What to Look For in a New Printer

After seven or eight years of service, my parents' printer died last week.  Printers have become such an inexpensive piece of equipment that it is often easy to negotiate for a free printer when you purchase a new computer.  However, with advertisers always pushing the next "big" feature as a must-have, selecting the right printer for your needs can be difficult.  Since my parents are currently making a decision on a new printer, I thought it would be a good time to review some factors to select the right printer.  Here are a few factors to consider:

1) Stand-alone printer vs. All-in-one - Many printers today serve as a printer, fax machine, scanner, and copier.  If you need all of these devices, purchasing an all-in-one printer will be cheaper than purchasing each separately.  However, you will lose some of the ability to choose the features you get in each device by purchasing them all together.  For home use, I would recommend an all-in-one if you need copying and scanning ability, but for businesses, I would recommend purchasing each item separately unless you need to save money.

2) Laser vs. Inkjet - Laser printers have come down in price over the last few years, so they are now affordable for a home user.  Laser printers offer a clearer print job, faster speed, and lower maintenance cost, but they remain more expensive than inkjet printers.  Laser printers will also require more maintenance than an inkjet printer.  For most home users, an inkjet printer will still be the best option.

3) Photo Printers - If you will be printing a lot of photos, you will want to invest in a printer designed for photo printing.  These printers will cost much more, but will be optimized for printing large amounts of color onto many different types of paper at a high quality.

4) Color Ink - The ink cartridges that a printer uses are very important.  Many manufacturers will combine the three colors (blue, cyan, and magenta) into one cartridge.  While this makes replacing them easy, it also means you have to throw out two partially-used colors when the third runs out.  I recommend sticking with a printer that has four separate color cartridges.

5) Ink Consumption - The cost of the printer itself will be extremely small in comparison to the cost of the ink you will use over its lifetime.  Most manufacturers will list an average number of pages that can be printed with each cartridge.  For example, when I look up my ink cartridge, the page states "Prints up to 190 pages."  It would be a very good idea to do a cost-per-page comparison for each printer you are considering.  The difference in cost may be enough to sway your decision.

6) Printing from the Couch - In today's multiple-device world, it is not uncommon to want to print something from your smartphone or tablet.  If your printer only connects via USB cable, this will range from difficult and expensive to impossible.  But many printers can now print via Wi-Fi.  The exact setup may differ, but it is usually relatively easy to setup wireless printing.  Once you have set up your printer, most devices can be programmed to print to it.  For homes and businesses with smartphones, tablets, and laptops, wireless printing may be worth a little extra money.