Anyone with a home office and over-tech will know exactly how annoying it is to drive all the features. Once you have more than two or three devices, handling power strips, chargers and cables can become a hassle, especially if you hate chaos like me.
Enter the desktop charger. Their USB C version has been around for several years, with the goal of getting rid of the power strip and separate chargers and moving the cables near the device so they don’t get tangled and messy.
They have accomplished this varying degree of success: the earlier versions are not bad for smaller devices, but it takes a hard time to collect several gadgets at a time. Throw a laptop into the mixture and then charge and slow down until the crawl.
The first desktop charger I came across actually did a great job, and was Ugreen’s 300W Nexode model I’ve reviewed About 18 months ago. It’s not particularly small, light or cheap, but it can charge several laptops quickly at a time and still has enough juice on your phone and tablet.
I thought that was about where the charger would be most important, but not so much. Ugreen is released Updated 500W model A few days ago, and sent a sample to understand my thoughts. Is it bigger, heavier, more expensive than earlier versions, but is it actually better?
The answer is yes…but not everyone.
Ugreen Nexode 500W desktop charger
- weight: 3.6 lbs (1618G)
- aspect: 5.8 x 4.6 x 2.4 inches
- Maximum power output: 500W
- port: 1x 240W USB C, 4x 100W USB C, 1X USB-A (20W)
Functions and design
It’s no surprise that the charger appears in a solid reinforcement box: As I keep saying throughout the review, it’s a heavy piece of equipment and requires some protection during transportation.
Inside, there aren’t many reports: the charger itself, a few small instruction manuals, and a chunky 6-foot/2m power cord. However, there is no USB C cable. Surprisingly, given the earlier models were equipped with high-spec cables to help make the most of the power provided.
While people usually have more USB C cables than knowing what to do, most people don’t handle them more than 60W. Given the price you are paying, it’s nice to see at least one high-end cable in the box.
In terms of size and weight, the charger falls directly into Chonk territory. On a 3-pound 9 ounce (1618G) and a 5.8-inch (14.8 cm) long edge, the name “desktop” part is very accurate.
It weighs twice as much as its predecessor, and I said the charger was too heavy to travel with it at the time. We just want to say that you won’t discard it for any time you carry it with you.
The charger’s gray and black design and the rather subtle brand look serious and professional. The front six ports (five USB Cs, one USB-A) are arranged vertically, and all other ports except the USB-A except its maximum output are printed below.
When it comes to any charge for USB, 500 watts is a hell of a lot to share.
The top port has a significant 240W, while the four below can handle up to 100W. The USB-A port is up at 20W, which is still quite a bit for that old-fashioned socket.
Some simple math will tell you that 240 + (4×100) + 20 does not equal 500, but if you can manage to maximize this charger, you will perform better than me. Even with three laptops, a phone, a portable monitor and a set of connected headphones, I wasn’t close.
The 240W port on the top is indeed the “everything to charge” option: devices without USB CC power today require something similar.
The relatively few laptop models are able to absorb half of that amount, and I can think of it: Even high-end consoles or Macbook Pro 16s will only charge a little slower than they can.
Actually, of course, you won’t buy a 500W charger that’s heavier than a laptop to charge for the above laptop. Almost half of the instruction manuals specifically outline each possible combination of ports and how much power you get when using them.
I won’t browse all 58 different configurations here, but all in all: plug in three or fewer devices and they all get the maximum output from their ports. Plug in four, five or six devices and you’ll see some of the 100W USB C ports drop to 60W. Literally, this is a compromise.
The top port will still be 240W and the bottom port will still be 20W, and you’re unlikely to notice the difference except for handling larger cables. Even 60W is enough to charge most smaller laptops on something very close to full speed, but don’t mind your phone, tablet, and whatever else you want to connect to.
Real-world test
So, as far as specs are concerned, it’s all good, but if 15 years of reviewing portable electronics have taught me anything, it’s often disappointing when specs collide with the real world.
My charger overheats and stops working completely, or resets itself intermittently, or simply doesn’t extend as much power as they want. This is especially true for such a multi-port charger.
However, based on my experience with previous models, I had high hopes for this Ugreen charger and I was not disappointed in the end.
The maximum 240W output is so high that I don’t actually have a way to test it, but it’s enough to say I’ll charge anything I plugged in as fast as possible.
For example, last year’s 14-inch MacBook Pro model happily removed nearly 90W at the same time while charging two phones from other ports.
Again, both of my Windows laptops come with 65W maximum charging, whichever USB C port I’m using is as close to that number as I’ve seen. Even if I plugged in all three laptops at once, the charging speed didn’t drop to any one.
I spent an hour creating a mouse cable and gadget nest on the table, plugging in and unplugging dozens of times with an almost unwarranted combination. As long as I use high-quality cables, whatever connections there are, everything that can report fast charging will do.
From time to time, unplugging or connecting the laptop causes the charger itself to reset: the portable monitor will flash and restart, and the charging icon will briefly disappear from other devices.
This is normal behavior for a charger like this, especially when removing something from one port, which means that the other ports now have more power. This reset allows them to renegotiate the power output through anything on the other end and collect it faster if possible.
The charger has a considerable amount of thermal control built in, which feels necessary considering the power output. It seems like the job can be done: even after three hours of testing, with several devices being charged on one go, the case is barely warm.
The same will be done in more normal use over the next few days. I’ve been plugging in at least two devices, usually two or three more devices, and the charger doesn’t have real heat.
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judgment
When I reviewed the 300W model at the end of 2023, I called it a charger that dominates all of these models. At that time, but technology over 18 months was a long time. As long as you don’t mind the scale of this new version, there is now a new king.
In my testing, the Nexode 500W fulfilled its claim, reliably charging everything I connected and extending out as much power as the device can handle. It never got hotter, even especially warm, basically just as expected.
That said, from any imagination it is not cheap, and if you only need to quickly charge one or two devices at a time, that’s too much. You can find chargers that can do this for less money, including 300W version When I wrote this, that was still selling.
As far as the charger goes, it’s also very big and heavy, obviously the kind of gadget that is really designed to stay in one place instead of forming part of a portable office setup.
Marketing materials show that among other things, a group of five office workers were seriously discussing the dull speech with their laptops, all plugged into this charger.
This situation seems ideal to fit, turning a large number of laptops, cables and a single charger into a neat, compact solution.
If this sounds like your situation, or if you have other reasons to get such features from a single charger, this charger is effortless. So far, it has been very reliable and despite the price tag, it has good value.
The $30 discount currently displayed on Amazon (for Prime members) helps, although I don’t know how long this will last. I suggest you pay attention to sales like this: Ugreen does run them regularly.
I would love to see a high quality USB cable or two in the box, but if that’s my only complaint about this charger, there’s little to complain about here. Respected.
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