330W GaN Charger for Gaming Laptop from SlimQ
Higher end gaming laptop in 2023 still pull the same amount of power from the wall as the last gen. 280 - 330 W power brick is considerably large and weight too much that many people need to buy extra unit just to keep one in the office and one at home.
Here comes the charger from a company name SlimQ. They make compact charger from GaN chip instead of silicone and this make the charger much smaller than the regular one.
They have made 240W version some time ago, and this is their newest 330W version.
Above picture is the comparison between 330W charger from ASUS (2023) and the SlimQ GaN charger. SlimQ is obviously shorter, but they have about the same width and height.
ASUS also shrink their stock charger this year. It is smaller than the one supplied by MSI.
Weight including cables are not much in different. SlimQ is 250 g lighter than the stock brick.
SlimQ comes with a pouch to tidy up the cable mess in your bag. The weight including the bag is exactly the same as the stock charger which is around 1000 g
Charger also has 2 USB-C port for P.D fast charging up to 100W per port. So you can power up two of 100W ultra books at the same time.
The golden connector is DC output to the laptop. You will need to buy specific DC jack to be used with your laptop separately. The DC cable is about 1 meter in length, so you will have to put the charger on your desk. It is too short to be placed on the floor.
My laptop is ASUS Strix Scar 18 with i9-13980HX and RTX 4090 Laptop. The stock power adaptor is rated for 330W but sometimes it will pull over 360W momentary
Many games in "Performance" mode, the charger cannot tolerate power spike and reset itself when entering or exiting certain games. (Uncontrollable high FPS when enter/exit game will cause power spike in GPU) This will not occur in benchmark like TimeSpy or Unigen Super Position. When charger is resetting, it will make laptop goes back to battery mode for a split second then back to power mode.
In "Turbo" mode, the charger will reset even more frequently. So, it is not suitable for gaming unless you know how to limit FPS in the game menu. But you can still use it as a secondary charger for work like video editing or 3D CAD workload without any problem.
I think SlimQ has set their surge spike limit too low, and the charger reset too early. The temperature of the charger and the DC Jack under load is cool to the touch. Much cooler than the stock charger.
The good
Cheaper than stock charger, always in stock and shipping is very fast. (146 USD include shipping)
DC Jack is replaceable/removable. Only need to buy a new DC Jack when changing the laptop.
2x USB-C 100W PD Charging ports.
Run cools. No coil whining.
The not so good
Same weight as the stock charger if counting the cables and the pouch.
Size is not so much smaller than stock charger.
Can not tolerate power spike from RTX 4090 Laptop GPU
DC cable is very stiff and heavy.