Zolt Is A Teeny-Tiny MacBook Charger

If you’re sick of lugging around that bulky white cable and charger for your MacBook, Zolt could lighten your load. The $99 miniature 3 inch x 1.3 inch x 1.3 inch brick has three USB slots, and with a super thin $30 MagSafe cable, it can power MacBooks that require chargers up to 70 watts. When Zolt ships in Spring, it could simultaneously replace your computer, phone, and tablet chargers.

You can pre-order Zolt now for a discounted $79.

So how the hell did Zolt make a charger smaller than Apple? CEO Dinesh Ramanathan tells me 37 patents plus a special semi-conductor and current switching technology makes Zolt more efficient. When I asked why he created Zolt, Ramanathan simply pointed to a tangle of bulky chargers in a backpack and said “Because I’ve done that too often.”

Thanks to a variety of charger tips, Zolt can refill most laptops, a tablet, and a phone all at once. Zolt’s swiveling AC prongs and tall shape let it adapt to fit in just one space on most outlets or power strips. When it comes out, it will compete with the similarly small Dart charger.

Zolt doesn’t have the wattage to juice up the biggest Apple laptops. It can do the MacBook Airs, MacBooks, and MacBook Pro 13′, but not the 85 watt Pro 15′, 17′, or Retina. At half the weight of the 45 Watt MacBook chargers, it could definitely make the smaller models much lighter to schlep about. Laptops from Acer, Asus, Compaq, Dell, Gateway, HP, IBM/Lenovo, MSI, Samsung, and Toshiba are compatible too. And Zolt is working to get an official seal of approval from Apple.

We’ll have to wait for its release to see if it can charge devices as quickly as their native adapters and how the USB-thin Zolt MagSafe cable holds up. If the company makes good on its promise, though, you could leave your default laptop charger on your desk and take Zolt on the go.