Are you in the market for a new printer? With such a huge variety of models in the market, it can be difficult to figure out which one is right for your needs. It is not an inexpensive item that you can replace right away due to which you don’t want to make a mistake. To make sure you don’t regret your selection, there are a few things you can keep in mind before you invest in a printer. What are they? Let’s take a look at them:
- Stay in budget
There is considerable variation in the cost of printers. Obviously, you don’t want to spend more than you can afford on a printer. However, the problem with budgeting for a printer is that you have to consider a lot of other expenses, not just the upfront cost of the device itself. For instance, the ink requires replacement frequently and you need to consider its cost as well. It is a common occurrence for the cheapest printers to have the most costly ink; that’s how the manufacturers make money. Therefore, it is best for you to do some research online. The price of the replacement cartridges should be similar to other models at the same price point.
- Type of ink
You can find three configurations of ink cartridges. There are two ink cartridges where one is a black cartridge and the second is an all-in-one color cartridge. The second configuration is referred to as the CMYK color model as it has four ink cartridges. One of these is black and the other three are cyan, magenta and yellow. The third option is that of inkwells where the printer draws ink from refillable and large wells instead of cartridges. Laser printers is also an option, which use toner rather than cartridges and can produce crisper and sharper images. Your use of the printer will determine what kind of printer cartridges work for you.
- Print quality
While you can get the best quality with laser printers, they are quite expensive and have high running costs. An inkjet is more suitable for home or small businesses, but the quality of the printout will vary for every printer. Consider the quality of the ink, the printer’s driver and the design of the printhead as they all affect print quality.
- Print speed
It can be frustrating to wait for a printer to print the required document. Print speed can be an important factor to keep in mind if you do a lot of printing. This speed can be measured in pages per minute (PPM) and it will vary for text and images. The PPM rating on the box usually tells how many pages of text it can print in a minute.
- Additional features
Printers are not just restricted to printing. There are all-in-one devices that can also copy, scan and also send faxes. These might be a bit more costly, but the extra features are worth the additional expense. Manufacturers may also add some special features, such as web apps.
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