PLUGABLE 10-PORT PS-10CC USB-C CHARGER: SMARTS AND PORTS APLENTY

Up till now the most USB-C ports we've seen on a charger is six, courtesy of the Satechi 200W 6-Port Charging Station.

- BY SIMON JARY

Six charging ports ought to be enough for most people, we thought, but on a busy bank of desks or back at home in a device-full abode, those charging ports can get filled very quickly.

A further complication is that most multi-port chargers reserve specific maximum power output to each port, known as rules-based charging—so when using all its ports, the Satechi Charging Station powers devices at 65W on the top port, 45W on the second, and then 20W each on the next four. If you are the last to use a port, you might get stuck with just 20W to play with even when the other connected devices higher up are fully charged.

If you want to charge your laptop at the fastest possible speed, you need to bag that top port before anyone else uses it to charge their AirPods and gets mean about sharing.

PRIORITY CHARGING

The 10-port—yes, 10—Plugable PS-10CC is the first USB-C charging station to use intelligent software-based priority charging that distributes power across all connected devices, prioritized in the order you choose from left to right. As devices reach full charge, the now greater available power is reallocated down the line.

Plugable calls its smart power-allocation technology PriorityShare. There's a maximum of 100W of power available across the 10 charging ports.

The charger employs real-time current sensing technology to prioritize the devices that are connected to the leftmost ports.

Plug the device you most want charged to full—likely your laptop or smartphone—into the first port on the left, and it will receive the power it needs before lesser devices down the line do.

As the first devices attain full battery status, the PS-10CC automatically shifts the excess power to the next set of connected devices, which should ensure that all receive the required power in the shortest possible time.