What's the best laser printer for travel?

August 1, 2022 12:44 PM

My life would be better if I had a small hassle-free second printer. Which one?

I need a second printer, to solve two issues:

1. I work from upstairs but my big printer lives downstairs. Running downstairs to print things kills my workflow. I have Airprint, but it's not reliable, and if I send something to print but it doesn't print, I'm much worse off because I'll then forget about it. So: Second printer, so I can print upstairs.

2. I sometimes work out of tiny rental spaces like AirBnbs that don't have printers, so this second printer should be small enough to easily pack up and fit into my car.

3. Printers are ugly. This one might live out in the open. It's not a dealbreaker, but are there... attractive full-size printers?

So:
Laser
Reliable / Easy
Easy to print things from my iPhone or Mac laptop
Light enough to easily carry to my car
Not ugly? (flexible on this point)
Reasonably priced cartridges that don't pretend to be empty before they're empty

Thanks!

posted by nouvelle-personne to Technology (7 answers total)

It's not *extremely* portable, but I have this Brother laser printer and think it looks fairly decent. It's reliable and I have definitely lugged it around in my car.
posted by pinochiette at 1:05 PM on August 1, 2022

If you want laser, then most people love their Brother laser printers. That being, said laser printers, aren't amazingly* portable (~15 pounds it seems on Brother's low end).

*Travel/ Portable printers seem to use inkjet/ thermal paper tech, not laser.
posted by oceano at 1:11 PM on August 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

I purchased two of the Brother printers that pinochiette recommends for my kids in college. They are still going strong after 4 years.
posted by Ochre,Hugh at 1:11 PM on August 1, 2022

Unfortunately, a laser printer isn't going to get much smaller than the Brothers we all own (and yes, I am taking mine on the road to live in our van) because the fuser unit is what it is and the toner cartridges are constructed to fit basically a similar-sized space. It doesn't really get any smaller.

But they're great, so there's that. You can get printer dust covers that could then be cutified with stickers, contact paper, or spray adhesive and fabric, or make your own with some pretty simple sewing OR iron-on hemming tape.
posted by Lyn Never at 1:29 PM on August 1, 2022 [5 favorites]

I like laser printers better but if you want really small, you want an inkjet like the Brother PocketJet line. Battery operated, smaller than a laptop, at this size it's carrying around the paper that's the big thing.
posted by Nelson at 2:38 PM on August 1, 2022

Just a heads-up— The PocketJet isn't inkjet-- it's direct thermal (like an ATM or retail receipts) so you'll need to buy special paper for it (and I wouldn't use it for documents that are to be stored for a long time)
posted by Static Vagabond at 12:36 PM on August 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Another consideration with laser printers is that since there is no such thing as a travel laser printer (for the reasons already mentioned) they don't necessarily take to being stored in anything but their normal upright position, and if you're not careful to store them correctly toner powder can leak out of the cartridge and affect the print quality or mechanisms. If you're transporting them yourself in your car you're probably fine, but it's not something they're designed to do either.

I'd say if you're really looking for a printer to travel with, a travel inkjet is probably the way to go, if your needs there aren't filled by taking a USB drive to a FedEx Office or Staples or whatever.

Otherwise, if you just want a solid laser printer, I'd go with the Brother machine; I have one and it's worked very well for me. It's not a looker I'd say, but with the black chassis it's at least unobtrusive.
posted by Aleyn at 1:14 PM on August 2, 2022