Zolt's tiny laptop charger can also power up your phone and tablet
The race for the world's tiniest laptop charger is on. Last year we saw FINsix's Dart charger debut at CES, and this year it's Zolt's time to shine. Just like the Dart, Zolt's entry is a 70 watt charger that's significantly smaller than your current laptop power box. But Zolt adds an additional USB port, making for a total of three ports to charge your devices (only one can recharge your tablet, though). And, as Zolt's founder and CEO Dinesh Ramanathan noted, the other big difference is that it's actually functional for its CES debut (we only saw mockups of the Dart). It'll come with a variety of tips for various laptops, and the company also plans to add Apple-compatible adapters as accessories. Zolt will be available for pre-order tomorrow for an introductory $80 price (it'll eventually bump up to $100), and the company expects to start shipping it in spring.
Zolt didn't feel as light as the Dart when I held it, but it was still substantially smaller than every other laptop charger I've seen. And while it can charge three USB devices at once, only the top port can charge laptops (a small notch on Zolt's laptop charging cable prevents it from going into the other ports). A heat shield that wraps around much of the device keeps it from overheating, and there are small vents to let heat escape from its top as well. Now that our laptops are getting smaller, it'll be interesting to see if people will actually pay for the privilege of lightening their computer bag with smaller chargers.
Zolt