If you need to buy a new printer you will quickly realize how difficult it can be to make the right purchase decision: there are many different models and types of printer and, given so much variety, it is normal for confusion to exist.
When you buy a new printer you will have to take into account different factors. In addition to the price (a determining factor for many and many), it will be important to look at the quality of the print, the price of the ink that this model requires, the speed of printing and other extra tools.
The printer market is a market that is progressing more slowly than other technological sectors (such as that of smartphones, for example), so sometimes the latest printer models are not much improved compared to their previous models .
Also keep in mind that there are different types of printers, the ones that we show you in this article are conventional printers that you can use at home or in the office (depending on the model).
However, you may be interested to know that there are portable printers, such as the Zuta Pocket Printer, specific printers to be able to print directly from your mobile or 3D printers such as XYZprinting. There is even a “skin printer” that can give you temporary tattoos.
To put you in a position to clarify your ideas when buying a new printer, we have created a mini buying guide so that you can choose the best printer according to your needs.
Buying guide to choose the best printer
There is no exclusive model of printer capable of impressing everyone, that is why in our selection of best printers we have mixed different models: for home, work, multifunctional, color, mono, etc.
Printers are usually divided into two main groups: inkjet printers or laser printers. The latter tend to be more expensive than the former, but offer better quality and tend to print faster.
With this we do not mean that laser printers are always the best, since as you will see below, you can find models of injection printers that far exceed the quality of laser printers.
If your only intention is to print text (and a lot), your best option will be a monochrome laser printer. This is the best combination to print a lot, with quality, and at a low cost.
However, if you need more to print photos, then you need an inkjet printer, that is, a printer with ink cartridges for each color.
We would also like you to take into account the following factors: total cost of purchase, need or not for a multifunction printer, print speed and extra tools.
1. Total cost of the printer
When you decide to buy a printer you have to know that the price you pay for it in the store is only the beginning of the total outlay.
Understand that you have to maintain a printer: you will have to replace the toner, ink and cartridges throughout the life of your new printing device.
Most printer brands offer an estimate of the yield and life of their ink cartridges (the pages you can print with one cartridge).
Thanks to this estimate, you will be able to calculate the average cost per page, something that surprisingly varies greatly from one printer model to another, so it is essential to do this calculation before deciding on one printer or another.
Obviously, if print quality is more important to you than the cost of the product, then you can go for more specialized printers that use up to five or even six ink cartridges to print photos with the highest possible quality.
Thanks to these additional ink cartridges, you can print impressive photos, but keep in mind that the final cost will increase dramatically.
2. Do you need a multifunctional printer?
Most modern printers are “all-in-one” multifunction devices, that is, they include scanners and other tools.
This type of multifunction printers will allow you to scan photos or any other document and convert them into digital files that you can store on your computer. You can also print copies of your scanned documents, as if it were a photocopier.
Some models even come with a fax. So if you also need a printer, scanner or copier, we recommend you buy a multifunctional printer model, since you can save a lot of money by not having to buy each of the devices separately.
Obviously, if your only need is to have a printer, it is not worth spending more money for a multifunctional model.
3. Print speed and extra tools
The print speeds that brands claim to have often never correspond to actual speed.
That is why if your main requirement when choosing a printer is printing speed, we recommend that you check reviews from media or users not related to the brand.
Extra features that we consider must be taken into account when having a new printer: USB ports and memory card slots to be able to print directly from them.
Also high capacity paper trays, thanks to which you can feed hundreds of pages of paper without having to be aware of adding more paper so often.
Important is also the double-sided printing tool, an option that can save you a lot of money on paper, in addition to avoiding unnecessary waste.
And finally, we think we need to pay attention to the printer software. Some of these softwares come with editing tools, color adjustment possibilities, etc.