The mobility of a modern business person or executive these days means the need for a portable printer on the road is an immeasurable aid when conducting business in the field. Many of us have nationwide business appointments and how much time is wasted finding where to get your documents printed.
You don’t need to spend any more time searching as you can simply take a portable printer with you and use it in your car or hotel room or anywhere for that matter. All you need to do is connect it up to your laptop. There are a multitude of options out there to choose from.
You can get anything from an old and simple printer that sells for $25 to a high-end all-in-one machine that can run you over $1000. It all depends on what you need. And that’s the key. In many cases, some spend money on functions that they don’t need.
Your needs may be more basic and you’re not going to need high quality photo prints. You just need a reliable machine that will print out information. Therefore you need to assess your needs and look to save money by finding the portable printer that has enough function for your requirements and no more.
That brings us to the portable printer scanner. If you just need printing and scanning and want to save money, there are a couple of discount portable printer scanner models to consider.
Popular Choices
The first model to be taken into consideration is the Canon BJC-55 Color Portable Printer. The Canon BJC-55 has excellent color quality and there is a fast IrDA port (v1.1, Windows only), which means you can print and scan without cables from any compatible computer or hand held organizer.
What you get as standard in the box is as shown here.
One of the less desirable aspects of this portable printer is that it can only produce 5 pages per minute, and to scan, you need to purchase the IS-12 Color Image Scanner Cartridge: Optional 360 dpi drop-in Color Image Scanner Cartridge. Currently not available on Amazon but you may check back the site as they update their products quite regularly.
The IS-12 Color Image Scanner Cartridge is what transforms the Canon BJC-55 into a scanner instantly. You just take out the ink cartridge, and in its place, pop in the scanning cartridge and voila! You now have a scanner. It is a space-saving device as you got two machines in one, a printer and a scanner, just by interchanging the ink cartridge and the scanning cartridge.
It scans documents and photos up to 360 dpi.
A new portable printer is usually going to cost you upward of $350. The Canon BJC-55 Color Portable Printer is currently unavailable at the Canon e-store nor at Amazon. However, you may still find slightly used units at other retailer sites like www.porterelectronics.com. Since these are used Items, they may show some minor signs of use but should not affect performance. Other good places to look for used portable printer scanner models are eBay and Craigslist.
But the price isn’t the only thing that makes the Canon BJC-55 so desirable. It’s also extremely easy to use. For example, it only has three buttons. It doesn’t get any easier than that. It’s also extremely durable and can handle much more abuse than the modern portable printer, with a scanner to boot.
A lightweight at 2.1 lbs and connects to any compatible Mac or PC, and its dimensions are 11.9 x 2.3 x 4.2 inches. It also supports USB connectivity.
Lightweight Option
Another option for a portable printer scanner is Visioneer’s RoadWarrior Patriot. This machine only weighs 10.6 ounces and can fit into any laptop bag. It’s designed for those who just want the basics. Resolution can reach as high as 600 dots per inch.
The RoadWarrior Patriot can also produce 36-bit color scans. It has a searchable PDF, a USB port, and software that can import and organize information in seconds.
It can scan documents up to 8.5″ wide and 14” long. It can Import business cards to ACT, Outlook, Goldmine, or PDA or smart phone. Precision OCR analysis, advanced layout detection, Logical Form Recognition™ (LFR) technology, and create Text Searchable PDF files to easily search any scanned documents by content.
They are currently available on Amazon at around $140 new.
What to choose?
If you’re someone who likes to stick with a trusted brand name, go with the Canon BJC-55. If you’re someone who wants to travel as light as possible, go with Visioneer’s RoadWarrior Patriot. Both are well designed and have been well received. It’s only a matter of what your needs are.
If you want to save a little money and don’t require USB connectivity, you can also go with Canon BJC-50 model. It’s very similar to the BJC-55, and the IS-12 Color Image Scanner Cartridge works with the BJC50 as well.
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