Ugreen Nexode 100W 2-in-1 GaN Desktop Charger

Best Prices Today: Ugreen Nexode 100W 2-in-1 GaN Desktop Charger

Multiport chargers make a lot of sense as everyone has more than one battery-driven device that needs charging every few days, and, in the case of Apple devices, probably once a day.

MacBook owners should look for a USB-C charger offering at least 65W of power—enough for everything but the top-end 16-inch MacBook Pro. Apple also recommends 100W for the 12-core 14-inch MacBook Pro that comes with a 96W charger in the box; the 10-core entry-level model ships with a 67W charger.

Remember that a charger is rated at its total out so a 100W multi-port charger won’t offer its full charge to a laptop if you are using the other ports for your iPhone, AirPods or Apple Watch, or indeed a second laptop.

Ugreen’s Nexode GaN range offers a lot of choice when it comes to multiport chargers. You’ll find several in Macworld’s roundup of the best MacBook chargers and the best iPhone chargers. The The Ugreen Nexode 100W 2-in-1 GaN Desktop Charger appears in both!

GaN stands for Gallium Nitride, which is a material capable of conducting high voltages in a more efficient way than standard silicon. GaN allows for faster processing that loses less energy through heat. Therefore GaN chargers can be more powerful and much smaller than traditional chargers.

Design

The Ugreen Nexode 100W 2-in-1 GaN Desktop Charger is a compact vertical USB-C charger with a high total power output and a clever MagSafe wireless charger for recent compatible iPhones: versions 12/13/14/15.

It measures just 3.6 inches high, and 2.36 inches wide and deep (9.2-x-6-x-6cm).

It’s compact enough to be portable but it’s reasonably heavy so you wouldn’t want it in your pocket. Also note that it’s not a wall charger that plugs straight into a power socket. It’s a desktop charger that comes with a generous 2m power cable instead.

It’s a deep Space Gray color, with the MagSafe pad in black.

Features

As a charger we are most interested in its power output.

• 2x 100W USB-C
• 1x 22.5W USB-A
• 15W MagSafe wireless

Total power output is 100W. That’s enough to keep a 16-inch MacBook Pro charged to 100% even in use. You could keep two MacBook Airs charged at the same time.

There are three ports: two USB-C, both rated at 100W, and one 22.5W USB-A port. Even the USB-A port is powerful enough to fast-charge an iPhone, and easily cable of doing the same for an Apple Watch or your headphones.

The clever part of the Nexode 100W 2-in-1 GaN Desktop Charger is at the top. Here there is a certified MagSafe wireless charging pad—rated at the full 15W, compared to merely MagSafe-compatible charging pads that are restricted to 7.5W.

That magnetic pad would be neat in itself, but it’s smarter than that. It can be raised at a near 90-degree angle so the charger becomes an adjustable iPhone stand, with the phone happily sitting in either landscape (horizontal) or portrait (vertical) mode. Indeed, you can clamp it onto the charging pad at any rakish angle you so desire.

Landscape is perfect for iOS 17’s new StandBy mode.

In total you could charge four devices simultaneously: three via the USB ports and the iPhone on the MagSafe pad.

Using all four charging opportunities you could power at 15W (iPhone), 45W MacBook via one of the USB-C ports, 25W with the other, and the remaining 10W via USB-A.

The most common charging usage will probably be 65W to a MacBook and 15W to the iPhone, but the number of ports gives you a lot of flexibility.

15W certified MagSafe is as fast as you’ll get with wireless iPhone charging—but as convenient and tidy as wireless is, it’s still not as efficient as wired, and you’ll fast-charge an iPhone even faster using one of the USB-C ports. (Fast-charging doesn’t work using USB-A, even at 22.5W.)

Price

The Ugreen Nexode 100W 2-in-1 GaN Desktop Charger isn’t cheap at $179.99 / £179.99, but it is a compact desktop charger that doubles up as a fast-charging iPhone stand with a lot of options.

You can buy cheaper multiport 100W USB-C wall chargers, such as the 3-port $79 Anker Prime 100W GaN Wall Charger or Green’s own 4-port $75 Nexode 100W USB-C wall charger, but a wall charger won’t offer iPhone MagSafe charging or any iPhone stand functionality.

Verdict

The Ugreen Nexode 100W 2-in-1 GaN Desktop Charger is an attractive, neat and compact desktop USB-C charger with three powerful ports and a fully Apple-certified adjustable 15W MagSafe pad that acts as a handy charging stand.

Its cost might put some off, but for most people, this is all the charger you should need for a multi-device charging solution.