Portable Printers for Laptops

Portable printers should make it easy to print things on the go. There are of course a number of printers for photos on the market and you can learn about them on our page about mini photo printers. However, this page will focus on printers that will print documents, and perhaps photos as well.

The word portable means different things to different people. However, on this page we will highlight only those printers that weigh less than 5 pounds. Certainly, weight is not the only critiera for making a printer portable, but a weight limit seems to be in order.

The following are a few suggestions of features that you might want to consider before selecting portable printers for a laptops or handheld devices.

Compatibility
Clearly, any printer you choose needs to be compatible with the device from which you will be printing. The specific operating system must be supported. You'll also need compatible connections.

Connectivity
Any good portable printer will need some type of wireless connectivity. Bluetooth, WiFi, or IrDA (infrared) can potentially get the job done. Certainly USB, parallel/serial ports and so forth are also good in many instances . Some mobile printers will also accept SC/MMC cards which is particularly convenient if you hope to print from a digital camera.

Power Source
Again, for the purpose of portability, avoiding the necessity of wires and cables is important. Therefore a battery operated device is often needed. Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries tend to be the better option. Having an AC adapter is also good however, so that you can use an outlet to save on battery power when available. Some mobile printers also have car and airplane adapters for the ultimate in power source flexibility.

Size
If you'll be toting around your portable printer, you want it to be comfortable to carry. Some are small enough to fit in a brief case, others are not. In addition to weight, you might want to consider dimensions and whether or not the device will fold up. Some come with a carrying case to make toting them around easier.

Documents
Determine what types of documents you want to be able to print and then match this up with what the printer can produce. For instance if you want the flexibility of printing 3 x 5" cards as well as 8.5" x 11" documents, you need to be sure the printer can handle both of those paper sizes and so forth. You also need to know what type of media you wish to use. Plain paper is usually a given, but transparencies or cloth for instance aren't.

Print Quality
For text documents 300x300 dpi is reasonable quality. For good photos you may want 1200 x 600 dpi (or better). Some mobile printers can handle both color and black & white printing, others can't.

Speed
If speed is important, you will need to compare numbers. Speed is frequently reported as ppm or pages per minute. Printers often have a speed rating for black & white printing and another for color.

Cost
Of course you need to know your budget before you buy, but you need to be sure to consider the overall operating costs. For instance, will you need to be purchasing ink, toner, paper or other supplies? What is the cost associated with this? Some paper and inks are more expensive than others.

Capacity
You'll also want to know how much paper and so forth the printer can handle in relation to the volume of use. If you print 50 pages per day and the printer can only hold 20 pages, you may be disappointed with having to add paper repeatedly throughout the day.

HP OfficeJet 100

This portable printer from HP measures 3.3" x 13.7" x 6.9" and weighs 5.5lbs. It can print black and white documents at 22ppm and color at 18ppm. Black and white resolution is 600 x 600 dpi and color up to 4800.

It has a 50 sheet capacity and can print in legal, letter, statement, executive, envelope, and card sizes including 3x5, 4x6, and 5x8. This printer can also print photos in 4x6 and 5x8 sizes. It offers USB 2.0 connectivity and Bluetooth as well. It can provide 2 sided printing and has 64MB of memory.

Photo Credits:

Introduction: Eunix
Choosing a Portable Printer: visualdensity