Label printers are interesting because it’s something that up to this point has not been replaced by anything better. I seriously doubt you will ever see a tablet or a smartphone with a printer attached to it because those devices are inherently "anti-physical", meaning they’re not meant to have any physical peripherals attached to them.
The label printer, while simple in design, is something every computer geek needs. Yes, needs. The printouts from a label printer read better than your chicken-scratch handwriting, and furthermore can be stuck to anything. Optical discs, wires (in tag-style), stereo components, USB sticks and pretty much everything else you can think of.
Below I’ll be listing 5 label printers, starting with cheap and ending at expensive. I’ll purposely be concentrating on handheld and portable models.
Yes, all these printers are made by Brother. They just happen to offer the most choice when it comes to label printers. I’m not saying you have to look at Brother and no one else, but like I said, they do have the most choice.
Brother PT-1090BK
Price: $20
For most people, this cheap label printer is exactly what they’re looking for. It’s a vertical design that fits easy in the hand (and toolbox/tool bag) and has little perks like ‘deco’ options and the ability to bold/italic/underline/shadow/outline and so on.
The only real drawback is that while it gets the job done, if you make labels often, you’ll probably wear this thing out quickly. On the other hand if you only make labels a few times a week, this unit should last you a while.
Brother PT-1290
Price: $36
With this label printer you get a full QWERTY keyboard with keys that while on the small side is easy-to-use. It comes supplied with two different fonts and supports four different types of tape (9/64-inch, 1/4-inch, 3/8-inch and 1/2-inch). You also get the ability to print two lines, giving you the ability to print more on less tape.
Brother PT-2100
Price: $70
At this price range you get 4 fonts, the ability to use many different types of tape (standard, flexible ID, tamper-evident, iron-on fabric and others), the ability to connect the unit to your PC via USB, and the ability to use a bunch of different tape sizes including full 1-inch.
Note: If you were looking for something high-end that has commercial-grade quality without breaking the bank, the PT-2100 is what you want.
Brother P-Touch PT-1400
NewEgg link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16828113197
Price: $87
It’s here we step out of the consumer and into the commercial end of label printing.
This label printer is not user-friendly at all and is just a mess of buttons that makes it resemble a graphing calculator. It’s a powerhouse handheld that support a ton of different media types, has a whopping 2,000-character memory and can print barcodes.
Brother PT-7600
Price: $124
For those of you who work in factory environments, you may have seen one of these or something similar to it. This is a commercial industrial grade model and can literally take a pounding. It has everything the PT-1400 does with the addition of PC connectivity via USB and a casing that can withstand just about anything you could throw at it.
Which one should you buy?
If you’re a ‘casual labeler’, so to speak, either of the first two will suit you fine. As for which of those two you should get, it depends whether a QWERTY layout matters to you or not. If it does, you know which one to get.
Some geeks are all about labeling every single frickin’ thing they possibly can. If for example you work in an IT department and are, say, redoing an entire server room, you need something that can print fast and easily fit in the tool bag. For that, the last two are the ones you should consider. Which to go with depends on whether you need PC connectivity to the label printer or not. The PT-1400 does not have USB, but the PT-7600 does. I mean, who knows, maybe you could even get one bought on the company’s dime as it absolutely would serve a work-related function?
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