There was a time when traveling with a printer was a pain second to none. You needed to haul around a desktop printer the size of a large dog, you could try to bring along a famously temperamental ink jet, or you might decide that you needed a thermal printer, like the printers that grocery stores use to print out receipts.
Every single type of printer had drawbacks. With the thermal printer, you had to use a special kind of paper and the output looked rather strange. Ink jets had good results, but even slight changes in the temperature, the humidity and the way they were placed could affect their ability to function; you might spend way more time trying to clean the heads that you ever did on the printing and the cost per page was exorbitant!
Or, you'd get a 'laptop' printer which needed to be babied, and had an average service life between failures of about three months. None of these were particularly great solutions; they tended to make people cranky and make IT departments unhappy at supporting them.
However, as technology has advanced, desktop printers have shrunk in size, from 70 lb behemoths to 20 lb items that are somewhat smaller. This has happened with both inkjet printers and lasers, and some inkjets have gotten more robust at how they deal with temperature and humidity changes.
The real gem in this lineup is the shrinking laser printer, however. They were initially produced for college students who had little space and these small personal printers worked out quite nicely, produce pages in the rage of 12 per minute. They had good durability cycles and they could be packed up tidily at the end of the semester.
Cost per page on consumables for a laser is about 7 cents per black and white page with 10% coverage - typical reports (or papers) won't strain them. For some of the more robust photo printers, the cost per page is upwards of a dollar, but it is kind of neat to be able to print out hard copies of your photos on your vacation while you're there.
Remember that when we are talking about small printers, we mean small! For instance, the PH 1006 Personal LaserJet is just a little bit bigger than a toaster. When we go to trade shows, it is invaluable for printing out sales reports and data sheets for our customers, it comes in at 14'' wide, by 8'' deep by 9'' tall, and it even folds down neatly into its box.
Though the pass through tray is something that you can use, we leave it off, as it is something of a pain. The ease of getting it set up, the low cost of its ink cartridges and the impressive functionality all make this a great printer and when you are on the road, these factors are all things that you need to look for.
Every single type of printer had drawbacks. With the thermal printer, you had to use a special kind of paper and the output looked rather strange. Ink jets had good results, but even slight changes in the temperature, the humidity and the way they were placed could affect their ability to function; you might spend way more time trying to clean the heads that you ever did on the printing and the cost per page was exorbitant!
Or, you'd get a 'laptop' printer which needed to be babied, and had an average service life between failures of about three months. None of these were particularly great solutions; they tended to make people cranky and make IT departments unhappy at supporting them.
However, as technology has advanced, desktop printers have shrunk in size, from 70 lb behemoths to 20 lb items that are somewhat smaller. This has happened with both inkjet printers and lasers, and some inkjets have gotten more robust at how they deal with temperature and humidity changes.
The real gem in this lineup is the shrinking laser printer, however. They were initially produced for college students who had little space and these small personal printers worked out quite nicely, produce pages in the rage of 12 per minute. They had good durability cycles and they could be packed up tidily at the end of the semester.
Cost per page on consumables for a laser is about 7 cents per black and white page with 10% coverage - typical reports (or papers) won't strain them. For some of the more robust photo printers, the cost per page is upwards of a dollar, but it is kind of neat to be able to print out hard copies of your photos on your vacation while you're there.
Remember that when we are talking about small printers, we mean small! For instance, the PH 1006 Personal LaserJet is just a little bit bigger than a toaster. When we go to trade shows, it is invaluable for printing out sales reports and data sheets for our customers, it comes in at 14'' wide, by 8'' deep by 9'' tall, and it even folds down neatly into its box.
Though the pass through tray is something that you can use, we leave it off, as it is something of a pain. The ease of getting it set up, the low cost of its ink cartridges and the impressive functionality all make this a great printer and when you are on the road, these factors are all things that you need to look for.
About the Author:
The market for portable small printers is still in its infant stage and you will need to be careful before purchasing a portable printer. If you're in a hurry read our review of the HP h47wbt mobile printer. It has received raving reviews from a lot of people.
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