How to Buy a Printer

Buying a printer can be a dizzying experience. There are many options to choose from on the market. Familiarizing yourself with what you need to look for and what qualities to avoid can take a lot of the stress and worry out of the process.

Shopping for a Printer

Buying a printer has similarities to buying other household electronics, but also many differences. You may have purchased computers and scanners before, but if you've never bought a printer you might not know what to look for.

Types of Printers

Two of the most popular types of printers today are inkjet and laser. If you're a digital camera junkie and want hard copies of your pictures, go with an inkjet. Monochrome laser printers are perfect for office and personal use where medium-to-heavy outputs are required. A good monochrome laser printer can be found for under $200, perfect for text-only printing. Replacement toner cartridges cost more, but last a long time, producing up to 3,000 printouts. Keep in mind that lasers use a lot of power, so shop for energy efficient units that turn off automatically when not in use. Color laser printers add color to printed documents. They are still quite expensive, though it's not impossible to find them for under $1,000.

How to Buy a Printer

Different types of printers have different pros and cons. For example, inkjets are quiet and inexpensive but also slow. Further, the printout can smear if handled before the ink dries. Laser printers are fast and provide sharp, professional-quality printouts. They are also generally far more expensive than their inkjet counterparts and most of them cannot make color printouts.

Replacement Ink Cartridges

While inkjets are low-priced, you're going to be paying a lot to replace ink cartridges. Check the cost of inkjet cartridges for the printer you're looking to buy and see how many pages a cartridge can print. If you are planning on using your inkjet printer for printing digital images, look for an inkjet printer that produces sharp and clear output. Instead of buying new, you could buy inkjet refill kits. Don't purchase an inexpensive printer that will cost you more in the long run through replacement ink.

Demos

If you still need help trying to figure out which type of printer will best suit your needs, enlist a savvy friend or talk to a knowledgeable salesperson at an office supply or electronics superstore and ask for an explanation of features and demos of these with printed pages. This allows you to see the printer in action and decide whether it is adequate for your purposes.

Where to Buy a Printer

There is a wide variety of places to purchase a printer on the Internet. Remember that if you buy a printer online you will not be able to demo it in the same way you would a printer from a brick-and-mortar store. Still, you may be able to get a printer for cheaper than you would otherwise.

Getting the Best Printer

Once you have decided on what type of printer you want, as well as a budget, you can set about buying your printer. If you are buying a printer online you can peruse customer reviews of the printers you are interested in before making your final decision. Even if you are buying a printer in a more traditional store, you can use the customer reviews on e-commerce websites to guide you. Soon you will wonder how you ever lived without a way to get your favorite images and text off of the computer and into your hands.