Printers Buying Guide

Your options

There are two main types of printer: laser printers and ink jets. Laser printers literally use lasers to fuse text and images on to paper, while inkjets fire tiny jets of ink at the page. Lasers print much faster than inkjets and their text printing tends to look much crisper. However, pictures don’t look nearly as good as proper photographs – they’re all dull and matte.

If you want good photos then an inkjet is the way to go. The tiny drops of ink get absorbed into glossy paper leaving you with photos that look, well, just like normal photos. However, text, especially on cheaper models, can look a bit 'spidery' and broken with stray ink drops sullying pure white backgrounds. In recent years, though, performance has improved here.

Whether you choose a laser or an inkjet, you must then choose either a 'standalone' printer or an 'All-In-One' (also known as a Multi Function Device or MFD). A standalone printer is just that... a printer and nothing else. However, an All-In-One has a scanner (for transferring documents and pictures to your computer), a photocopier and usually a fax built in.

That’s printers at their simplest for you. But there’s more you should know before buying.

Inkjet printers

A few years ago, printer quality was hugely hit and miss: the difference between a good model and a bad model was enormous. Now, however, so long as you’re not buying bargain bucket models, your printer should be able to print good text and great photographs. But there are still several things to watch out for.

First off, printer manufacturers make their money from selling ink, not the printers themselves. Once you’ve bought a printer, you’re encouraged by the manufacturer to use their own brand ink, a new set of which can cost more than the printer did originally. So buying a super cheap printer can be a false economy: new ink will quickly cost more than buying a better, more-economical printer would have in the first place.

It’s also well worth buying an All-In-One rather than a standalone. The extra features cost very little extra these days and the print engine inside is identical to standalones. All modern all-in-ones can act as a photocopier (although cheap ones may need to be plugged into a computer to operate). Some – usually expensive, office-oriented models – will have a fax built in. Some models (especially those made by Canon) have 'duplex' units built-in which means that the printer will automatically print on both sides of a piece of paper without you having to print out even and odd numbered pages separately.

Other All-In-Ones may have a full colour screen and memory card readers. These will let you print pictures from your camera’s memory card without needing to pass it through your computer first

Cheap ink cartridges

With the price of printer ink so high, it’s often tempting to refill old cartridges or buy the cheaper 'compatible' ink cartridges that are made by other companies. Manufacturers invariably hate this as it robs them of potential profits. However, there are some things to be aware of. Printers are designed to work with specific types of ink and there’s a lot of chemistry that goes into producing each one. By using a different ink you’ll often get spillages, smudging and a lot of wasted paper. In every case, photographs will fade much quicker because manufacturer’s paper and ink are chemically matched.

But many people still find a brand that gives them satisfactory results and if it works for you then great. Just keep in mind that it can be a warranty-busting major false-economy if it all goes wrong.

Photo printing

Photos are heavily influenced by the type of ink and paper a printer uses. Photos will fade badly if you don’t use each manufacturer’s best (and most expensive) ink and glossy paper and colours can run at a sniff of moisture.

Other photo printers include small portable models, which are great for basic 15cm x 20cm fun snaps, and larger format printers: anything larger than A3 you probably wouldn’t want in your house!

Laser printers

Many people buy mono laser printers rather than colour as here, the cost difference can be sizeable. Unlike inkjets’ ink cartridges, laser printers’ ‘toner’ cartridges are much bigger. Consequently fitting three extra colour toner cartridges into a laser printer makes it much bigger, which may be an issue. Small mono lasers are a great way to print out lengthy documents though - they’re fast, offer great quality text and cost less per page than they would using an inkjet.

Some lasers are now capable of printing passable photographs which even look glossy (Epson and HP in particular) which can be good for including occasional pictures in documents. You should check what your prospective printer can do before buying, however, as laser photo reproduction is wildly variable and irrespective of price.

A final note is running costs. As a general rule: more expensive printers cost less to run while cheap printers cost more to run. If you’re printing a lot of pages, check the cost per page as buying a cheap model can prove a hugely-false economy what with the high price of toner.

Multifunction centres

These all in one units combine a printer with a scanner. They can be used for scanning in documents, rudimentary photocopying and for printing. Some models will also include a telephone, answering machine and fax functionality, which is an important consideration for those working in industries that still rely upon faxes as a major means of communication. MFCs come in both inkjet and laser based models, and the same rules as above apply to which is right for you.

On the network

A key thing to keep in mind when buying a printer is how it connects to your network. A wired network connection is common nowadays, but some models will have wireless connectivity, which is useful if you need to place the printer away from your main office area. Connecting your printer to the network rather than your PC has many benefits, but you'll need to make sure you have a spare port on your router. You'll also need a Cat 6 network cable to connect the printer to the router, or a suitable USB cable if you are connecting direct to your PC (most printers do not ship with these cables).

Cost per page

Compared to laser printers, inkjet replacement cartridges are more affordable, although they do not yield as many printed pages per cartridge. In terms of pages per cartridge, inkjet printer users are looking in the vicinity of hundreds of pages, while laser printer users would expect to yield thousands.

Of course, there are some other important factors to take into account before making a decision on which printer technology you’d like to purchase. If you don’t regularly use your printer then an inkjet printer is a fantastic choice. If you’re churning out dozens of pages a day, then a laser printer will get the job done. Also, consider the type of printing you’d like to do. For black and white printing (e.g. documents and spreadsheets) and photo reproduction, an inkjet printer works a treat. For high-volume colour printing, particularly for brochures and newsletters that’s not necessarily on paper stock, laser printers are ideal.