If you have to take a printer with you on a business trip, check out these ultra-small, high-quality printers.
The best advice I can give to mobile professionals about taking a portable printer along with them on a business trip is avoid it! Any printer, no matter how small and functional, is another piece of hardware, with cables and batteries, to carry along with you. Ask yourself these questions:
1. Do I really need to print the document out on the trip, or can it wait until I get back?
2. Can I just send it as an e-mail, or an attachment to an e-mail? (E-mail it to the client, or e-mail it back to your office and have them print it out and send it.)
3. Will a fax do? (If your H/PC has a modem, you can use a program like bFAX (www.bsquare.com) to fax the document to a hotel or company fax machine.
4. Can I use someone else's printer? (Carry a serial-to-parallel adapter and your H/PC's connectivity cable and connect to a local printer.)
However, there are those who really need to print out documents on business trips. You may need to leave a service report with someone, or a document listing repairs made at some remote facility. You may want to print out a product or service description for a client. And there's nothing like printing out and signing a contract on the spot to make sure a sale doesn't mysteriously disappear. All these situations call for a portable printer, and when you're on the road, smaller is better.
Ultra-portable printers.
If you really need to take a small portable printer with you, there are a few that fit the bill. These are not the small desktop inkjet printers you see advertised everywhere, but "ultra-portable" printers, not much bigger than a Handheld PC. Here are a few that fit the bill, along with my experiences with each.
*********************************
PocketJet 200 Printer
****************************
Pentax has been making small portable printers for some time now, and the PocketJet 200 is their latest. The PJ200 is a 200 dpi printer measuring 1.2 x 10 x 2.2 in (30 x 255 x 55 mm) and weighing 1.1 lb (497g) with battery and is compatible with all print-enabled Windows CE (2.0 and above) devices. PocketJet lets you print text and graphics at speeds up to three pages per minute. It prints on high-quality thermal paper. This means you won't be spending money on printer cartridges, but will be spending money on the special thermal paper. Pentax sells the thermal paper in packages of 100. The price is $8.95 for a package of letter-size, and $10.95 for a package of legal-sized sheets. Pentax recommends that you only use its paper. I don't know if standard thermal paper will work in the PocketJet.
Printer-friendly version
