charging curve, wasting less power as heat. macOS doesn’t use it; it charges from the fixed 20 V rail.
The name that isn’t Anker
The most interesting line isn’t electrical. This device reports itself as:
Chipsea Technologies (Shenzhen) Corp 65W Charger
Chipsea doesn’t make power banks. Chipsea makes the USB Power Delivery controller chip inside this one. Anker never registered its own vendor ID in the field the bank publishes, so the name that surfaces is the silicon vendor’s.
That completes a three-tier pattern visible across this series:
- Apple adapters report a full manufacturer and product name, via Apple’s own handshake - see the 30W adapter.
- The Dell 65W calls itself only “pd charger”, and is resolved to Dell through its standard PD vendor ID.
- The Anker Nano 30W publishes nothing at all and shows up as “Power Supply”.
This bank is a fourth case: it publishes an ID, but the ID belongs to the chipmaker rather than the brand on the box.
Buying one
The Anker 20,000mAh power bank charges a MacBook Air at close to mains speed, with a built-in cable that carries the current its top profile needs.
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