Five Things to Know When Buying a New Printer

Computers are used more than ever in offices around the world, but that doesn't mean that printing documents has become unnecessary. Printers and printing supplies are now in high demand, since frequent printing means frequent printer servicing. This applies to both home and business use. Today's printers offer a lot of features - high resolution photo printing, multi-function printer/scanning/faxing, digital memory card readers and much more. But before you make a decision, there are some basic considerations that you need to think about. First is the long-term cost of the printer. You can buy a very good color printer for well under $100 these days but the catch is most of these inexpensive models have costly 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. The printer may not seem like such a good deal when you have to buy a new set of ink after printing 40 or 50 pages. Next, consider the cost of the black cartridge. Most people print much more black and white than they do color. Some printers have considerably larger black cartridges than others, and if you do a lot of black printing the larger cartridges can save you a lot of money in the long run. 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.