Do you remember a few years back when everyone was talking about a paperless society? It was a nice thought, but it never became a reality. In fact, if you look at our world today, we are as reliant as ever on paper documents. Perhaps there is still a paperless haven in our future, but, in the meantime, the printer has become a constant companion to the computer.
Early printers were slow, produced questionable quality output, and were expensive. Just a few short years ago, you couldn't buy an inkjet printer for under $500. Ah, progress! And this time evolution has moved in the consumer's favor. Today a printer does not have to be a major investment. The market offers great products that produce quality output at affordable prices. Printer manufacturers are responding to a huge consumer appetite for less expensive printers - both inkjet printers and laser printers. Entry-level inkjet printers start about $49.99, but I have seen them for as little as $30.00. Recently, the price has dropped substantially on laser printers as well. Lexmark and other printer manufacturers have come out with laser printers costing around $200. Hewlett Packard's Laser Jet 1012 has a retail price of $199 and pumps out and amazing15 pages per minute.
Making Your Choice
Lower end printers are a great buy, so go for it. But to be happy at the end of the day, you will need to do a little research. Here are some pointers on buying a printer. One special note: be sure to check out the cost of consumables, especially when dealing with inkjet printers. Printer manufacturers are making up for profits missed on the cheap printers by a hefty mark up on ink cartridges and printer paper. Color ink cartridges and glossy photo paper can set you back substantially. When buying a printer, it used to be you needed to focus on how fast a printer could print and what quality it could produce. Today's printer shoppers should be checking out the operating costs as well as the printer's capabilities and the purchase price.
When choosing a printer, the first thing that you should do is to determine your printer needs. Consider both the quality and the quantity of the documents that you will print. If all you print is a weekly list of your investments and occasionally send a letter to Aunt Suzie, then you may only need an inexpensive black inkjet printer. If you want to print out photographs of the children or grandchildren, you will want to look at a higher-end color inkjet printer or a special photo printer. If you anticipate printing dozens or hundreds of pages a day, then you may be looking at a laser printer.
Inkjet Printers
Today, the two most common types of printers are the inkjet and the laser. Each uses a different type of technology. The inkjet printer works by squirting small dots of ink onto a sheet of paper. Color inkjet printers can produce simple documents with just a splash of color or a full-sized reproduction of a color photograph. The black text output of a good quality inkjet printer is almost as good as the output from a laser printer. It is certainly good enough for most everyday home and small business applications.
Inkjet printers can cost from $30 to over $500. As the price increases, so do the print quality and the speed. Obviously, an inkjet without color capabilities will cost less than one with this feature.
Photo Printers
Some inkjet printers are labeled "photo printers". These will have special types of ink, special ink cartridges, and unique features for printing photos. Many photo printers can print "borderless photos" with no white border on the outside. This is a special feature that is not usually included in regular ink jet printers. Some of the newer photo printers also have a small LCD screen and slots for memory cards. You simply remove the memory card from your camera, insert it into the printer, view the photos on the LCD screen, and print the photos of your choice. If you purchase a photo printer with these advanced features make sure that the printer will accept the type of memory card that you use in your camera.
Laser Printers
The technology used in a laser printer is similar to that of a photocopier. The image is drawn with an electrical charge on a drum inside the printer. An electronic charge attracts particles of toner in the pattern that was drawn by the laser. A drum then rolls across the paper, and the electrical charge causes the toner to jump from the drum to the paper. The images that are formed by the lasers can be quite detailed resulting in an excellent print quality.
Laser printers are designed to handle a larger load than inkjet printers. They tend to have a higher paper capacity, which means that they hold more paper. The actual amount of printing that the machine can handle is called the duty cycle and is usually stated in so many copies per month. For example, a monthly duty cycle of 5,000 means that the printer can handle a volume of 5,000 sheets in a month's time. If you anticipate printing a lot, you will need to purchase a printer with a duty cycle that is high enough for your needs. So if you will be printing a large number of documents, a laser printer will be your choice. (Next)
(By Sandy Berger)
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