ZDNET's key takeaways This battery-powered printer is perfect for taking on the road, and it connects to devices using Bluetooth or USB
Thermal printing means there are no ink cartridges to replace, but the downside is the printer cannot use regular paper
Installing the Windows and Mac drivers is a bit painful and unintuitive. $69.91 at Amazon
I like to joke that whenever someone asks me if I own a printer, I say, "I don't need one where I live." When they inevitably ask where that is, I reply, "The 21st century." It's not the best joke -- and it's not entirely true either. There are plenty of times when I do need a printer.
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What I don't want, however, is a bulky printer that hogs precious desk space. I need something small, ideally portable -- a printer I can move from room to room or even take on the go. Plus, I want to break free from the endless cycle of replacing ink cartridges.
That's why I've been testing something that ticks all the boxes: a portable thermal printer. Meet the Polono D810.
Print quality doesn't deteriorate over time
At its core, the Polono D810 is exactly what it claims to be: a printer. Thermal paper goes in one end, and your printed document comes out the other. The print quality is more than acceptable for documents, simple drawings, and basic graphics. And because it's a thermal printer, there are no consumables beyond the paper itself.
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