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Printer Tips
Tips for choosing the right printer
The price of laser printers and inkjet
printers is making headline news these days. You can buy a laser
printer for under $100, an inkjet printer under $50. So, maybe it is
time to buy a new printer now, but which type and model of printer is good
for you?
Here is a short list of things to
consider before you make your purchase decision:
1. Your need - what do you do with your
printer? printing photos? documents? artwork? How many pages do you need
to print each month? If you want to print a lot of photos, you should
consider the photo printers. The color output and printing quality are
much better than the standard color inkjet printers. Laser printer is
usually not good for printing photos but it is good for printing lot of
documents.
2. Printer price - what is your budget?
With the steep drop of printer price, you will have a lot of choices for
under $100.
3. Functionality - if you are buying a
photo printer, do you want it to be compatible with your digital camera so
you can download the photos directly from the camera's memory card without
connecting to your PC?
4. Resolution - printing quality
at different settings (draft, normal, fine). Photos and artwork
would obviously require a high resolution.
5. Printing speed - how many pages
of photos/documents can it print per minutes?
6. Printer drivers and software
support - does the printer manufacturer provide good technical support
including easy to install printer drivers, free software?
7. Noise level - can the printer
run quietly? It is also an indication of printer quality.
8. Cartridge design - if you are
buying a color inkjet printer, does the printer use one color cartridge
for all colors or does it use separate color cartridges? Using
separate color cartridge means that you only need to replace one color
cartridge if that color runs out of ink. It may save you money in
the long run.
9. Print output - how many pages
can each cartridge print? High yield cartridges are obviously better.
It saves both cartridge expenses and reduce cartridge waste (good for the
environment)
10. Printer head and cartridge
design - some printer cartridges have smart chips installed or printer
head incorporated. This makes it impossible to recycle / refill the
original cartridges or use compatible replacement cartridges.
11. Taking pts 8, 9 and 10 into
consideration, estimate your printer cost. If your cartridge is low
yield and you are forced to buy expensive genuine name brand replacement
cartridges, the printing cost can be substantial over a short period of
time.
Remember the price of printer is a
fixed, one time investment, but buying replacement cartridges is a
variable, continuous expense. So don't just look at the price tag of a new
printer, consider other variables. Having the flexibility of using
different types of printer cartridges (such as the remanufactured or
compatible cartridges, refill kits) is a clear advantage for users with a
tight budget.
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