| A question that may be asked by anyone looking to | | | | you will need to purchase two items to keep them |
| expand upon their traveling office is "What are the | | | | portable. |
| best options available to me?" This is not a question | | | | The printer is the most essential of the two. Because |
| that has a simple answer. Everyone's needs are | | | | changes can occur to reports, presentations, sales |
| different so it will require some thought before you do | | | | forecast, and contracts while on the road you may |
| the shopping. | | | | need to quick way to reprint your documents. Speed |
| The most important part of any portable office is the | | | | and quality are close to being on par with some of the |
| laptop. Today's market sports small underpowered | | | | better inkjet printers but it does come at a cost. While |
| netbooks in the 9" to 12" screen range but are not | | | | a good office inkjet printer can be had for $150 or less. |
| powerful enough to be a desktop replacement. For | | | | A good quality portable printer will start at that price |
| more traditional needs the range of traditional laptops | | | | and work its way up to close to $300 depending on |
| runs from 13" up to 17" wide screen sizes. While the | | | | the features. Portable printers do vary in size but not |
| larger screen may sound great in theory for a truly | | | | too much. You can expect them to run between 12 to |
| portable office you will want something that is light. To | | | | 14 inches long, 6 to 9 inches high, and 3 to 6 inches |
| keep weight down it is best to look for a laptop in the | | | | wide. They fold up in a like little bundle and typically |
| 13" to 15" range. Prices for these can run the gamut | | | | weigh in the vicinity of 4.5 pounds not including the |
| depending on the options and their weight, but base | | | | power supply. |
| models will be found between $399 and $699 for | | | | A scanner is a less frequently used item for most |
| home solutions and up to $1999 for top of the line ultra | | | | travelers but if you rely heavily on faxes and archiving |
| lightweight business class machines. The main | | | | business cards and reports you may have use for |
| difference between the business class and home | | | | one. A great use for a portable scanner is as a fax |
| models is how they are built. While all laptops are | | | | machine when used in conjunction with an online |
| meant to travel business class ones are usually made | | | | service like efax. This allows for faxing 24/7 online via |
| of more sturdy material and are built to take the day | | | | email or to traditional fax lines and allows for the |
| to day abuse of being bumped and knocked around. | | | | receiving of faxes via your email. |
| The other two items that could be considered | | | | There are several little extra items that could be |
| necessities to a true traveling office is a portable | | | | considered useful for the business traveler the items |
| printer and scanner. While these can usually be found | | | | mentioned in the article above are the most essential |
| in one large piece of equipment for a traditional office | | | | on anyone's shopping list. |
