Printer Buying: Making the Right Choice

As a university student who often finds himself in need of a printer so the assignments and project reports can be printed on time, I have to say that printers are among the most necessary components that you can buy for your home or for your office use.

This is not something that you are going to use once and forget about it. As a matter of fact, you will need to use the printer time and again simply because the need for something exists, and happens to be there, as well.

It is true that getting the best laser printer or an inkjet printer is not difficult as the market will grace you with countless options that you can choose from. However, if this is your first time buying a printer or you are not familiar with how things work, you are going to need some assistance.

That is why we are going to guide you through and help you buy the best possible printer available in the market.

Deciding Between Inkjet and Laser Printers

One of the main things that you need to decide is whether you are going to go with an inkjet printer or a laser printer. For those who are unaware, the color inkjet printers are available at large in the market and are always in huge demand. Why? Simply because they are able to print almost everything that you can think of. These printers are fas and offer print speeds that actually match, or move past the print speed of your normal laser printers.

On the other hand, laser printers are still good for most use cases, especially the ones that revolve around monochrome printing. You can easily buy a good monochrome laser printer for cheap, however, if you are looking to get a color laser printer, you will have to spend a little extra in order to get that.

If you are looking for something for home use, a simple color inkjet printer, or even a good all-in-one is often all you need. A laser printer, on the other hand, is much suitable for the office environments where it is going to be used a lot throughout the day.

Are You Going to Print Photos?

If you are not in the mind to print school assignments or other similar things and you are looking for something that can print photos, the, in that case, going for a dedicated printer that is only made for printing photos might be the right option to go with. These printers are definitely better in terms of the image quality, however, their specialty is only printing photos, so you should definitely keep that in mind.

You can see one sitting at a photographer’s office as well.

Do Keep the Supply Costs in Mind

Another thing that most people overlook is the supply costs. After all, you are going to use the printer to print stuff, and sooner or later, it is going to require a new cartridge. In such situations, you really need to make sure that you keep the supply cost in mind.

You should be going with a printer that does not have that high of a supply cost. Because more often than not, some of the printers are really expensive to keep running, and people simply give up on them. This is not what you should be going with.

Do You Want Double Sided Printing

One of the most common technologies happens to be double-sided printing. This is also called duplex printing, and it works really wonderfully as it helps you to save paper, as well. Duplex printers are obviously more expensive than the standard ones, but in the end, the benefits far outweigh the price you are going to pay for this printer.

Networking Options

These days, networking has become one of the most important things there is. So much so that it has found its way into the printers as well. Whenever you are buying a printer, you will see how each one of them offers multiple connectivity options including USB ports and other options such as networking capabilities.

I believe the feature of networking is great because you can wirelessly print your documents using WiFi or NFC. This is certainly going to drive up the cost, but the good thing is that you will be able to print whatever you want with a lot of conveniences.

Different Paper Options

Every printer you will find in the market will have support for 8.5 x 11-inch paper. However, what happens when you need a printer that can print paper like legal envelopes, index cards, or some other types of paper?

Thankfully, the market has a lot of printers that come with dedicated trays for such paper types. Sure, you are going to end up paying more than you initially planned to pay, but these printers will make it ideal for you to print whatever you want, and that too, without any issues that might come in the way.

Do Check for Speed and Resolution

I know this is something that most people overlook and forget about but printers do come with their own printing speed, as well as the resolution at which they will be printing. I know this is something that many people might not even care about but in reality, it can make your whole experience a lot better or worse based on what decision you make.

If you are spending a good amount of money on a printer, always make sure that whatever you go with has a fast printing speed as well as a higher overall resolution. So, you do not have to worry about your prints taking long, or your prints coming out blurry.

Conclusion

Buying your first printer can be a difficult task. Especially when you realize that you have to pick the right printer from a sea of options available to you. That is why we want to make things easier for you with this buying guide.

You can easily get the most out of the money you have if you simply follow this guide. We can assure you that there will be no issues in buying the best printer available.