It doesn't offer copy or scan functionality, but at $199, it's also a great option for your pocketbook.Īn optional battery lets you use it when you're away from a wall outlet, but even without it, the Canon Pixma TR150 is one of the most portable and travel-friendly printers out there, weighing less than the HP OfficeJet 250 and offering a more affordable print-only option. With a two-cartridge ink system and printing for text documents, graphics and even glossy photos, the Pixma TR150 is a solid choice for portable printing. One of our favorite portable printers is the Canon Pixma TR150, a compact inkjet that's small enough to carry in a backpack, but still offers excellent document and photo printing. You can save even more money by using HP Instant Ink, HP's subscription service for ink refills by mail. Using high-yield cartridges, you can lower this to 17.3 cents, though this is still higher than the 15.5 cents per color page you get with the Canon iP110 when using standard cartridges. With standard cartridges, cost per color page is high, at 23 cents per page. Ink costs for printing text documents are about average for portable printers, at 9 cents each.
Roughly two-thirds of the photo would print-but the rest of the paper was left blank. Photos printed from the Box cloud storage service did not print in full. docx version was reformatted onto six pages.
doc file into a four-page document, while the. Using the HP Smart iPhone app was problematic-the app turned a five-page. The HP OfficeJet offers mobile and cloud printing, but there are some quirks. Photo scans were attractive, with accurate colors and plenty of detail. Document scans looked accurate, with only some sharpness lost on text edges. Graphics on plain paper were equally attractive. Text documents printed with dark letterforms and edges looked quite sharp. The very high-quality photo prints had rich, well-saturated colors, pleasing midtone transitions, and lots of fine details.
It made a 600 dpi color scan to JPEG in 1 minute and 21 seconds, and a 300 dpi black-and-white scan to PDF in 20.1 seconds (desktop models average 11 seconds).īest of all, the speed didn't come with any trade-off in image quality. The OfficeJet made a black-and-white copy in 13.1 seconds, versus the 16-second desktop average. The OfficeJet also was the fastest when printing from an iPhone, making a photo print in 42.9 seconds.Ĭopy and scan speeds were fast, making a color copy in 19.5 seconds, compared with the average of 28.7 seconds for desktop inkjets. The closest competitor, the HP Tango X, took 1:15. A 4 x 6-inch glossy photo printed in just 37.6 seconds, at default settings, and in just under 50 seconds at the high-quality setting. Photo printing was extremely fast, as well. The OfficeJet 250 also printed quickly our six-page PDF of text and color graphics, taking 1:57, compared with the average of 2:27. The OfficeJet 250 printed text very quickly from a PC, at 9 ppm. But having scanning and copying capability on the go is well-worth these compromises. Scans weren't always straight, and the paper path's 60-degree bend left me nervous about it possibly damaging photos. This is the only portable printer we've tested that offers copy and scan functions, but with no flatbed scanner, the printer draws paper through the body of the OfficeJet for scanning and copying. The most immediate payoff is a large, 2.6-inch color touch screen, which makes for easy operation.īetter yet is a small, 10-page automatic document feeder for copying and scanning. This portable printer is on the pricey side, but it offers a lot of features and performance in a compact package. This HP OfficeJet 250 maximizes what you can do on the go, offering fast copying and scanning, in addition to fast print speeds-with high image quality across the board. Somewhat large and heavy for a portable printer Plus, despite its compact design, it makes attractive copies and high-quality scans. Its fast performance across the board can't be beat and its image quality is consistently high. The best mobile printer overall is the HP OfficeJet 250. But the end result is the same, letting you take printing on the go.
Many even have scan and copy capability to give you full functionality even when you're away from the office. Despite the small size, a lot of portable models still offer full-page printing with the same inkjet technology you're accustomed to. Many even come with rechargeable batteries and car chargers for use on the road. Most portable printers are small, coming in at less than 5 pounds.