With traveling once again on the table following the pandemic, we can now pretty much safely travel the world again for both business and pleasure. For those looking to still be productive and efficient during their travels, portable printers are among the essential tools in addition to their laptops and mobile devices.
Whether you’re a traveling business professional, photographer, student or others, we have compiled the 5 best portable printers perfect for printing images, documents, and other types of media on the go.
Always opt for inkjet printers
Whether you’re planning on printing images or document, we recommend getting a printer utilizing inkjet printing technology. The reason for it is simple; while laser printers do generally produce better print quality and print significantly faster, they are unwieldy and consume too much power. Laserjet printers are simply too impractical to bring with you on your travels.
Portable inkjet printers, on the other hand, can be seen as an addition to your laptop, mobile device, and even digital camera. They don’t take up too much space and can produce quality results on par with laser printers. So before searching for cheap flights to your destination, take a look at our top portable printer recommendations below.
HP OfficeJet 200
Our top choice for the best portable printer goes to the HP OfficeJet 200 Mobile Inkjet Printer. This lightweight printer impresses with its speedy and silent printing and is therefore perfect for office as well as mobile use.
The printer offers a resolution of up to 4800 x 1200 dpi, with speeds of up to 20 black and white pages and 7 color pages per minute. You can operate and connect to the portable printer via a USB 2.0 port or W-LAN from your laptop, smartphone, or tablet. The printer also utilizes HP Fast Charge technology, which means fully charging the portable device only takes approximately 90 minutes.
HP OfficeJet 250 All-in-One Printer
Boasting even more features than the Officejet 200, the 250 model is an all-in-one printer that allows you to copy and scan documents in addition to printing. The OfficeJet 250 also manages a speed of 10 pages of black and white and 7 color pages per minute with a resolution of 4800 x 1200 dpi.
With a weight of 3 kilograms, the Officejet 250 is on the bulkier side and is about half a kilogeam heavier than the 200 model as well as ebing more expensive (which is why the 250 comes in at second).
A touch display is mounted on the printer to access all of its features including scanning and photocopying. The Officejet 250 can be fully charged in about 1.5 hours and setting up the device to be ready for printing only requires a mere 10 seconds.
Epson WorkForce WF-110W
Epson’s WorkForce features a compact design perfectly suited to deliver high-quality results with the adoption of the pigment ink. Connections can be made through Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Direct, allowing you to wirelessly print documents from anywhere.
Weighing in at only 1.6 kilograms, the WF-110W is one of the lighter mobile printers currently available on the market. It is compatible with Apple AirPrint and Google Cloud Print and also offers the benefits of Epson Connect. The printing speed is also reassuring with up to 14 black and white pages and 11 color pages per minute.
Canon Selphy CP1300
As the name implies, Canon’s portable Selphy CP1300 is primarily designed to print photos and images (although it can print documents as well) on the go. The printer has a memory card slot and supports Apple AirPrint, Wi-Fi and USB connections.
Its connectivity, compact design, and price-to-performance ratio are the printer’s best features as the print quality is not what we’d consider stellar. Additionally, the Selphy CP1300 offers an acceptable battery life.
HP Sprocket Photo Printer (X7N07A)
As with the Canon Selphy, the HP Sprocket Photo Printer is designed to deliver easy image and photo printing via its compact design and connectivity to mobile devices. It’s also not particularly suitable to print documents although it has the capability to do so.
The printer does produce good quality images and lets just about anyone connects via their mobile devices. This allows them to instantly get their photos printed which is both fun and useful. However, note that you can only print a maximum of 5 × 7.6-inch photos and needs special paper.