At your workstation you have a laptop, personal phone, work phone, an iPad, a monitor-mounted lamp, and some USB-powered accessory, how many chargers do you need to keep them all juiced up? If your answer is anything more than one, you need to know the existence of “desktop chargers”. Most devices you buy will each come with a single-port charger dedicated to that device. Common aftermarket portable chargers are usually dual-port for charging 2 devices at a time. But at your workstation, whether the goal is to declutter, to save costs, or to save space, you can enjoy the convenience by using a single desktop charger. Topvork Sprinnt 60W PD 6-Port Desktop Charger (TV-PC002) is the subject of today’s review.
Unboxing
Here’s what you’re going to get out of the box.
Front of Box
Back of Box
Box Content
Port View
Back View
Size Comparison with iPhone 12 Pro
Thickness comparison with iPhone 12 Pro
The charger cord is roughly 6ft long, which should be enough to get to an outlet on your desktop, or from the wall. Note that this charger actually comes in two colors, white and black. I personally like the white one, but it’s good to know that you have choices.
First impression, the charger is well built, it has slightly curved front and back sides, fairly smooth surface. I do have one minor complaint. The charger cord has a different shade of “white” than the charger itself. The Topvork charger is very beautiful on its own, but the slightly less-white shade cord took a point off the “look” category. But when neatly placed on your workstation, just leave the cord connection on the back side away from the view, then all is well.
Before getting into the details of this particular charger, it is important to understand the basic differences between portable and desktop chargers, as well as the different charging protocols in order for you to determine what is right for you.
Desktop vs Portable
Most portable chargers are 2-port, be it 2x USB-A, USB-A + USB-C, or 2x USB-C. Some offer up to 4 ports, like this Ugreen unit I reviewed earlier. These are small devices you can travel with, and are usually limited in power output (usually between 12 to 36W). Even the more expensive ones that allow you to charge your laptop, they are still limited by the number of ports available. Dekstop chargers are designed to remove that limitation by allowing you to power your laptop along with your many USB gadgets at the same time.
Protocol
While USB-A and USB-C refer to the physical charging ports, the following charging “protocols” are avilable with thit unit:
PPS = Programmable Power Supply. This is a relatively new protocol that can be found on Samsung S20 and newer Samsung flagship devices. This is delivered through the USB-C port.
PD = Power Delivery. This is notably utilized by newer iPhones/iPads to enable charging at 18W instead of the standard 12W. Power Delivery is also a protocol used on most modern laptops such as the MacBook Air, Dell XPS 13, just to name a few. This is delivered through the USB-C port.
QC = Quick Charge. This is the protocol widely seen on most Android phones and many non-Apple-branded wireless chargers. This is delivered through the dedicated QC USB-A port.
You don’t need to be stressed out by these acronyms; just know that these protocols are all about enabling faster charging by raising the output voltage from 5V per the standard USB specification, to 9V, 12V, 15V, or even 20V.
Specifications
Now that we have a basic understanding of a typical charger, let’s dive into the specification for the Topvork Sprint 60W charger:
USB-C (PPS protocol): 25A Max
USB-C (PD protocol): 5V/3A, 9V/3A, 15V/2A, 20V/1.5A (30W Max)
USB-A (QC protocol): 5V/3A, 9V/2A, 12V/1.5 (18W Max)
USB-A: 5V/2.4A, 5V/6A (30W Max)
When using charging through PD (USB-C) and QC ports concurrently:
PD: 5V/3A, 9V/2.78A, 12V/2.1A (25W Max)
QC: 5V/1A (5W Max)
USB-A: 30A Max (unchanged)
Overall capacity = 60W total.
Specification Explained
The Topvork charger offers 1x USB-C port, 1x USB-A QC port, and 4x regular USB-A ports. The conclusion from the above specification is that between the USB-C port (for PD or PPS) and USB-A QC port, you have to choose one. If you choose to plug in the USB-C port either for your laptop or iPad (PD), or your Samsung S20 (PPS), the QC port will become a regular USB-A port supporting only 5W of regular USB charging speed. In order to utilize the QC port to charge your Android device like a Samsung S10, you will need to leave the USB-C PD port unplugged. These two ports have a combined rating of 30W. The 4x USB-A ports can each support up to 12W, or 30W maximum for the 4 ports combined. This is how we arrive at the 60W total capacity.
