Before buying a new printer it’s a good idea to get clear on what your new printer will be used for. And also what features are necessary for your specific situation. This will help you with buying a new printer to serve your needs for both now, and in the future. The point being… doing proper research now could save you regretting your purchase!
So to help you accomplish this, we’ve put together a handy little checklist of…
The Ten Things To Consider Before Buying A New Printer
1) What Functionality Do You Need? (print, scan, copy, fax, duplex, network)?
First things first… you’ll need to decide what functionality you need from your new printer.
You’ll want to avoid spending more money in the future because you overlooked a function that your initial purchase should have included. If you don’t need it now, but will be likely to need it sometime soon, you may want to include it in your current purchase.
But having said that, computer software and printers are constantly improving…. so don’t look too far into the future.
2) Will You Be Needing Colour, Or Is Black And White Suitable?
A mono laser printer may be a good solution if you’re mainly printing black text documents. A colour laser printer will cost you more to buy and run – much more. So if you go with a colour laser printer there will be a lot of consumables needing replacing from time to time.
When you print a page on a colour laser printer, four different colours are laid down:
- Black
- Cyan
- Magenta
- Yellow
This requires four toner cartridges, four Organic Photo Conductor (OPC) drums, a transfer assembly and a waste container.
Toner, drum and waste containers may be combined in some printers, resulting in less consumables to change. But no matter how the consumables are configured, a colour laser printer has a lot of moving parts. And a lot of consumables to replace.
So if you don’t need a colour laser printer, you’ll save a lot of money both now and long-term with a black and white laser printer or an inkjet printer. Sometimes it makes sense to have a large mono printer for your black and white documents alongside a smaller colour printer.
And sometimes big savings can be made by having your documents pre-printed, e.g a colour letterhead.
3) Do You Need An Inkjet Or Laser Printer?
Many still believe that colour laser printers are more economical than colour inkjet printers. This is no longer true. Because of this, businesses that do a lot of printing tend to buy laser printers. But in actual fact, they’d be better off with inkjet printers.
Inkjet printers have less moving parts than laser printers so you’ll have less need for repairs and maintenance. The right inkjet printer for the job can minimise running costs and be a better investment over the life of the printer. A word of caution though… some inkjet printers are very expensive to run. Make sure you choose the right printer for the job.
4) How Many Pages Per Week Do You Estimate You Will Print?
This is important because it determines the most cost-effective price bracket. If you print a lot of pages on a regular basis, you’ll want a more expensive machine that has a lower cost per copy.
But if you rarely use your printer, laser may be better than inkjet. That’s because inkjet printers can have print head blocking problems if they’re left idle for extended periods. They’ll also use ink on maintenance cycles, even when the printer is not being used.
5) Is Mobile Printing A Good Option For You?
New mobile printing technology such as iPrint&Scan, AirPrint, NFC and Wi-Fi Direct allows you to print from your wireless device. Or Google Cloud Print makes it possible to print from anywhere by using an internet-connected device.
You may find these new features to be useful for your situation.
6) Is Sheet Capacity Important To You?
Sheet capacity is the amount of sheets of paper you can fit into the printer paper tray. This is an important thing to consider if you intend to be doing a lot of printing. Larger printers will accept a ream of 500 sheets. This saves you the hassle of frequently loading the paper tray.
7) Is Print Speed Important To You?
Print speeds are measured by pages per minute. These days printers tend to be pretty fast. So a printer with the features you need, will probably have an adequate print speed for your requirements.
However, you might want higher print speeds if you have a high volume of printing.
8) Do You Need High Print Resolution?
The print resolution is measured in dots per inch (known as DPI). It calculates how many dots of ink or toner the printer can lay down over an inch. Resolution tends to be adequate for most users these days – especially for text.
But with said, you may want higher printer resolution if you are printing photos.
9) Is An Automatic Document Feeder Necessary For Your Requirements?
This feature (known as ADF) allows you to scan and copy multiple pages in the same operation. Pages are fed through the scanner automatically. This saves a lot of time and effort if you do large volumes of scanning and copying (at the same time.)
Some printers can scan both sides of the documents. This is a valuable feature for some users.
10) Before Buying A New Printer, Have You Checked The Current Cashback Offers Available From Easyink?
Usually there’s a few models with Cashbacks at any one time. They tend to rotate so its a good idea to keep an eye on what’s available each month. Cashback deals vary from $30 to $500, and you can find out what we currently have available by clicking here.
Finally, before buying a new printer, you can either choose from Easyink’s range of recommended printers below, or give us a call for personal assistance on 0800 893 797.
Click here to browse our range of Brother inkjet printers,
Or click here to browse our range of Brother laser printers,
Or click here to browse our range of HP Pagewide Inkjet printers,
