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 MFPs 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. Its 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 CDs or DVDs 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 cameras 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.