How to Choose Your Printer

With printer manufacturers upgrading their printer models as fast as you change your clothes, you will definitely get confused when choosing which printer model is right for you.

TonerBoss gives you a few tips to help you decide which printer suits your needs.

• Cost of Ink Replacement – A lot of people would consider the price of the printer. Although there is nothing wrong with this, the real consideration should be given on how much it will cost to replace the ink. The cost of ink replacement is one of your "long-term expense" on the printer. TonerBoss suggests that you browse through some ink prices before you make a purchase. In most cases, cheaper printers would require more expensive ink replacements while expensive printers end up with cheaper ink costs.

• Number of Color Cartridges – Color printers utilize a combination of colors to create the other colors for printouts. Keep in mind to check the number of color cartridges that a particular printer model uses. Obviously, if a printer utilizes only a few color cartridges then this costs less to replace but the printing quality may be affected. Check on some comparisons on printers and their print qualities (if you are after the print quality) to help you decide which printer model you should get. If you want to check on the number of color cartridges, there are several online sources or posts that have printer specifications.

• Printer Connectivity – When buying a printer, consider how the printer will connect to your desktop or laptop computer. Most desktop computers are equipped with an LPT slot so you can connect your printers here. Laptops only have USB slots so you have to get a printer that has a USB connection. There also some printer models that offer wireless connection directly to your network while others may need an adapter.

• Size of Prints – Think about how big you want your printout to be. Different printer models may have different printer size capacities but all of them can print standard letter and legal-size documents. For photo printers, most people find photo printers that can print up to 8” x10” more than enough. Some photo printers claim to be portable but these can only print standard photo sizes of 4”x6”.