Printer Buying Advice
We’re here to help you!
We're here to help you buy a new printer. We've got advice and information about all the latest printer. We discuss the features and specifications you need to look for, Ink Jet or Laser Jet, Photo print, traveller styles and efficiency.Over the last few years, the quality of all printers has improved massively, and prices have dropped at the same time. Understanding the fundamentals of the main features as well as the jargon will allow you to make an informed choice.
To help you decide which printer is right for you we examine the choices on offer and answer the questions you should be asking before buying.
General Thinking
You can now pick up a basic colour printer for under 40. Laser printers have also dropped in price, and you can even buy a colour laser for about 200. So, with over 1,000 printers to choose from, which is the best one for you? (NB - in this guide we are focussing on printers used in the home or small offices, rather than large corporate printers. The latter are, however, available on PriceRunner.)
Printers are usually divided into two groups - laser and inkjet. Laser, being more expensive, is traditionally associated with larger offices, whereas inkjet is for smaller businesses and home users. However, now that some colour laser printers cost less than a good inkjet, this distinction is not quite so clear-cut.
What do I use it for?
Family Printer
The family printer needs to be able to cope with printing school projects, documents for work, Christmas cards, photos from the digital camera, and so on. For this you need a versatile printer that can do just about anything, even if a little slowly. You should budget between 50 and 200 for this. You should also consider a multifunction printer that includes a scanner and photocopier. Getting an all-in-one like this will save you money and space over buying a separate scanner.
See General Purpose Inkjets / See Multifunction Printers
Home Office / Small Office
If you are doing a lot of printing (at least 250 sheets per month) then it could work out cheaper for you to get a personal laser printer. This is especially true if most of your printing is just black and white. Text from a laser printer is higher quality than from an inkjet, although low-end models may struggle with graphics. If print speed is an issue, then lasers also tend to win here although some more expensive inkjets will beat cheaper lasers. Expect to pay between £60 and £150 for a personal mono laser, and £200 - £400 for a colour laser. A good option here is to get a personal mono laser (possibly with a fax) for text printing, and a colour inkjet for printing documents with pictures and diagrams. It may well be worthwhile spending extra for a multifunction model that includes a scanner, photocopier, standalone fax, and automatic document feeder (ADF) for scanning and faxing multiple pages.
See Mono Laser printers /
See Colour Laser Printers /
See Office Multifunction Printers
Photographer
If you've got a digital camera and want to print your photos from home, then there are printers specifically designed for this. They use more colours (normally 6 or 8) to get a closer match to the original colour, including more defined skin tones and better greys. Most photo printers print at up to A4, but there are some portable models for printing on photo size paper.
See all Photo Printers / See Colour all Portable Photo Printers
Traveller
There are two basic types of portable printer: business and photo. The former are lightweight and compact, ideal for printing documents on the move. The latter is specifically for printing photos wherever you are, at photo size (7" x 5") direct from a digital camera or memory card.
See a selection of portable business printers
Things to Watch Out For
- Remember that the cost of the printer is just one small part
of the overall cost of printing - you also need to buy paper and
ink cartridges (or toner if you have a laser printer). Ink
cartridges can be extremely expensive, and you should always
check these out before you buy the printer. You can also consider
buying compatible cartridges, or even ink cartridge refills, as
these tend to be much cheaper than the manufacturer's version.
Quality is often very similar, although manufacturers deny this.
Check prices of Ink and Toner now - Laser printers have a much lower 'cost per page' (a useful value to compare the overall cost of printers) because the toner lasts a lot longer than ink cartridges. However, since the printer has to warm up every time you print something, it works out cheaper only if you are doing a lot of printing: you should only consider this if you are printing around 200 pages per day.
- Printer manufacturers have been involved in an 'arms race' in recent years over specifications. Those most often quoted are speed (usually measured in pages per minute - ppm) and quality (usually measured in dots per inch - dpi). In both cases, be wary of manufacturer's figures as they can be exaggerated, full of caveats and hard to replicate outside the factory.
- You also need to look at the size and weight of the printer - even some inkjets can take a lot of space and, unless you have a networked printer, it will need to be fairly close the computer. You therefore need to think of where you will put it.
-
To connect the printer
to the computer you will normally need a USB 'A to B' cable.
(If you are networking the printer you will not need this, and
if you buy an older printer it may be parallel instead of USB.)
Many printers do NOT include a USB cable in the box, so
you need to buy one separately.
Check USB cables now
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