Any office or home computer seems to be imperfect without a printer. Especially when your work includes a lot of paperwork, a printer is an essential need. Now when you are to buy a printer, you must wonder which one to buy. There are a lot of brands and types of printers that may perplex you even more. Before you buy one, consider the extra costs such as Ink refill costs along with the printer you are to buy. Good Inkjet cartridges, both for colored and black and white printers, give the true quality of the print. Other than the extra costs, you need to keep a few more points in your mind before you buy a printer;
• First ask yourself for what reason you need a printer. If your work doesn’t concern a lot of graphics and pictures, you shouldn’t select the color printers at all. In the same way, there are other two sub branches of color printers; ones that are designed for color photos and others that are regular. Although the regular one will print the photos but its resolution will be highly affected.
• The next thing you have to check is the print quality. The print quality is measured in DPI i.e. dots per inch. The more the DPI, the lesser grains will be seen. The photo inkjet will have a higher DPI than the regular one. Choose the one with lesser DPI if you do not intend to print many photos.
• You also have to look at the paper handling characteristics. A good printer can handle different types of papers such as in letters, cards and envelopes.
• Next you have to check the speed. Midrange inkjet printers can print up to 14-17 pages per minute. However if you are searching for photo inkjet printers, you do not have to emphasize on time. Photo printers normally take more time per print. Printers that have more DPI normally take more time and work slower than the rest.
• When you have to select the ink cartridges you should never select those combined cartridges as they require replacement as soon as any one of the colors is finished. Select those separate cartridges for each color.
• Next, check the connection types. Nowadays it is mostly USB cable, which you‘ll have to buy exclusive of the printer. A built in wireless connection will be better if you are going to share the printer among all the computers in your house or office.
• If you are choosing ‘free-after-rebate’ printers, make sure you examine the kind of replacement cartridges it uses. To get a good idea of the cost per page, divide the page capacity with the cost of the cartridge. This way you can be sure that your cartridge is not more expensive than the printer itself.
• Before you buy the printer, take out a sample of the print. Test the printer right there where you buy it from. Check for the picture and print resolution before you purchase it.
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