When looking to purchase a printer for your home or office, you need to think about what you are going to use it for and where your going to use it. Is your printer for work ? Is your printer for home use and do you want speed over quality or quality over speed ? This blog will suggest printers based on what you want to use them for.
There are many printers out there to suit what you want to use it for, some printers have built in scanners and some don’t. The types of printers you could be looking for are laser, inkjet, multifunction, all in one, photo printer or a business printer.
Laser printer
Laser printers are fast and reliable compared to an inkjet printer and can be used for a small team in the office or workplace. Laser printers have heavy cycles which is the number of pages it can print out in a given time. They are also known for good quality printing, for example, the quality of text on paper. Laser printers also have paper trays unlike the inkjet printers, where the paper stands up right, this is due to the fast printing rate. You can choose whether to have a multifunctional laser printer as well as deciding if you want colour or monochrome.
Inkjet
Inkjet printers do well when it comes to quality, they are known for printing photos at a high quality, and providing a good “all round” printing solution. Whilst they are slower than a laser printer, they can provide a more flexible solution. Ink cartridges are cheaper than a laser toner, and more flexibility if available when printing different size postcards or A5 leaflets.
In addition to these 2 types of printer, additional features are available, often dependant upon the price paid. An inkjet printer starts at as little as £19.99: however a multi function, colour laser printer can start at over £150.00
All-in-One
This feature is provided for both laser and inkjet. It means the printer not only prints, but can copy to your pc, photocopy (copy direct to a print) and in some cases, can be used as a fax machine. The All-In-One feature is the most popular style of printer sold today, and with an average cost of £60 for a inkjet, most homes can afford this option
Network or Wireless
As most homes now use laptop and wireless connectivity, a wireless or network printer is the obvious choice. Although a little more complex to setup, the lack of wires and freedom to print from a variety of devices is a popular option.
E-print / Web print
This option applies to any printer with network options. The feature allows the user to print from any device anywhere in the world. Print from your smart phone or tablet, when at home or at work. Whilst the idea of e-printing is alluring, in practice it is rarely used and home printing is on the decline.
BEWARE
Finally, what should you look out for when buying a new printer. In short, research the cost of new ink cartridges or toners for your device. A lot of new printers will not allow you to use “copy” inks, so you will need to buy the manufacturers genuine cartridges. Whilst laser toners (monotone – black only) are relatively cost effective, it is possible to buy a colour laser printer from as little as £99. However, to replace all four colours (cyan, yellow, black and Magenta), it can cost over £130.
Happy printing!!!