Does the above sound surprising to you? If you haven’t tested many chargers in the past, you might be put off by the explanation above. But wait. Of all the chargers I tested in the past, I have yet to find any charger that can support PD and QC concurrently. Anker, Ravpower, and Aukey are the more popular brands when it comes to chargers. If you look at anything that offers more than one USB-C port, you have to read the specification very carefully to find that the power output depends on how many devices you plug in. Many smaller/cheaper brands will hide this fact from you by omitting the critical information from the unit specification. I have to applaud Topvork for being clear on the product’s capability, making them on par with the most popular brands.
Real-World Testing
PD Charging
Being a desktop charger, the first test is to make sure it can charge my laptop. The picture here shows that on connection, the charger immediately switches to the 20V profile, which makes my Surface Pro 8 happy.
This charger is compatible with low-powered laptop like the Mac Book Air, Dell XPS 13, Microsoft Surface Pro, etc. But you won’t be able to charge high-powered gaming laptops. Before purchase, you do need to check for compatibility. The maximum PD output of this charger is 20V at 1.5A (30W). Laptops that require more than 30W of power will not work.
When charging my iPad, it correctly jumps to the 15V profile. Suffice to say, the charger lives up to its Specs for its PD output.
USB-A (QC) Charging
I apologize that I was unable to test the QC capability of the charger because I do not own any Android device. Just know that this charger supports the latest QC 3.0 charging standard, capable of delivering up to 18W of power for your QC device. HOWEVER, this is only true when you do NOT plug anything else into the USB-C port. According to the Specification, when USB-C port is used, it takes priority over the USB-A QC port, and this port becomes a regular USB-A port where power is capped at 5W.
USB-A (Regular) Charging
There are 4 regular USB-A ports, each supports up to 12W at 5V.
I plugged in my iPhone 12 Pro, it charges at 6.58W. As a comparison, I plugged into my Anker PowerPort Atom III, the power reading averages about 4.7W. The Topvork outperformed the Anker charger.
As a background, depending on the battery percentage, the phone’s charge rate changes. You will never see your phone charging at “12W”.
Multi-Device Charging
While I don’t have too many power-hungry devices to test at a time, I plugged in my iPhone 12 Pro and an older iPhone 7, both charged between 6 to 8W, which is normal for charging via USB-A ports.
I’ve tried plugging in all four ports, my two phones were charging, and my desktop light was lit, my external HDD enclosure was powered. Suffice to say, you can fully utilize all the USB ports without issue.
This is in fact my first charger that supports this many USB-A ports all from a single device. It’s good to know that this charger can provide up to 30W of power split between the four ports while each port supports up to 12W. Unless you are in a hurry and need to get your iPhone charged from 0% to 50% in 30 minutes (only possible with PD fast charging), this charger will serve you well.
Conclusion
Among my trove of chargers, I used to have two Anker PowerPort Atom III (45W USB-C, 15W USB-A, 60W total) portable chargers at my desktop, the purpose is to provide power for my Microsoft Surface Pro 8 laptop, and another USB-C PD port for my iPhone to allow for fast charge, plus a couple of USB-A ports for my monitor lamp and another accesory. After I reviewed the Topvork desktop charger, it is now the only charger at my workstation. The only thing I gave up was the fast charging for my iPhone 12 Pro. This is not a bad trade off. Since I spend most of the time here at my workstation, a slightly slower charging speed for my phone doesn’t affect me at all. Fun fact, fast-charging generates more heat than regular charging (i.e. due to higher voltage / power); unless you’re in a hurry, avoiding fast-charging may allow your phone battery to last longer.
But for you, your decision will be based on how you plan to use this charger. If you need to have PD and QC at the same time, or if you need to fast-charge more than 1 device, this charger is not for you. But if you’re like me, you intend to use this charger as intended (desktop charger) to charge your laptop and you’re okay with using USB-A for the rest, then absolutely this charger is a space/cost saver. Another great application is when you simply have so many USB-A devices (up to 5), you can now keep them all juiced up with a single charger instead of five! At only $29.99 from Amazon (link here), this charger is a steal. The only thing unfortunate is that this is not available from the Canadian Amazon store at time of this review.
