There are a number of different kinds of printers on the market, but you’re probably only concerned with the two main types: inkjet and laser. Each has its pros and cons, and which one is better depends on what you intend to do with it.
Inkjet Printer Overview
Inkjet printers are the most common type of household printer because they excel at printing in color, and most home users are interested in printing photos, flyers and other such documents. Inkjet printers transfer ink onto paper, combining a few basic colors to form each desired shade.
Laser Printer Overview
Laser printers are most often found in office settings due to their efficiency at speedy, high-volume, crisp monochrome printing. Laser printers use a static charge to transfer toner from a drum onto a piece of paper. Color laser printers are also available, but take a significantly longer time to print color pages when compared to the rate those same pages can be output by an inkjet.
A variation on inkjet: photo printers
Photo printers are basically inkjet printers with added options. If you opt for a photo printer, read through all of its different features to be sure the phrase “Photo Printer” is not a marketing tool and actually relates to the quality of printouts. The simplest photo printer may just be an inkjet with a with a slot for reading a digital camera’s memory card. More advanced photo printers will make use of photo ink cartridges and be able to yield excellent, photo-quality printouts. Other features may include an LCD for previewing photos, red-eye removal, and a battery for portable printing.
For the customer who needs everything: multifunction printers
A multifunction printer is a device that performs a number of other printing-related jobs besides simply printing things on paper. Multifunction printers can scan, photocopy and/or fax.
Basic vocabulary
- DPI Dots-per-inch; printers operate by printing many small dots in different colors on the paper. These dots mesh together and form an image. More dots per inch translates to a more finely detailed printout. Most images you see on a computer screen (specifically, images you find on the Web) are 72 dpi, while 300 dpi is standard for print documents (such as the pages in a magazine).
- Duplexing Two-sided printing.
- Ethernet A local area network protocol. Printers with ethernet cards can exist on a network and accept print jobs from multiple users.
- LCD Liquid Crystal Display; some printers include a small LCD display for showing status messages and print previews.
- Monochrome Black & white printouts.
- PPM Pages Per Minute; the unit of measure for the speed at which a printer outputs completed printouts.
- Toner A powder used by laser printers to form images and text on paper.
- USB Universal Serial Bus; the most common method of connecting a printer and a computer. Modern PCs have multiple USB ports.
Fuel for Printing: Ink and Toner
Inkjet printers require ink cartridges, all of which have a finite lifespan. Depending on the specific inkjet model, a printer may require a color cartridge, a black cartridge and/or a photo cartridge. At a typical office supply chain such as Staples or Office Max, you can expect to pay $30 - $35 for a fresh cartridge and about $25 for a remanufactured cartridge. Refilling ink cartridges is also possible, but you risk ruining your printer with a leaky cartridge. Ultimately, the biggest consumer complaint about inkjet printers is the price of replacing used ink.
Laser printers require toner cartridges, which also have a finite lifespan. Some laser printers come in small household models while many others come in medium to large sizes and are meant to handle a heavy frequency and volume of printing, so consequently, toner cartridges come in all shapes and sizes. The smallest toner cartridges that yeild the least amount of pages can be had for $60 - $80, while those meant for heavy duty laser printers can cost hundreds of dollars. While the cost per page of laser printing may stay relatively the same, the cost of toner cartridges completely depends on the model printer that you select.
The Lifespan of Ink and Toner Cartridges
The lifespan of an ink cartridge varies, depending on how often and how much you print. Light users might replace their ink two or three times a year while heavier users may go through cartridges every few months (cartridges left sitting for a year or more may dry out). If you want a more concerete answer on how many pages you’ll get out of a cartridge, consult the manufacturer for the rating on a specific model printer and cartridge. A typical answer will be something along the lines of “350 pages at 5% coverage”, meaning a cartridge can print 350 pages with an average of 5% surface area inked on each page.
The lifespan of a toner cartridge varies greatly, depending on the type of laser printer you have. Cheaper toner cartridges cost under $100 and output 2,500 - 5,000 pages. More expensive toner cartridges meant for printers that do a lot of printing (a very common reason to have a laser printer in the first place) will yield tens of thousands of pages, and some of the most expensive, heavy duty cartridges will yield hundreds of thousands of pages.
The Lifespan of a Printer
Based on our personal experience, color printers have a lifespan that’s perfectly acceptable for both personal and professional use at the price they come, while laser printers generally last a bit longer. We usually end up replacing inkjet printers every 3 - 4 years. The laser printers we’ve worked with generally last a few years longer. We even have a handful of personal-grade laser printers that have been churning out pages for a full decade.
Speed of Printing
Inkjet printers churn out pages at an acceptable rate for home use, but don’t expect to be using an inkjet for high volume printing. An example of typical inkjet printing speed is 16 ppm (pages per minute) black, 8 ppm color.
Laser printers are known for printing monochrome documents at a high rate of speed. A personal laser printer might output around 20 ppm. A professional-grade printer meant for a higher volume might operate around 30 - 40 ppm.
What type of printer is right for you?
In order to choose the right printer you need to clearly define what your printing demands will be and select a printer with the capabilities to match those demands. To aid that process, here are a few sample situations along with the choice of printer we’d make:
Personal use, mainly printing digital photos: inkjet. Inkjet printers excel at printing color images and photos. Many come with additional features for photo printing, such as standalone printing and memory card readers.
Personal use, printing generic documents, photos, web pages and emails: inkjet. Again, inkjet printers excel at printing in color. Most are designed with the home user in mind.
Home office use, printing documents and e-mails, low volume of printing: inkjet. If you are not printing a vast amount of pages in your home office, an inkjet printer is the way to go. A laser might speed up your printing and give a little more precision on those black & white text documents, but you’ll kick yourself when it comes time to print out a color pie chart.
Professional office use, multiple users: laser. A good network-enabled laser printer will handle your user’s demands with ease, yield finely detailed printouts and keep up with the volume printing that comes with more than one user.
[tags]printers,laser printers,inkjet printers,consumer guide,shopping[/tags]
