Mobile Printers For Laptops - How Mobile Do You Want?

Mobile printers bring lots of convenience and flexibility to workers on the go. An insurance agent is able to print out quotations for clients to sign off whenever and wherever; a salesman may use a portable printer to print out receipts as he successfully clinches a deal with a buyer in a shopping mall...

There are quite a few models of great mobile printers for laptops out there. And this article is here to help you make a better choice. Based on your requirements, the following three factors would greatly affect your selection.

Factor 1: How Mobile Are You?

You might need to answer the questions "how often do you travel" and "how do you travel most often". With these in mind you are able to decide on the size and weight of the printer. A general guideline is that the heavier the printer the better the printout's quality. However, a printer that is too heavy to carry around would lose its mobility.

If you are travelling on your own vehicle, then getting a slightly high-end printer that weighs around 5 pounds is still reasonable. However, if you travel mostly on foot or by public transport, then you might want to consider Brother's PocketJet 3 Plus, which offers a stunning size of not more than half the size of an A4 paper.

Factor 2: How Good Do You Want Your Printout To Be?

You would need to ask yourself "who am I printing documents for" and "how good must the document look". For instance, you do not need top quality in printing while producing receipts for customers, and thus you need not consider buying a full color mobile printer. A simple thermal printer would do the trick. However, if you are printing proposals, quotations, or design drafts for your clients, then a high quality, full color mobile printer for laptops is highly recommended. For such requirements, Canon Prixma i80 and i90 appear to meet them.

Factor 3: Power, power, power

Do not underestimate the need of power. More often than not the mobile printer that you buy will weigh lighter than the power adapter itself, and thus it is highly unlikely that you will be carrying the power adapter around.

So, what other alternative power options do we have? Some popular alternatives are backup batteries, USB power cable (that connects to your laptop to obtain power), and car charger (eats up your vehicle's battery power) are adequate options. Some high end printers offer all of the above options, but you would most likely need one, or the most two, of the stated options.

Other factors such as a wireless mobile printer for laptop is essentially optional, since you are always on the go, and the printer would not be lying too far away from you, a simple cable would do the trick, thus saving you some money (wireless portable printers are typically more expensive).

Also, the printout size should be at least standard A4 paper, as anything larger than that does not bond well with the concept of mobility (fancy carrying a A3 size printer around?).