The printer is one of today’s must-have accessories for your computer. While it is true that we are trying to move to a paper-free digital era, printed paper still holds some weight. Be it a school presentation, business report or application forms, having a printer in the house is crucial, unless you want to run around town looking for a place that provides printouts. In the long run, owning a printer is a lot less expensive than repeatedly paying someone for printouts. If you do want to buy a printer, the first decision you will have to make is what kind of printer you need:
A laser printer or an inkjet. The technologies behind both these kind of printers are very different and trying to understand them is enough to give anyone a headache. For the sake of simplicity, as yourself these 4 important questions to help determine which of these printer best serve your needs.
What will you be printing?
Obviously, the type of documents you will be printing plays a major role in determining what kind of printer works best for your needs. If you will mostly be printing our documents, that too in black and white, then a monochrome laser printer is just what the doctor ordered. For average quality images and mostly text documents, a general inkjet printer should suffice. If you want excellent printouts of you high-resolution images, then only a top-of-the-line inkjet printer can do the task for you.
How much will you be printing?
The size of tasks that will be printed has to be a factor that needs to be taken into consideration when making a decision. Large task will require a lot of ink and this is one area where laser leaves the inkjet eating its dust. Not only is less ink used up in a laser printer, the ink and toner cartridges are also a lot cheaper. For simple but high-volume things like flyers and newsletters, a laser printer is perfect.
Do specifications really matter?
Well yes actually, they do matter. Printer manufacturers do not list the specifications of a model for fun. The printer’s specifications are what allow you to know just how good or basic the printer is. From dots per square inch (dpi) to the overall resolution, it all makes a massive difference in quality. Inkjet printers can boast of having a wide range of specifications to choose from.
Whether you want print quality or print speed, there is guaranteed to be an inkjet model out there that meets your needs. Laser printers do not have a wide range of specifications and you choices will be limited.
Will it break your budget?
In the end people always to want to buy a printer that meets all their requirements, but does not break the budget. In terms of price, laser printers are generally cheaper than their inkjet counterparts. However, high-end laser printers can be more expensive than the costliest inkjets in the market.
Keep these 4 factors in mind when shopping for a printer and you should be able to make the right decision.
This article is submitted by Austin Cole. He is tech and a computer expert who enjoys writing about the same. He suggests people to try Oki toner as they are very reliable and cost effective.