Laser printers are a lot more useful in many ways compared to inkjet printers. The inkjet printers will always have the advantage when it comes to their costs. However, laser printers have more to offer in terms of printing cost, the incredible speed, the quality of prints, crispness of texts, and to top it all, they can now print in color. Colored printing was monopolized by inkjet printers until 1993 when QMS introduced colored laser printers. A year after that, HP released their own colored laser printer. However, up until now, there is not yet a single portable laser printer that can offer all that desktop laser printers can offer. In order to know more about the advantages of portable laser printers, we will be referring to the Samsung ML-1630 Monochrome Laser Printer since it is the closest thing to a portable laser printer.
Portability
The primary advantage of a portable laser printer is its portability. By incorporating all the primary features of a laser printer into one manageable package, you can enjoy the benefits of having a laser printer wherever you are. However, at this point in time, the only existing laser printer of small size is the Samsung ML-1630 which has dimensions of 13.1” x 14.8” x 4.7”. With this size, it is very hard to slip them inside bags. You will need a separate bag for this printer if you intend to bring it along with you on your trips. The perfect portable laser printer should be smaller than this. It should be on par with the existing portable inkjet printers where they almost have the same size as laptops.
Speed
One of the primary advantages of laser printers over inkjet printers is speed. Inkjet printers can go as high as printing 60 plus pages in one minute. However, laser printers can go as high as 200 in a minute. It is no surprise why laser printing has always been the primary choice when mass-producing documents, books or newsletters. If this speed is incorporated into portable printers, then you can take that advantage wherever you go.
Low Printing Costs
Another reason why laser printing is the primary choice when creating tons of copies is the printing cost. Not counting the initial cost of the printer, a page will cost no more than two tenths of a cent using a laser printer. Laser printer cartridges yield as high as a few thousand pages unlike ink cartridges that are rated at hundreds.
Quality of Prints
Nothing beats the laser printer when it comes to accuracy. Ink is transferred to the paper depending on the placement of electrons. Since electrons are known to be so small, great accuracy is expected. Plus, the ink being used in laser printing is dry so blotting is avoided. Inkjet printers increase their accuracy by decreasing the size of the ink droplets. However, whatever small size it may be, if the paper used is very absorbent, blotting will still occur.
It is too bad that there is not yet a portable laser printer that has all these qualities of a laser printer plus the portability. However, it is only a matter of time when it will be created. And when that time comes, you’ll expect them to be still more expensive than portable inkjet printers.
As if technology had not advanced enough with the release of mobile computing within the last decade, there has been an outbreak of portable laptop equipment such as printers, scanners, and cameras. With the need for mobile equipment rising for on-the-go consumers, the convenience of the portable printer for laptop suits the needs of soccer moms and traveling businesspersons alike.
There are many types of portable printers on the market today, all varying in price and quality. The thermal printers are the lowest quality on the market, requiring special thermal paper because of its thermal print head. These laptop printers only print monotone text, similar to a fax machine. If you do require high quality documents or images and desire a lightweight printer try the Pentax PocketJet 200 for around $300 retail.
For those of you investing in a mobile printer made for your laptop strictly for printing photos, Olympus and Kodak have photo specific printers that will print professional photo shop quality pictures anywhere you desire. These printers will require special photo paper and ink, however for people who love to scrapbook or printer a large amount of pictures frequently it will cost you a fraction of the price overall.
For the businessperson, there are all-purpose portable printers that offer quality color images and documents and do not require special paper. These printers also offer a built in battery and the lightweight design necessary for carry-ons. The Canon BJC-55 weighs just over 2 pounds, can easily fit in your laptop carrying case as well, and retails at only $349.
For those who are seeking a portable printer for laptop that will print quality
Before the release of mobile notebook printers, you were confined to a home office or local printing store to print your important documents and photos. Now portable printers offer that convenience of not only cordless connections, but also printing your documents from anywhere with professional quality and most at an affordable price.
So whether you are on a strict deadline for your work assignment, or you need to printer flyers on the go for your next Girl Scout trip, you will truly appreciate this new advancement in computing technology.