Scaled Down Questions to Ask Yourself Before Buying a Printer
Date: June 21, 2010
New York, NY -- PC World’s website recently featured an entry with simple shopping tips for printers. We have mentioned these all before in one way or another, but as another reminder this is a quick and dirty checklist to run through before investing.
Question 1: Color vs. monochrome
Before investing in a color printer, think about how often you will print in color. If you mainly print text documents, then a color printer is probably overkill. However, if you like to or need to print photos, then you will definitely need a color printer. We recommend buying one with individual ink cartridges if possible and also those that have high-yield cartridges.
Question 2: Inkjet vs. Laser/LED
While any laser printer may be great at printing quick and sharp text, most will not do well with photos. A phrase we see over and over in printer reviews is “…photos did not print badly for a laser”. Many inkjets are getting closer to laser quality text, but really only a laser is a laser.
Question 3: Single function vs. MFP/AIO
While there is a certain convenience in having multiple devices built into the same machine, if you never use them, then you have wasted your money. A simple single-function printer will cost you less than $50 these days. That said, a low level MFPs can be had for not much more, especially when they go on sale. For that price, the convenience of having those functions can almost be justified, even if they are used infrequently.
Question 4: What is your average monthly print volume?
How many pages you print a day will also dictate what type of printer you should buy. If you print less than 10 or so pages per day, then you don’t likely need an input tray larger than 100 sheets. If you end up printing more than 10 pages per day on a consistent basis, you definitely want a printer with both a decent-sized input tray and output tray. Printing volumes that exceed 100 pages, a larger input tray is imperative.
Question 5: What are you willing to spend on ink?
Almost the single, most universal truth when it comes to printers: the less you spend on the printer, the more you will spend on the ink. For this reason, look for a printer that has high-yield options for its cartridges. These can lower the costs per page a decent bit and make the price of ink almost palatable.
