Which Printer?
What is the best type of printer to buy to go with my computer?
There are two main types of printer used in homes and businesses; laser and inkjet.
Laser Printer
Inkjet Printer
Most laser printers print in black only and produce shades of grey by putting small amounts of black on white paper. They are quite cheap to run; toner (ink powder) cartridges are expensive but do last for many thousands of copies. Colour laser printers are available but their cost is quite high although falling.
Inkjet printers are used widely in homes and most can print in colour and just black. They are cheap (as little as £40) to buy but the ink cartridges are quite expensive and do not last very long when printing large areas of colour such as photographs. Bubblejet printers are a type of inkjet.
Pictures printed with a photographic quality inkjet printer, on the right type of paper, can look as good as a normal photograph.
SO WHICH PRINTER IS RIGHT FOR YOU?
If you are just going to print letters and documents, and colour is not important, a laser printer is the best for you.
They are more expensive than inkjet printers but the quality of text printing is excellent and the cost per page is low.
For printing a mixture of documents at home, some of which are going to contain colour, an inkjet printer is most suitable.
Inkjet printers are not suitable for high volume use because the cost per page is quite high. Consider a colour laser for larger quantities
If you particularly want to print photographs, an inkjet is the most practical answer but there are then other factors to consider.
Printing photographs (probably from a digital camera) is not cheap - costs are similar to traditional chemical, photo printing.
To produce high quality photographic prints, you will require an inkjet printer with a 'photo quality' specification. This usually means one which has more than the basic four colour inks (black, yellow, cyan and magenta) - six or seven colours are typically used adding pale cyan, pale magenta and, possibly, grey.
PAPER IS IMPORTANT TOO
Laser printers can use cheap 'copier' paper and even the cheapest will probably give acceptable results.
Inkjet printers are fussier when it comes to the choice of paper. Cheap 'copier' paper will produce poor results - dull colours and fuzzy outlines.
Coated papers are better because they stop the ink soaking into the paper. Sometimes trial and error is the only way to find out what works well with your inkjet printer. Generally, using paper produced by your printer manufacturer is likely to give the best results. Coated card is also available.
For photographs, you will need to get photo paper to go with your photo printer. Again, paper from your printer manufacturer should give the most impressive results. Heavyweight photo paper (card) will feel closest to 'real' photographs.
COMPATIBLE INKS?
If you choose an inkjet printer, you will soon notice that ink cartridges are not cheap - they can cost nearly as much as your printer.
In the media, you will see adverts for compatible cartridges - at a fraction of those from your printer manufacturer but are they worth using? If your printer was quite cheap (i.e. £50 or less), they are probably worth trying.
If however, your printer was quite expensive and/or you want to print photographs, stick to the cartridges from your printer manufacturer. They should give superior results. Furthermore, some manufacturers suggest that you will invalidate your printer's warranty by not using their products.
