Portable Printer Guide

Portable printers save you time. Disk in hand you scour the night streets searching for a copy shop near your hotel. If only you had packed a portable printer, you could've produced your own documents without leaving your room.

Truly mobile printers are small and light enough to stash in your luggage and usually have a battery for printing away from a wall outlet. For these printers, portability is everything - and the tradeoff is less-than-stellar print quality. The latest mobiles weigh less than four pounds and should fit in a roomy laptop bag alongside your notebook. Through advances in printer design, the current crop of portable printers rival the document print quality of a good desktop printer. If possible, go to an office-supply store and check out the print quality in person.

Temper your prospective printer purchase with a shrewd look at hidden costs. Ink cartridges often go for a premium, so research ink cartridge prices before taking the plunge. Cartridge costs can quickly add up to the price of a printer. Also, try to get a model that uses separate cartridges for each color. A multicolor cartridge can leave you in the red if you must replace the whole cartridge because you ran out of one color. Multicolor cartridges are more expensive in the long run. Imagenes de amor

If speed matters, don’t count on the manufacturer’s rated print speeds. Many printers can quickly crank out draft-quality pages, but a good-looking printout will take considerably longer. Bear in mind that printers often don’t ship with the requisite printer cable, so check the box contents to prevent a second trip to the store. Another option, if you're a Bluetooth-enabled traveler, is purchasing a wireless printer. You’ll appreciate its wireless printing capabilities and won’t have to lug around the additional printer cables.