Five Things to Know When Buying a New Printer

by: FrankBolsom
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Computers are used more than ever in offices around the world, but that doesn't mean that printing documents has become unnecessary. Printers and printing supplies are now in high demand, since frequent printing means frequent printer servicing. This applies to both home and business use.

Modern printers boast a plethora of functions. Printers can read digital memory cards and print high resolution photos. Some multi-function printers can print, scan, and fax. It is important to consider your options before deciding on which is best for you to purchase.

First is the long-term cost of the printer. You can buy a very good color printer for well under $100 these days but the catch is most of these inexpensive models have costly ink cartridges.

Find out the price of ink replacement on any low priced printers before making a purchase. Consider options like generic cartridges and refilling cartridges.

Second, find out whether or not the printer you're considering includes full size ink cartridges. Many of today's printers come with "starter" inks that have much less ink in them than a standard cartridge.

If the starter ink cartridges that come with the printer are only going to last for forty or fifty pages, a low price might not really be so low after all since you'll need to buy new ink so quickly.

Black and white printing is more common than color printing, so check on the price of the black print cartridge. On some printer models, larger black cartridges are available and buying those could help save money over the life of the printer.

Fourth, consider what kind of things you'll be printing. If you want to be able to print your own digital photos you should look at one of the many photo printers on the market.

Photo printers, however, usually produce more costs than most inkjet printers. Find one that matches your needs. A laser printer costs even less to operate than the average inkjet.

Lastly, think about whether you really need all those extra features like faxing, scanning, photocopying, etc. It sounds great to have all these options, but most people rarely use them, if at all.

Finally, don't forget to review the costs of the above mentioned features. A local copy shop that makes copies for five or ten cents might be more cost efficient than a home printer that can copy pages for an average cost of fifty cents to a dollar.

About the Author

Tired of paying through the nose for your printer ink? There are cheaper options, and in spite of what the printer manufacturers tell you, they work just as well. Visit the Inketeria.com website for reviews of the best sources for cheap printer ink.  

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