Portable printers for your notebook
Granted, almost every notebook computer used today already has infrared wireless connection. And newer notebooks with the Intel Centrino specification will feature Wi-Fi connection.
Some high-end notebooks even have Bluetooth already built-in. All of them allow users to connect their notebooks and exchange files during a meeting. Thus, in most cases, we no longer need to print out documents to share them with coworkers or clients.
Or, if we do not want the hassle of setting up the wireless connection, which does not always work automatically and smoothly, there are still other easy ways to exchange files. One of them is, of course, the use of USB flash memory cards.
As almost all notebooks today have multiple USB ports, all we have to do is save the documents in the thumb-like memory card, pass the tiny storage device around, let others plug it into their own notebook and copy the documents onto their own hard disk. It is an almost bulletproof way of exchanging files.
And then there is the digital projector, which provides the most effective support for collaboration. Everyone will be looking at the same part of the documents that we are working on, and that makes teamwork so much more efficient. Although digital projectors have not come down in price as fast as we would like, people are buying them anyway because of their usefulness.
So, do we really need a portable printer to accompany our notebooks? As much as possible, we would certainly like to avoid having to toss one more device into our shoulder bag. However, there are times that people have to print out their stuff on their own, for instance when there is no business center around. If you work with contracts that require your client's original signatures on a stamp duty, for example, you will have no choice but to bring your own printer.
For those few who may still need to print out documents while on the road, the choice is rather limited, as only the stalwarts still have portable printers in their product catalogs. Canon, for example, has its BubbleJet i80.
This 1.8-kilogram, US$288 printer has infrared, USB and even Bluetooth connections, which enable you to print from your notebook, PDA and cell phone. It is also battery-operated, and there is also an optional cigarette lighter adapter to allow you to print using your car battery.
As it is a new model, launched last March, it is already PictBridge compliant. Therefore you can also use it to print photos directly from your digital camera or camcorder. Its best color print quality is 4800 x 1200 DPI and its printing speed is 14 page-per-minute (ppm) for black-and-white documents.
HP has three versions of its DeskJet 450 Series, so that you can save money by buying the version that meets your specific needs. If you do not need the bells and whistles, you can buy the $250 HP DeskJet 450ci. Do you need a battery-powered printer? Choose the $300 DeskJet 450cbi. Do you also want Bluetooth? There is the $350 DeskJet 450wbt, which comes with a Bluetooth printer card.
All three of the printers can print color documents at 4800 x 1200 DPI (optimized) resolution and at a speed of up to nine ppm in black and white. All of them also have a compact flash memory reader and, of course, a USB port.
What do you have to check when choosing a portable printer? First and foremost, check whether you still need the parallel port. If you are still using an old notebook that does not have a USB port, you will need a printer with a parallel port. If you would like to print photos using your PictBridge camera once in a while, you should choose a portable printer that supports this standard.
Most importantly, choose a portable printer that does not require a special kind of paper. There are portable printers out there that can only print on special paper similar to thermal fax paper. If your printer can print on generic photocopy paper, all you will need to take with you is perhaps a spare ink cartridge.
By the way, keep in mind, too, that these portable printers are not the same as portable photo printers. The latter, understandably, print on special paper and use special and far more expensive ink. -- Zatni Arbi