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Whether you're on a working vacation or just working on the road, you might need a record of your business dealings along the way. If you're nowhere near another office or a power source to plug in a printer, these little machines can roll out on-the-spot documents to record your appointments, contracts, and sales.
The Canon Pixma iP90 and HP Deskjet 450wbt inkjets, each about four pounds, print text pages as well as photos up to letter size. The Canon iP90 sells for $250, but you'll pay $100 more if you need a battery and another $80 for the Bluetooth adapter. With the battery and Bluetooth wireless printing included, the $350 HP 450wbt costs less than its rival. You can also downgrade to the non-Bluetooth 450cbi for $300 or to the 450 base model without a battery for $250, which makes it comparable to the Canon. Due to ink and paper costs, a photo print can cost up to $1. Check out these snapshot printers if you're looking for all play and no work.
If you don't need color output, can't stand to lug around liquid ink tanks, and prefer a device that fits in your hand, the slender Pentax PocketJet3 makes basic black, 8.5x11-inch documents. Police mount the PocketJet3 in their patrol cars. Thinking even smaller, the Brother MW-140BT is the most minuscule printer we've seen, and so are its 3x4-inch prints--which might come in handy for PDA-toting doctors, contractors, and salespeople. These black-and-white mobile printers use heat-sensitive thermal paper, once common in fax machines. Each page may cost up to 25 cents for the Brother MW-140BT and up to 11 cents for the Pentax PocketJet3.
| | Canon Pixma iP90 | HP Deskjet 450wbt | Pentax PocketJet3 | Brother MW-140BT |
| Rating | 7.4 | 7.6 | 6.8 | 6.9 |
| Price | $250 | $350 | $350 | $400 |
| Extras | USB cable, $100 battery; $80 Bluetooth adapter; $90 car kit | USB cable; $80 car kit | Thermal paper; $19 car charger; $50 paper roll caddy | Thermal paper; USB cable (no car charger available) |
| Prints | Up to 8x10-inch photos and plain paper | Up to 8x10-inch photos and plain paper | Up to 8x10-inch thermal paper; grayscale | 3x4-inch thermal paper only; grayscale |
| Size | Fits in your carry-on luggage; 4 pounds | Fits in your carry-on luggage; 4.6 pounds | Fits inside your purse or laptop bag; 1.1 pounds | Fits inside your coat pocket, purse, or laptop bag; 11 ounces |
| Wireless printing | IrDA, Bluetooth option | IrDA, Bluetooth | IrDA | Bluetooth (IrDA on MW-100 model) |
| Speed | 1.05ppm for an 8.5x11-inch photo; 6.24ppm text | 0.25ppm for an 8.5x11-inch photo; 1.48ppm text | About 23 seconds for 8.5x11-inch page | About 16 seconds for 3x4-inch page |
| Output quality | Good photos; fair text | Good photos; fair text | Good grayscale text | Good grayscale text |
| Print from handhelds and mobile phones? | X | X | X | X |
| Battery life | 450 pages per charge | 350 pages per charge | 100 pages per charge | 100 pages per charge |
Read the CNET editor's take | |
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