Many years ago, the printers produced were big and bulky. This made them impractical to move around. If you had to relocate them, you need to ask other people’s help or you need to have some sort of transportation medium so as to accomplish the job. Because of their size, they take up a lot of space and thus preventing the room’s occupant to use the wasted space for other useful purposes. They were also expensive and delicate. Of course, the first models were expensive (since they were the only ones of their kind). They were delicate in the sense that minor problems had to be attended to immediately, or else you would have to buy another one if the problem worsens. They also had somewhat poor resolution and sometimes, connecting them to a computer can get a little bit troublesome.
Due to the evolving demands of a changing society, many companies have developed small printers for computers. Such devices do not take up a lot space, thus leaving you with an extra place to put a much needed file cabinet or drawer. Other improvements are on resolution and connectivity. There are printers that are available in the market which do not need cables to connect to a computer. There are also some that allow users to print photos (this saves you a lot of time since you do not need to go to a photo studio just to print those digital images of yours).
You could surf the internet and read some reviews about small printers for computers. You could use these as guides for buying such a device. There are even some sites that show the prices of the latest models that are currently in the market and of the previous ones that are still available to buyers. This information can be very helpful especially if you are on a tight budget. But you do not have to worry for there are some printers that are not that expensive but still have very nice features.