Time to Buy a New Printer so your going to the shop because the Store will help you pick the Right one for you.
Well Yes and No, they will definitely help you pick one. if it is the right one for you that is debate on its own.
Lets see how we can help.
What do you want the printer for?
The first thing is to make a list of what you will be using it for. Will you need to make Copy’s? Do you still use the FAX functionality?
What size Paper are you going to use? Is color a requirement?
Those are just some of the Questions you need to know before trying to get a new Printer.
To help you decide lets discuss the functionality’s of various printers.
Just to Clarify this is not for you corporate Printers although you can use the same specifications this is rather for Home users doing a bit of Research.
Printer Functionality’s
Paper Size
There is Various Size papers that you can print on. You need to know what type of Information you ate going to print. Will the A4 Paper Size be enough for Spreadsheet or are you printing Projects for University. Remember the bigger the paper the more Expensive the Printer and the higher the Space Requirements.
See blow table for three Common Paper Sizes:
| Size | Width (mm) | Height (mm) |
| A3 | 297 | 420 |
| A4 | 210 | 297 |
| A5 | 148 | 210 |
Mono vs Color
Monochrome are black only printers they print in variety of Black to composite for not being color but are cheaper than Color.
Color printers use four color’s: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. Color uses more toner per page and tends to be more Expensive per page.
Ink & Toner
Although ink printers is Slower than toner printers they are great for printing Images especially photos for text you will notice the text as very Fuzzy.
They can print on various types of Paper. The Ink can be refilled for reuse but ink tends to be more expensive for the same amount of pages than a toner printer.
Toner printers prints faster once they heated up and the Text Quality is much better than ink printers but on images the quality is not as good.
The are cheaper on the same amount of pages compared to Ink and can only print on a limited amount of paper types.
Multi-Function vs Single Function
A printer these days is not just a printer, that is unless you want a separate scanner and fax machine.
MFP (Multi-function Printers) now comes built in with all the features built in and with this an additional option to copy.
Unlike the single function which you will have to scan to you PC first and then Print to the Printer.
USB vs ETH\Wireless
I know that each printer comes with a USB port, but it is important to know if you want Network capability or not.
Basically all MFP (Multi-function) printers comes with Network Port or Some sort of wireless that makes it easier to connect as the printer does not have to be close to the PC.
Not all Single Function printers comes with Network Capability’s.
Space Requirements
Know where you are going to put the printer, printers comes in various shapes and Sizes and if you don’t have space for it this will only be inconvenient.
Make sure when you go out you know where you want the printer to be and that you have enough space to install the printer.