Printers - Everything You Need to Know
When it comes to printers, there is lot of choice as a customer. However, if you do not know what you're looking for or don't know where to look, it might not help you. Same printer is usually available from various retailers(online,local) and believe it or not, price can vary as much as 50% from one store to other. So it makes a lot of sense to do your homework before you spend your hard earned money.
First of all, you need to have some understanding of various types of technologies available in printers and how it could help your needs. For example if you use your printer for occasional letter prints, there is absolutely no reason to go out and buy a $1,000 office grade printer. Also, don't buy a printer with features that you would never use in real world. It is even more important since you're paying for every extra feature your printer would have. Another important thing to remember is the photo printing capabilities. While most printers claim to print real life pictures, they do not tell you how much you'll have to spent on ink. Printer ink is fairly expensive item and instead of printing them home, getting your digital pictures printed at your local grocery store is probably a better idea.
Also remember that there are printers that are "network ready" and some have wireless features. If a printer a network ready, you can hook it up to your network and print from multiple computers connected to the same network. This is a great feature if you intend to use this printer at your business with multiple workstations.
 
Also, "wireless capable" printers offer ease of connection and location. It makes sense if you have a wireless network or plan to have one. You can locate you printer anywhere in your home and business and send your prints using a wireless routers and card.
To start, let's discuss what kind of printers are available and how do they compare in price, performance and quality.
Laser Printers
As you can tell by the name itself, these printers use a light beam(laser) to transfer images to paper. Laser printers print a full page at a time. A laser is used to ‘paint’ the dots of light onto a photographic drum or belt. The toner is applied to the drum or belt and then transferred onto the paper. toner is usually known as printer ink. Laser printers are usually faster and thus better suited for high volume operations. They also cost more due to the technology they use. You can buy a single function(printing only) as well as multifunction such as copy, print, scan and tax laser printer.
These printers can produce color and black-and-white prints. They also offer networking, two sided printing and on board memory to store document before printing. One of the best feature of laser printer is "instant-on" that means first page is printed without a warm up period.
Laser printers also make lot more sense if you have high volume printing requirement. For example, if you're going to print at least 1,000 pages a month, in long run, it will be lot cheaper to deploy a laser printer. |
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Inkjet printers
Inkjet printer usually produce a print by applying liquid ink on to the paper and then applying electric charge to a rolling drum. These are most common types of printer. Inkjet printer are usually found at homes and small businesses. They can print finer,smoother details through higher print head resolution, and many inkjet printers with photorealistic-quality color printing are widely available. Inkjets are also available with single-function and multifunction features. They are ideal for everyday printing and simple photo printing at home. They are usually smaller in size as compared to laser printers. Some of the newest inkjet printers have memory slots, so that you can print your pictures directly from the printer without a PC. They also offer a small display area(like viewfinder LCD screen in a digital camera) for editing and viewing a picture before printing.
All-in-One Printers
This does not relate to a technology but to the features. These printers are laser as well as inkjet. The main reason these are called "all-in-ones" is because they can print,copy,scan as well as send and receive a fax.
They replace multiple equipment in your home or office and can offer great value. However, remember that they will still use the same technology to perform the function. For example, they need to be connected to a phone line to use fax feature and work just like a fax machine. They can be expensive due to the fact that they can accomplish multiple tasks. Even if you don't use the fax feature, they can still be a great value due to the fact that they can offer copy and scan features.
Regardless of your final decision, you have to consider your printing needs 3-4 years down the road to be able to get best value for your money. Also, remember, don;t pay for the features you're not going to use in immediate future. Chances are, there will be better features at lot cheaper prices in future. |
