Anker A1695 Review: A Laptop’s Wall Plug, in Your Bag

Out of the box the A1695 reads as a premium brick rather than a budget portable charger. The casing is matte black, the edges are rounded, and the smart display on the top face is the detail that signals this is a higher-tier unit.

The two built-in cables are the real surprise. One is a retractable USB-C cable that pulls out to about 0.7m and snaps back into the body. The other is a short lanyard-style USB-C cable that doubles as the carry strap. Both feel firmly anchored, and both are rated to carry the bank’s full output.

The display shows battery percentage, current output, current input and estimated time to full. It is genuinely useful for working out whether the bank is actually delivering the wattage a device is asking for, and how long it needs to refill.

In the box you get the bank itself and a short USB-C cable for recharging. The built-in cables mean the spare cable is optional for most trips.

If you are searching for an Anker 165W portable charger, the A1695 is the model that includes two built-in cables and a smart display rather than forcing you to pack a high-wattage lead.

The A1695 is roughly the size of a thick paperback and weighs around 594g. That puts it in the same weight class as a full water bottle, which is fine in a laptop bag and too much in a jacket pocket.

Anker uses ActiveShield 2.0 for temperature and short-circuit protection, and the unit carries FCC, CE and UL marks. The cell layout is the standard high-density 18650-style pack you would expect in a 25,000mAh-class bank, with the extra thermal headroom needed for 100W output.

There are three USB-C ports and one USB-A port. Any of the USB-C ports can output up to 100W individually, and the USB-A port handles lower-power devices. The ports are clearly labeled, and the display lights up when a device is connected so you can see the live wattage at a glance.

The A1695 charging a laptop and phone together through its USB-C ports.

Yes, and this is exactly the job the A1695 is built for. A laptop asks for far more power than a phone. A 13-inch MacBook Air wants around 30W to charge at full speed, a 14-inch MacBook Pro around 70W, and a 16-inch closer to 100W.

Most power banks stop at 20W to 30W, so they trickle a laptop instead of charging it. Each of the A1695’s three USB-C ports delivers up to 100W, so it charges a MacBook Pro at the same speed as the charger in the box. Anker quotes 50 percent in 33 minutes for a 16-inch MacBook Pro.

The 165W figure is the total the bank hands out when two devices charge together. Across three or four devices it eases to about 130W. In practice you can charge a laptop, a phone and a pair of earbuds at once, and each still gets a proper share.

I have been carrying the A1695 as my travel bank, and it earns its place on any trip where the laptop comes too. Flying long-haul with a MacBook Pro open on the tray table, it charged the laptop through two films and a work session and still had more than half its capacity left for phones on landing.

Recharging the bank itself is unusually quick for this size because it accepts up to 100W input. Anker quotes 30 percent in 20 minutes on a 100W charger. A low-power phone charger will be slow, so pairing it with a 100W GaN charger makes sense if you want the fast refill.

The one thing no spec sheet tells you is how much calmer travel is when the cables are already attached. You do not need to pack a separate high-wattage cable, and you do not need to remember which of your cables can actually carry 100W.

Darleene’s version: If your laptop comes on the trip, this bank means you do not need to find an outlet at the airport. If the laptop stays home, it is heavier than you need.

Here is the honest bit about carry. At roughly 594g the A1695 is heavy, about the weight of a full water bottle riding in your bag. You feel it if you carry it every day for a phone that a 200g bank would top up just fine. This is a laptop bag or backpack item. It is not something you slide into a jacket, and there is no world where it lives comfortably in a pocket.

Judge the weight against the job, though, and it reads differently. A portable charger that can run a laptop, hold two days of phone charge and carry its own cables is always going to be dense. That single distinction, laptop days versus phone days, decides whether the A1695 is right for you.

The 90Wh rating is the quietly important number for anyone who flies. Airlines cap spare batteries at 100Wh for carry-on without special permission, and the A1695 sits just under that, so it goes in the carry-on with no conversation at security.

The built-in cables also change how it fits into a day. There is no loose cable coiled in the bag, no hunting for the one that actually does 100W, and no leaving it on the hotel desk.

The Anker A1695 is rated at 90Wh, which sits under the 100Wh threshold airlines apply to spare lithium batteries in carry-on. That means it travels in your carry-on without special permission on most major carriers.

It must go in the cabin, never checked bag. Spare lithium batteries are not allowed in the hold because the cargo environment cannot be monitored the way the cabin can.

Rules shift and some airlines add their own limits, so confirm with your airline before you fly. If you want to check any capacity in seconds, our mAh to Wh calculator does the math, and our guide on taking a power bank on a plane has the full rules.

Sources: Anker’s official A1695 product page and Amazon UK listing (SKU A1695, ASIN B0DCBB2YTR). Anker specifies ActiveShield 2.0 temperature monitoring and the usual over-current, over-voltage and short-circuit protections. Confirm the exact certification marks on the unit and packaging when yours arrives.

The Anker A1695 is one of the best laptop power banks you can carry, provided you are actually carrying a laptop. It charges like a wall outlet, brings its own cables, and slips under airline limits.

It is heavy, and it sits at a premium price, but for travel with a laptop those are easy costs to accept. For phone-only days, look lighter. For everything else, this is the bank that means you never pack a wall charger for the road again.

The reader this is an easy recommendation for is the laptop traveler who wants real 100W charging without carrying a kit of cables and wall chargers.

The Anker A1695 is a focused bank that knows what it is for. It will not win on size or pocketability, but it delivers genuine laptop-grade charging, carries its own cables, and clears airline rules, which is exactly the combination most 25,000mAh banks only hint at.

If you want one bank to carry a laptop and a phone through long days and longer journeys, it belongs on your shortlist. See how we test, or see where it ranks against the rest in our best 20,000mAh power banks roundup.