5 Things To Know When Buying A New Printer
In spite of the “paperless office” that was supposed to be ushered in by the common use of computers, there is more printing done today than ever before. And that means that printers and their supplies have to be replaced on a fairly regular basis, whether you’re printing at home or in a business.
Modern printers boast a plethora of functions. Printers can read digital memory cards and print high resolution photos. Some multi-function printers can print, scan, and fax. It is important to consider your options before deciding on which is best for you to purchase.
Think about the expenses that will be involved in the extended use of the printer. Color printers can commonly be purchased for less than $100. Keep in mind, however, that the same low priced printers require the frequent purchase of expensive ink cartridges.
Find out the price of ink replacement on any low priced printers before making a purchase. Consider options like generic cartridges and refilling cartridges.
Second, find out whether or not the printer you’re considering includes full size ink cartridges. Many of today’s printers come with “starter” inks that have much less ink in them than a standard cartridge.
If the starter ink cartridges that come with the printer are only going to last for forty or fifty pages, a low price might not really be so low after all since you’ll need to buy new ink so quickly.
Black and white printing is more common than color printing, so check on the price of the black print cartridge. On some printer models, larger black cartridges are available and buying those could help save money over the life of the printer.
It’s also important to have in mind what your personal printing needs are. For example, if you plan to print your own photos from a digital camera, you should consider the variety of digital photo printers available on the market.
Photo printers, however, usually produce more costs than most inkjet printers. Find one that matches your needs. A laser printer costs even less to operate than the average inkjet.
Lastly, think about whether you really need all those extra features like faxing, scanning, photocopying, etc. It sounds great to have all these options, but most people rarely use them, if at all.
Finally, don’t forget to review the costs of the above mentioned features. A local copy shop that makes copies for five or ten cents might be more cost efficient than a home printer that can copy pages for an average cost of fifty cents to a dollar.
