With all the types and brands of printers on the market today, it’s understandable how easily a first-time buyer can feel overwhelmed by the myriad of choices available. But don’t worry; we’re here to help.
In this article, we’ll tackle the types of printers and their various functions and which one best suits your needs.
However, note that if you are looking for a professional printing company, it is best to rely on your (hopefully), current marketing or public relations firm.
When printing commercially, there are so many things to consider like bleeds, do the colors match up, is the resolution high enough, etc.
A good marketing firm will have a handle on all of these factors and can save you a lot of headaches (and money) down the road.
With that said, let’s move on to discussing the types of printers and their functions so you can make an informed decision when purchasing your printer.
How to Find a Printer That Suits Your Needs?
When it comes to choosing which printer you should buy, you need to consider these factors:
- Your printing needs. If you need a printer solely for its printing function, then you should be looking at a laser or inkjet printer. Inkjet printers are more affordable than laser printers, but a laser printer can handle high-volume printing. Remember, if it is for a commercial reason, do not try to do this on your own.
- Print quality and speed. Printers that use inkjet or laser printing technology can produce high-quality text and images, but a laser printer will print faster than an inkjet printer. Also, if you’re working with colored pictures and complex graphics, you might want to get a photo printer instead.
- Any additional features you require. Aside from printing, do you need other features, such as scanning, copying or faxing? Do you need a printer that can connect to your Wi-Fi network so you can print from your phone? Etc.
- Printer and ink costs. You have to consider both upfront cost and the cost of inks, toners, etc. during the lifetime of the printer. Most likely, you’ll spend more on cartridges than on the printer itself. For instance, Consumer Reports compares two printers: The price of buying Printer A is significantly less than the other ($80 vs. $300) but you’ll need to shell out more than $1,500 for ink after five years. On the other hand, Printer B costs $300 upfront but only $330 in ink costs after five years.
Different Types of Printers
Printer manufacturers, such as Epson, Canon and Hewlett-Packard, have released different printer models throughout the years, but these are the most common types of printers available on the market today.
Inkjet Printers
If you’re planning to get a printer to use at home or for a small office, the compact and lightweight inkjet printer will be a good choice. You can buy one for less than what it would cost you to acquire a laser printer but still be able to get high-quality prints and versatile use. Inkjet printers can print crisply clear office documents with lots of text or print photos, charts and complex graphics in vivid color. However, note that inkjet printers typically have a slow to average print speed, so it’s not ideal for high-volume printing.
Inkjet printers use pigment- or dye-based inks that are sprayed from small nozzles onto various types and sizes of paper, including labels, envelopes and scrapbooking paper. Inkjet printers use cartridges, typically one for black and another for colors (cyan, yellow and magenta), though some manufacturers have separate cartridges for each color. This setup means you can simply replace one cartridge once it’s empty, not all of them. This is good since inkjet cartridges are more expensive than laser printer toner.
Another thing to remember about inkjet printer cartridges or print heads is that they regularly fall out of alignment, so you also need to recalibrate the print output frequently. You’ll find calibration utilities in the printer’s management software.
Laser Printers
Ideal for professional settings, i.e., organizations that print many documents regularly, laser printers are considered to be workhorses that you can use for printing in high volumes quickly at a low cost per page.
Laser printers are also called page printers because they print one page at a time, though the process is faster than inkjet printers. While inkjet printers have cartridges that use heat to activate the ink, laser printers use a laser beam and a fine powder called toner that’s applied to the paper by static electricity. Because the process happens quickly, laser printers can produce more in a shorter amount of time than inkjet printers.
The printed pages dry quickly too, so the printed documents, spreadsheets or graphics are crisp and smudge-free. However, when it comes to color photo printing, laser printers don’t produce the same quality outputs as inkjets or photo printers.
Laser printers can either be monochrome or color. A monochrome laser printer comes with one drum of black ink, so it’s good for printing black-and-white documents. The color laser printer, on the other hand, features four drums and is more expensive than color inkjet printers and its monochrome counterpart. However, many color laser printers include controls that limit color usage so you can save on its color toner. But in general, the laser, along with other high-cost components, makes laser printers the most expensive type of printer in the market today.
Photo Printers
If you’re an amateur or professional photographer or designer, a photo printer will be a good investment. Photo printers use inkjet technology (dye- and pigment-based inks) or thermal color printing method which results in high-quality photos akin to those you’d get from a professional printing service but at a lower cost. This high quality, however, comes at the cost of using up a lot of ink and special paper that ensure the ink doesn’t smear.
The default print size is 4×6 inches, though some models can print everything from wallet-sized photos to 5×7-inch prints. You can print photos, postcards, scrapbook pictures, holiday cards, and many more.
Photo printers allow you to print directly from a compatible digital camera, SD cards or memory sticks. Newer models even feature wireless printing where you can print directly from your mobile device that connects to the printer through WiFi.
Another useful feature is the ability to edit directly from the printer. You can crop images, remove red eyes and so on without connecting to a PC, although you can do that too with a simple software installation.
Photo printers can also come in compact, portable sizes, which you can use to print images on the go or easily find a small space for it in your office or home.
All-in-One Printers
Also known as multifunction printers, all-in-one printers offer professionals or organizations not only the ability to print but also copy, scan and/or fax documents using one machine. In this way, you’ll not only save some money but also some space with an all-in-one printer.
Depending on the brand and model, a multifunction printer could include the ability to scan over Wi-Fi, cloud share, hard drive cache and other advanced features such as duplex (two-sided) printing.
All-in-one printers can use laser or inkjet printing technology, so the print quality will be comparable to documents printed using either methods. Households typically favor the latter, while businesses opt for the former. They can also come as black-and-white printers, which are cheaper, or color printers.
What Do I Need to Know About Printers?
Ultimately, the printer you choose will depend on how important each factor is to you. If cost over time is paramount, then you wouldn’t mind spending a bit more to acquire your printer. Or, you might require more than printing capabilities and opt for a multifunction printer instead. Or, perhaps print quality is important and so on. It’s really up to you.