Mobile printers are a bit like ultraportable laptops. They're noticeably smaller and easier to carry around than their standard-size cousins, and you're charged a premium price for the small size. If you need to print on the go—say, an updated PowerPoint presentation or a last-minute personalized proposal before a meeting—a mobile printer like the Canon Pixma iP100 Photo Printer ($249.99 direct) is well worth the price.

The iP100 is Canon's latest and greatest version of a portable printer, physically similar to the Pixma iP90v, which it replaces. (The iP90v was essentially identical to the Pixma iP90, which I reviewed in early 2005). The iP100 is an impressively better printer than its prececessor, however, with faster speed and better paper handling. It also delivers somewhat better page yields from its cartridges, so you won't run out of ink as often. More important, perhaps, the iP100 compares favorably in most ways with its most direct competition, the HP H470 Mobile Printer.

Weighing in at 4.4 pounds by itself, or 5.1 pounds with its AC adapter and power cord, the iP100 is heavier than some notebooks and also a little larger, at 2.4 by 12.7 by 7.2 inches (HWD). Still, it's a lot smaller and lighter than a desktop printer. It's even a little smaller overall than the H470, although both are about the same weight. Despite its diminutive size, however, it can go pretty much toe to toe with desktop inkjets for speed and output quality. It even includes a PictBridge connector for direct printing from cameras.

Setup is straightforward, and typical for a Canon inkjet. You install the print head, snap in the black and tricolor cartridges, run the automated installation program from the disc, and connect the printer by USB cable when the program tells you to. I tested the printer under Windows XP. According to Canon, it also comes with drivers for Vista, Windows 2000, and Mac OS X versions 10.2.8 to 10.5.x.

The iP100's print speed is astounding for a portable printer. On our business applications suite (timed with QualityLogic's hardware and software, www.qualitylogic.com), the iP100 took a total of just 14 minutes 35 seconds. To put that in context, when I tested the H470, it set a new record for mobile printers, at 19:02. The iP100 not only shatters that record, but its speed counts as reasonably fast for any inkjet, not just for a mobile printer. The speeds for photo printing were also reasonably fast, averaging 1:45 for each 4-by-6 and 4:11 for each 8-by-10.

Text quality is just below par for an inkjet, but good enough for almost any business need. More than half of our test fonts were both easily readable and well formed at 6 points. Two highly stylized fonts with thick strokes needed 20 points to pass both thresholds, but these aren't fonts you would typically use in a business document. Unless you have an unusual need for small font sizes, as with the small text in a legal document, the iP100 should be able to handle any text you need to print.

Graphics quality was also just a bit below par. I saw some banding on fills in default mode, but not in high-quality mode, and a tendency for thin lines to disappear, a common problem with printers. I also saw a tendency for full page graphics to curl the multipurpose paper we use for testing. I'd hesitate to hand the graphics to someone I was trying to impress with my professionalism, but the quality is certainly acceptable for internal business use, or for something that you've printed with the recipient watching, so they can see firsthand that it was printed on a portable printer. If you print a lot of full-page graphics, however, you may want to invest in a more expensive paper that's less susceptible to curling.

Most of the photos I printed on the iP100 are easily true photo quality, at the level you would expect from a local drugstore. Black-and-white photos are the exception, with different shades of gray showing different color tints. If you print color photos only, however, that won't be an issue.

The photos are reasonably water resistant but not particularly scratch resistant. I noticed a number of surface scratches caused simply from sliding photos over each other while looking through them. If you want to retain the prints' quality, you'll have to handle them carefully or protect them by, say, framing them behind glass.

One of the nicer surprises in the iP100 is its paper handling. The top cover opens up to become an ample 50-sheet input tray, which is a significant jump up from the somewhat miserly 30-page input for Canon's previous models.

Cartridge yield is also higher than in earlier Canon models, at a claimed 191 pages for the black cartridge and 249 pages for the color cartridge. Even so, this is one area in which the H470 has a clear advantage, with a claimed 440 pages for its black cartridge and 330 pages for the color cartridge. As a practical matter, that means you'll be running out of ink more often with the iP100 than you would with the H470, and will need to carry more ink with you.

Also very much worth mentioning are an assortment of options, including a Bluetooth adapter ($49.99 direct) for printing directly from cell phones and other Bluetooth devices; a car power adapter ($89.99 direct); and a rechargeable battery and recharger ($99.99). Canon says the battery is good for 290 pages.

When I reviewed the H470, I mentioned that Canon and HP have a history of leapfrogging each other with each new model of their portable printers, and suggested that it could well happen again with Canon's next model. Now, with the iP100 in hand, I would say that the leapfrog attempt was only partially successful. The iP100 has a strong edge on speed, but the H470 has its own advantages, notably the higher cartridge yields. Both printers are good choices, but given their strengths in different areas, make sure to take a careful look at each before committing to either.

Check out the Canon Pixma iP100 Photo Printer's test scores.

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