Tips For Buying A New Printer

Despite the “paperless office” that was supposed to be introduced by the common use of computers, today it is being printed more than ever.

And that means printers and their supplies need to be replaced fairly regularly, whether you’re printing at home or at a business.

Today’s printers offer many features: high resolution photo printing, multifunction printer / scan / fax, digital memory card readers, and much more. But before making a decision, there are some basic considerations to think about.

First is the long-term cost of the printer. You can buy a really good color printer for less than $ 200 these days, but the problem is that most of these inexpensive models have expensive ink cartridges.

If you are thinking of buying an inexpensive printer, find out how much it costs to replace the ink and if there are generic or refilled cartridges available for it.

Second, find out if the printer you are considering includes full-size ink cartridges. Many of today’s printers come with “starter” inks that contain much less ink than a standard cartridge.

The printer might not look as good if you have to buy a new ink set after printing 40 or 50 pages.

Next, consider the cost of the black cartridge. Most people print much more in black and white than in color. Some printers have considerably larger black cartridges than others, and if you print a lot in black, the larger cartridges can save you a lot of money in the long run.

Fourth, consider what kinds of things you will print. If you want to be able to print your own digital photos, you have to look at one of the many photo printers on the market.

However, if you are not printing photos, photo printers generally cost more to operate than other options. You may be better off with a laser printer that has considerably lower operating costs than inkjet ones.

Lastly, think about whether you really need all those extra features like faxing, scanning, photocopying, etc. It sounds great to have all of these options, but most people rarely, if ever, use them.

And consider the cost of these other features as well. Do you really want to make copies at home that could cost between $ 0.50 to $ 0.60 per page when you can get them for 5 to 10 cents at your local copy store?