New York, NY – At Castle Ink, we strive to gather and provide for you the most complete advice possible when it comes to buying a printer and consider all perspectives. PrinterComparison.com’s Sarah Meyer today offered in a column a list of 10 questions to ask when it comes to buying a printer. We offer below our take on these items and summarize them for your convenience.
How much are you willing/able to spend on a printer? This is probably the single most important question to determine before you go off to the store and buy a printer. Make sure that you do your research and know what features you get in each price range. There are deals on printers practically every week in circulars and almost constantly on Amazon.com. Also, when manufacturers bring out a new model, sometimes the model its replacing goes on deep discount.
How much do you have to pay for consumables? This question probably comes in a very close second to the first one. Consumables can be your friend or your enemy depending on the cost. The less money the printer costs you, the more the consumables will. If you need to print in color, consider a printer with separate ink cartridges for each color so they don’t have to be replaced all the time.
Do you need a multifunction printer? If you work from home, run a small business or both, chances are the answer is yes. This is especially true with how much multifunction printers have come down in price. Also, it is important to note that an AIO (all-in-one) or MFP (multi-function printer) is the same thing.
If the answer to Question 3 was yes, how do you find the right one? The short answer to this is somewhat a combination of Questions 2 and 3, where you have to watch the price of the consumables in conjunction with the functionality you are getting. Also, since every multifunction will have the ability to scan and copy in addition to printing, do you need the ability to fax or print high quality photos?
Do you need to be able to print wirelessly? Many printers these days, whether they are single-function or MFP/AIO devices offer users the ability to print wirelessly over their home high-speed network. If you have a multiple computers in the house, chances are you have a router that handles the connections and printing from either would be convenient. One may find similar models, like the HP Officejet 6500 and the 6500 Wireless which have a $50 price difference. If you weren’t aware, you can still print wirelessly, as long as the printer exists on the same network as your laptop.
Do you need to be able to print in color? All inkjet printers print in color, the only difference is if they have a tri-color cartridge or individual tanks. That is not the case with laser printers or LED printers. Those models are definitely more expensive than their monochrome counterparts, but the overall cost per page will be less than most inkjets.
If you want color, ask, do you need to be able to or want to print high-quality photos? While color lasers and LED are costly, the quality of photos on them is, for the most part, nowhere close to the quality you get with an inkjet. However, if you want to print photos on an inkjet, you also need to pony up the money to buy the appropriate paper. Plain paper won’t cut it, and you will waste both paper and ink. As a final note, if you do print photos, the best results will always come from paper that is the same brand as your paper. For more about printing photos, you can read our article here as a primer.
How green of a printer can I get? Ms. Meyer splits this across two questions, but we will try and be succinct and do it in one. If you want to get a printer that is also good for the environment, try and find one that is EnergyStar and RoHS compliant. For what it’s worth, for all of the research and digging we have done when it comes to printers, most if not all printers these days are going to fall into one or both of these categories. Lexmark, for one, has had their products certified here, and also as Blue Angel products (a European equivalent). It is also possible to buy a printer whose maker will take it back and recycle it for you when it no longer works or you get a new one. Anther option you can look for that are considered “green” is if your printer can duplex pages (print on both sides) either manually or automatically. Either is fine, but manual duplexing takes a little more effort.
What other features can I get with the printer? This is largely dependent on the type of printer that you purchase. Ms. Meyer states that “Every printer comes with a starter kit of ink/toner (at least the ones that I’ve come across).” While that has been the case with a good number of printers we have encountered, we have found a decent number come with full cartridges. It would seem like there is a movement, whether out of mercy or competition, more companies are providing full cartridges with the purchase of a printer. While you are at the store, you may want to go ahead and get some spare cartridges anyways. Another thing you may purchase, if you are a business owner, could be additional trays to hold more paper, or a network or Wi-Fi adapter if that is not among the default setup.
We hope you find these tips useful. Be sure and check out our printer reviews to get an inside scoop on how they stack up.
