With so many printers on the market today, it can be hard to know exactly which is going to be the right choice for you. Have you wondered whether you need one that prints in color, and black and white, or will just black and white be enough? Does it have to be able to print photos, or will a printer that just gives you a clear and legible text, be enough? There are a lot of things to think about inkjet-printers.
What follows is five key things that you're going to need to think about before going out and spending your hard earned cash; after all, you don't want to be paying out for features that you're never actually going to use, do you?
1: What do you need your printer for?
This is a question that seems so simple to start with, but doesn't always end up being that way, for instance; you may have started up a small business, and decide that you need to send invoices out to your clients. So you only need a black and white printer, right?
Well, no; it has been claimed that people actually pay their accounts quicker, if they get a color invoice. Surprising, right? As you continue on with your business you may discover that other things can be printed out in color that are going to be of benefit to you i.e. you may not have enough money to hire a professional printer, but you may need some color business cards, or brochures printed to impress your first client, and secure the funding that will let you hire a professional printer.
A similar thing applies at home, too. You may have decided that you only want to print out emails and other documents; but what about those photos you took? What about the school project that needs to be completed and a color presentation could make the difference to those grades?
See how difficult it is to know from the start, and decide on what functions you're going to need?
2: To get a multifunction printer or not?
This, too, can be a tricky decision, and here's why.
Most printers will have some multifunction features, but do you really need them all? Some people decide that buying individual items is the best idea, and that could stem back to a time when computer peripherals weren't quite as reliable as they are now, and you could often end up with one of the functions stopping, but the rest working perfectly. So what would you do?
Would you get rid of the printer if it still prints perfectly, but the scanner has stopped working? Or would you live with it and just do without a scanner? Having one machine that can do multiple things is great, until it stops being able to do some of those things.
If you've figured out what you really need the printer for, then think about getting one that does only the things that you need; it could end up working out to be a cheaper and wiser choice.
3: The budget
Although printers have clearly become a lot cheaper than they have been in the past, you should still have a budget when deciding which one you want to buy.
If you have a low budget then you can instantly cross off the high end printers, probably the laser printers, and some of the multifunction printers. You may have to take the cost of the ink into consideration when you first buy, too. You won't always get a full cartridge of ink with it, so you may well be looking for a refill sooner than you thought; so take that into account when setting the budget, and making the final decision.
4: The ink
This follows on quite nicely from number 3, and it's something that's often over looked. Many people rush into their purchase, without taking the time to work out just how much it's going to cost them to run the printer that they're going to buy; and that can add a huge amount to the actual purchase price.
Have you looked at the cost of buying new genuine (OEM) printer cartridges? It wouldn't be too surprising if you haven't, but you may find that most original cartridges are more expensive that the printer itself; that may sound odd, but it does happen. So, how do you avoid that mistake? The best way to do it is to find out if you can get high quality compatible or remanufactured cartridges; it will save you a lot of money.
Do you know how many cartridges the new printer takes? Some use three color cartridges to make up black printing, and others have a black cartridge as well as the color cartridges. If you have just the color cartridges, and will be printing in black quite often, you may have to get new color cartridges far more often than you would if you have a separate black cartridge; and the color cartridges aren't cheap to buy.
Check out the cost of new genuine cartridges, and then compare them with the high quality compatible inks and toner cartridges, this may just sway your decision on the printer you were thinking of buying.
What follows is five key things that you're going to need to think about before going out and spending your hard earned cash; after all, you don't want to be paying out for features that you're never actually going to use, do you?
1: What do you need your printer for?
This is a question that seems so simple to start with, but doesn't always end up being that way, for instance; you may have started up a small business, and decide that you need to send invoices out to your clients. So you only need a black and white printer, right?
Well, no; it has been claimed that people actually pay their accounts quicker, if they get a color invoice. Surprising, right? As you continue on with your business you may discover that other things can be printed out in color that are going to be of benefit to you i.e. you may not have enough money to hire a professional printer, but you may need some color business cards, or brochures printed to impress your first client, and secure the funding that will let you hire a professional printer.
A similar thing applies at home, too. You may have decided that you only want to print out emails and other documents; but what about those photos you took? What about the school project that needs to be completed and a color presentation could make the difference to those grades?
See how difficult it is to know from the start, and decide on what functions you're going to need?
2: To get a multifunction printer or not?
This, too, can be a tricky decision, and here's why.
Most printers will have some multifunction features, but do you really need them all? Some people decide that buying individual items is the best idea, and that could stem back to a time when computer peripherals weren't quite as reliable as they are now, and you could often end up with one of the functions stopping, but the rest working perfectly. So what would you do?
Would you get rid of the printer if it still prints perfectly, but the scanner has stopped working? Or would you live with it and just do without a scanner? Having one machine that can do multiple things is great, until it stops being able to do some of those things.
If you've figured out what you really need the printer for, then think about getting one that does only the things that you need; it could end up working out to be a cheaper and wiser choice.
3: The budget
Although printers have clearly become a lot cheaper than they have been in the past, you should still have a budget when deciding which one you want to buy.
If you have a low budget then you can instantly cross off the high end printers, probably the laser printers, and some of the multifunction printers. You may have to take the cost of the ink into consideration when you first buy, too. You won't always get a full cartridge of ink with it, so you may well be looking for a refill sooner than you thought; so take that into account when setting the budget, and making the final decision.
4: The ink
This follows on quite nicely from number 3, and it's something that's often over looked. Many people rush into their purchase, without taking the time to work out just how much it's going to cost them to run the printer that they're going to buy; and that can add a huge amount to the actual purchase price.
Have you looked at the cost of buying new genuine (OEM) printer cartridges? It wouldn't be too surprising if you haven't, but you may find that most original cartridges are more expensive that the printer itself; that may sound odd, but it does happen. So, how do you avoid that mistake? The best way to do it is to find out if you can get high quality compatible or remanufactured cartridges; it will save you a lot of money.
Do you know how many cartridges the new printer takes? Some use three color cartridges to make up black printing, and others have a black cartridge as well as the color cartridges. If you have just the color cartridges, and will be printing in black quite often, you may have to get new color cartridges far more often than you would if you have a separate black cartridge; and the color cartridges aren't cheap to buy.
Check out the cost of new genuine cartridges, and then compare them with the high quality compatible inks and toner cartridges, this may just sway your decision on the printer you were thinking of buying.
