Wednesday 3 October 2012

How to choose between the best small printers?

By Aj Jensen


Visualize travelling to an important meeting on the local public transport. On your way you realize you forgot to print out some paperwork. If you had a portable printer you could print the document using your smart phone, attend the meeting, and never miss a beat.

The uses for a portable, travel or mobile printer are limitless. You can print out travel documentation while abroad or even tickets to a concert after you're already on the road. Although more expensive, these small printers offer many conveniences that make them well worth every penny.

Portable, mobile, or travel printers (which we will simply call a "small printer" from now on) are fully featured printers, just smaller. Small printers are great for travel and easy to pack. They are lighter weight and many can be operated on a battery. To top it all off, a large percentage of these printers are WiFi and/or Bluetooth capable.

There are a lot of great small printers but some should be avoided. Small printers are generally slower at printing and have lower resolution. Make sure you check how many pages per minute each printer can print (including in color). WiFi/Bluetooth is also available on many models, as is battery power, but not all. Finally, the smallest printers use thermal technology as opposed to ink, but we'll discuss this in more detail further on.

Bluetooth and WiFi capable printers can connect to many devices such as smart phones, tablets, and netbooks. WiFi is available on larger printers while smaller printers are only Bluetooth capable. Additional hardware, is usually required to operate either Bluetooth or WiFi. When pricing a new printer be sure to budget in the extra $50 or more for this technology, if you need it.

There are two types of print technology: thermal and ink. Most people are familiar with ink jet printers which are the most common. However, the smallest printers are all thermal so they deserve mention. Thermal technology avoids the possibilities of messy ink spills. You might be familiar with this technology since it is used to print many of the receipts that end up in your wallet. Ink jet printers are generally higher resolution, have quicker printing speed, and often have more options for wireless connectivity. Thermal printers give up these features and the ability to print in color. However, they are genuinely portable, small, light-weight, and tend to be very reliable.

To wrap it all up, small printers are fully functional printers with the added benefits of portability, ease of travel, battery power, and wireless connectivity.




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