How to Buy a Printer

So, you want to buy a printer. Or someone asks for advice on a printer?

Here's my list of prejudices.

1. I advise people against buying inkjets. The ink is too expensive to replace, dries out quickly and they are generally pieces of junk. Laserjets will give you most of what you want, especially since most people want B&W only printing.

2. Look at the amount of pages you can get out of one laser toner cartridge. It's usually 3000 to 6000 pages. That's far and away better than an inkjet. Think about how you use your printer. A few pages here and there? Chances are good your laser printer's toner will last a long time.

3. Small monocolor (B&W) laser printers are very inexpensive. HP makes very small B&W laser printers. I think my personal one cost about $100.00.

4. Cost of replacement cartridges. This is where color laserjets are problematic. Color laserjets require 4 ink cartridges and usually one drum. These parts are VERY expensive, and usually cost the cost of the printer to replace. Do you really need a color printer? How often do you actually need to print in color?

5. Footprint on your desk. The larger your printer is, the more room it takes up on your desk. If you use a printer only occasionally, how much space does it need to have?

6. Do you share that printer, or want to share that printer among a few people? Then maybe you should invest in a networked printer. These often have a network jack in the back of them and you can then add it to your network and print to them with little trouble. You can also add a print server to almost any printer to make it network capable. That can also solve the footprint on the desk by moving it to a totally different location. Good for offices.

7. Time of printing. Modern printers today can spit out a page in under 20 seconds; some in less than 15. Not a lot of waiting around for something to print. Pays to look into that.

8. Double sided printing. Some printers can print on BOTH sides of a page. That's nice to save on paper, and an option on newer printers. If you are interested in that, look for a duplex printer.

9. Reviews. Check what other people are saying about your model. Enough said.

10. Paper. What's the tray capacity? What's the size? Is it adjustable? Can you print envelopes? Lots of things to consider, isn't it?