Today’s wide array of printers, as well as their lowered cost make choosing which printer to buy a tough decision. To help guide your decisions, here are few of the considerations you need to take into account:
All-in-one
An all-in-one printer (printer, copier, scanner, and/or fax) is a cheaper alternative to buying separate devices and is a good idea to save room in your home office. It is noteworthy that new printers will automatically come with these added devices.
Choosing between inkjet and laser
Inkjet printers print a wide range of documents; however, do not match the clarity of laser text printing. Laser printers are quick and handle voluminous workloads, but the price of replacing the color ink toner can be prohibitive. Depending on your printing needs, it is useful to keep in mind that new generation inkjet printers have become faster with more cost effective ink cartridges.
Printer supply cost
Don’t wait until your ink dries out to research the refilling of your cartridges. Depending on your printing needs, it may be worth buying a slightly more expensive printer in order to buy into a cheaper cartridge alternative.
Networking capabilities
If you have multiple computers that will be sharing the same printer, you will need to buy a printer with network capabilities, such as the WI-Fi Direct feature which makes pairing a printer and a computer an easy process.
Two-side printing and scanning
If you factor in the price of paper in your printing needs, two-sided automatic printing may be the way to go when printing large documents.
Paper handling
Printing different paper sizes is another consideration. Your business may require you to print envelopes or documents on smaller-sized paper. Also, smaller trays will require you to feed your printer more frequently than a bigger-tray printer.
Memory Card Slots, PictBridge, and the Cloud
If printing photos is your ultimate goal, it is important to have a printer that has a memory slot, Bluetooth capabilities and/or cloud-based support.