HP Powerup Backpack Review

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HP Powerup Backpack
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Who would think that HP could make a practical high tech travel accessory look sophisticated? Not us! That’s why the HP Powerup Backpack is a surprising offering from the company that’s known for staid printers and laptops.

The Powerup Backpack is meant to hold your laptop, tablet and smartphone all at once while keeping them charged even if there’s no sight of a power outlet anywhere. It comes with a 22400 mAh battery and several charging cables that let you keep all your gadgets plugged in even while on the go. You don’t have to worry about them getting overheated either because the ventilation design takes care of that.

Of course, if you already have a good gadget holding backpack and you only need to add a battery pack, you could just get a travel charging station organizer to pack into your luggage.

There are a few other gadget charging backpack options that are cheaper but the batteries are either weaker or you have to buy the battery separately.

If you don’t find a backpack of this kind appealing, we also have other smart luggage options like the Bluesmart, Trunkster and G-RO. These are all rolling carry on bags.

You can pre-order the HP Powerup from Amazon now for delivery after mid-September 2016, but first let’s take a closer look at it below.

 

Features of the HP Powerup Backpack

    Perfect storage for a laptop, tablet and smartphone

  • This backpack measures 6.3 x 19.6 x 13 inches and weighs 4.2 pounds, so you can use it as your carry on bag.
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  • The heavy duty canvas is coated to keep the bag resistant to light rain. For heavy showers, the pack comes with its own raincoat.
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    Opening ports and loops keep cables neat

  • The interior of the bag is well designed for your electronics. There are separate padded compartments for a laptop, tablet and smartphone. The laptop compartment right at the back can hold a laptop of up to 17.3 inches and it comes with a secure strap to keep it in place. So does the tablet compartment in front of that. The easy to access phone compartment is located right in the front and above the battery compartment.
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    Included 22400mAh battery in its own pocket

  • The battery pack is housed in its own zipped pocket in the lower front of the pack. This pocket has cable guiding loops and ports to keep the cables that are plugged into it tidy. The ports guide each cable to its appropriate device pocket from inside the pack. There are other zipped pockets here for you to store some small accessories.
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    Comfortable shoulder straps and double top handles

  • The two padded shoulder straps are adjustable and you can also carry the pack using the double top handles that are kept together by a snap buttoned wrap.
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  • You can’t charge all your devices at once, but you can set the priority for each device and change the charging sequence anytime too.
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    Included battery for multiple device charges

  • The battery that comes with the pack is FAA-approved and is a high capacity one rated at 22400 mAh, which is equivalent to 84 watt hours. Since the FAA stipulates a limit of 100 watt hours, there should be no problems traveling with this in the USA. Double check regulations if traveling overseas.
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  • The battery allows you to charge one laptop fully, or 1 tablet three times or 1 smartphone 10 times. Of course, this ability will deteriorate over time, depending on how often you use it.
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    An HP laptop adapter is needed to charge the battery pack

  • You will need an HP laptop adapter to recharge the battery pack and this can be the same adapter you use to charge your laptop directly. It goes into its own zipped pocket on the side of the backpack and there is a velcro strap as well to keep the adapter cable tidy. An integrated port guides the cable to the battery pack compartment from the inside.
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    two micro USB cables, 1 laptop cable and a battery pack are included

  • In addition to the battery, backpack and raincoat, you also get two micro USB cables to charge Android devices and one cable to charge a laptop.
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  • When devices are charging they tend to heat up a bit, so if they’re being charged while inside a zipped up backpack, chances are they’ll get very heated. To prevent this from happening, each compartment has ventilation holes and a built in heat sensor monitors the temperature of the backpack and stops charging accordingly.
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Pros

  • You can control the order in which each device gets charged.
  • It comes with all the necessary cables for Androids and compatible laptops.
  • Devices won’t overheat even while charging.
  • Doesn’t look like a tech company made this, which is a good thing!

 

Cons

  • You have to use an HP laptop adapter to charge the battery pack and it has to be bought separately if you don’t have one.
  • Only laptops compatible with HP’s 19V 4.5 mm or 7.4 mm barrel connectors can be charged, so Macbook owners are out of luck.
  • Only cables for Androids are included. While Apple iPhones and iPads can be charged, the cables are not included.
  • If going through security at an airport, you’ll have to remove every device from the backpack to place in trays on the X-Ray belt. Take a look here if you’d prefer a checkpoint-friendly backpack that allows you to keep all devices in while the pack goes through the X-Ray machine even if they don’t come with battery packs.
  • Once you load all your stuff in this bag, it could become quite heavy.

 

Demo of the HP Powerup Backpack

https://youtu.be/fA0I5HhNzbc
 

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