Help me find a tiny laser printer with spunk.

November 3, 2008 5:36 PM

I have dreamed a dream of a printer. Let me describe it to you. Monochrome laser, tiny, wireless. Does such a thing exist?

I want to print papers. Text. That is all. I have no interest whatsoever in color. I'm a PC user. Furthermore, I wish to spend no more than $250. I was looking at the Samsung ML-2510... it still looks too big for the tiny footprint of my nomadic lifestyle. I read the other printer-related questions but they don't quite seem to get what I'm looking for.

my lilliputian netbook is forlorn and desires a diminutive compatriot.

posted by Baby_Balrog to shopping (7 comments total)

Such a thing does not exist. There are small inkjet printers and thermal printers, but no small or tiny laser printers. It probably comes down to the way laser printers work and the very large current draw they have.
posted by zsazsa at 5:45 PM on November 3, 2008

I have the same dream. However the size thing was the dealbreaker and I settled for "stackable" instead of tiny and took home a Brother HL2170-W. Decent price and I perch my other peripherals on top of it when I'm not printing [which is most of the time]. It's fast and otherwise awesome. I will be looking at this thread to see if there is something I have missed.
posted by jessamyn at 5:58 PM on November 3, 2008

Perhaps the Samsung ML-1630? Here are some photos.
posted by roomwithaview at 7:02 PM on November 3, 2008

Nomadic suggests you want it to be actually portable. This isn't terribly likely due to the way toner is stored in a drum - Knocking it around will cause all sorts of problems, likely destroying the toner and/or cartridge, or the toner spilling out. (although it's surely possible to design a cartridge that doesn't have these problems, I doubt anyone's bothered). Couple that with the power requirements, and a certain minimum bulk...
posted by Rendus at 7:57 PM on November 3, 2008

I own the above-mentioned Samsung ML-2510 and I love it. I've printed over 1,000 pages (with admittedly low page coverage) and I'm still on the toner it came with. I actually used it twice now at an annual event with over 400 people attending each time -- it printed out a sheet for each attendee when they registered. It jammed exactly once, which was quickly fixed.

I've seen the ML-1630... it's not as tall, but has a larger footprint.
posted by CrayDrygu at 8:35 PM on November 3, 2008

It is really hard to make a printer small and reliable.

The inkjet process has exactly two main processes- picking up the paper and squirting ink on it.

The laser has three- picking the paper, putting ink on it and then fusing the ink to the paper.

Also, the laser process just has more parts. They can cram pretty much the whole inkjet process into a little one inch cube. The laser process, however, needs more stuff. There has to be a laser (and a series of mirrors to guide the beam), or an LED bar. There has to be a photoconductor (that bluegreen aluminum tube) and a couple of other rollers. Then there has to be the fusing assembly containing two rollers and a heater.

It could be done, but I'd bet that the market just isn't big enough for tiny laser printers to make it worth while. People who want tiny printers probably want then to be battery operated as well, and as others have said, the laser process is hard to do with batteries.
posted by gjc at 5:10 AM on November 4, 2008

OKAY. After several months of deliberation, we purchased the HP 6988. It's not at all what we'd originally dreamed of, but I have to tell you that having a wireless printer is pretty much the most awesome thing ever. Plus, you can get it relatively cheap and it prints fast. Also, it's cool lookin and really small.
THANKS EVERYONE.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 7:00 PM on March 29