Things to consider before buying a new printer

A major decision would focus on whether to buy an inkjet or
laser printer. Laser printers use toner cartridges and imaging
drum units, while inkjets rely on ink tank cartridges. When it
comes to inkjet printers the print head is part of the printer
on some models and part of the cartridge on other models. Ink
cartridges vary from being four-coloured cartridges i.e. three
colours plus black, tri-coloured and single black. Whilst some
printers use single ink tanks for each colour and you replace
the colour that has run out. Ink tanks are cheaper to replace
than those cartridges with combined ink and print heads. High
volume black text work is better suited for laser printers.
However, if its colour graphics or photographs you require, then
a top quality inkjet printer would be the choice.

There are a number of other aspects to consider when purchasing
a printer, which may sway your choice between inkjet or laser.

Multifunction These types of printers are often called 3 in 1,
but are also referred to as MFP, and are made up of a printer,
scanner and copier. Many of the new style MFP’s usually have a
fax machine facility incorporated into them. This type of
printer saves space over the need for three or four separate
devices.

Resolution Resolution or DPI determines the print quality of the
work being produced. This refers to the number of dots per inch
that appear on the page. These are usually represented by the
horizontal and vertical measurements 600 x 300 dpi. 600 DPI is
considered to be an adequate level for printing of common
documents that contain text and a small images. Quality photo
printing results require higher levels of DPI, with a mid range
Epson photo printer capable of up to 5760 x 1440 dpi.

Print Speed Speed relates to the number of pages printed per
minute. These ratings can help to measure the performance
between different models. Mono laser printers are far quicker
than inkjet printers when it comes to printing black text work.

Duty Cycle This is the maximum amount of prints the printer can
handle per month. Therefore, you need to choose a printer with a
duty cycle that can handle your printing needs to ensure a
longer life for the printer itself.

Connection Interface This refers to how the printer is connected
to a PC, Notebook, or Laptop. Most come with a USB connection,
some come with Infrared I/O ports which caters for wireless
printing and others have in built Ethernet connections allowing
the printer to be networked amongst several users. It’s
important to check which connections are available on the
printer to match your printing needs.

Print Media This describes the type of material the printer can
print on. It can range from normal A4 paper, photographic paper
of varying sizes and coatings, envelopes, card, transparencies,
printable surface CD’s or DVD’s and transfer paper.

Duplexing This allows for double sided printing, great for
producing booklets and cutting down on paper usage. This
technology is only available with a laser printer.

Card Slots This allows printing direct from a camera’s memory
card and you can view which picture you want to print via a
small monitor built into the printer. Card slots are most
commonly found on inkjet printers

Footprint This is the space taken up by the size of a printer.
Need to ask yourself if it will fit into the workspace area you
have available for it.

Running costs The most common mistake people make when buying a
printer is not checking the price of the ink or toner cartridges
for it first. The cost of cartridges can vary tremendously
between different makes/brands (and even between different
printers of the same brand). Before committing to purchasing a
printer check the prices of the cartridges by contacting
specialist ink and toner cartridge retailers, they will give you
the best prices and are more likely to offer cheaper compatibles
as well as OEM products.

Considering all of the above factors will help you make a more
informed decision which printers are best suited for your needs
and whether capable of performing tasks you require.

The final consideration is budget. Once you have found a number
of printers that are capable of performing all of the tasks you
require, you then need to filter the list to the ones that fit
your budget. A good idea would be to compare similar equipped
printers amongst three to four vendors to get the best priced
deal. by: Gareth Preddy