Buying a printer in today’s market has become a huge task. There are so many options available in the market that you may find it difficult to select any one of them. That’s why today we have brought you the buying guide for the printer. By reading which you will find it easier to buy a new printer.

There are currently two types of printers available in the market. One inkjet printer and the other laser printer. Along with this, now photo printers are also available in the market. But it is an inkjet printer or a laser printer. Now the printers are quieter than the printers of the past. And the print quality has also become good.

Types of Printer

Inkjet printer

Inkjet printers can be a good choice for home, for children’s school homework, for small businesses. The speed of inkjet printers is slower than that of laser printers. But the print comes out crisp and clear. Along with this, the photo print also comes in the right color and is clear. Inkjet printer cartridges are a bit expensive.

Inkjets print by laying thousands of tiny dots of ink (DPI – Dot per inch) on a page. Inkjets are generally cheaper than lasers, although the fact that they use liquid ink means that these prints can be damaged if waterfalls or the paper is rubbed. No problem.

If you want to print documents as well as photographs, it becomes necessary to spend a little more on an inkjet designed with this in mind. Some of which inkjet printers can print the best quality (like photo studio) photos. High-end inkjet printers have a separate cartridge for each color. This means you only need to replace the color that’s lost, meaning you don’t need to replace the entire cartridge.

These days, most inkjet printers are all-in-one printers—also called multi-function printers (MFP-MFPs)—that act as a printer as well as a copier and scanner. With this, you can scan your documents. You can Xerox/Print by scanning the documents. You can also copy and save.

If you want to buy a printer for your personal use then inkjet will be the best. Many inkjets have the facility of copy, print, scan as well as fax. Meaning you are at this time when ‘work from home is going on everywhere. You can make your own small office.

Also, many printers come with an ADF-automatic document feeder. With this, you do not need to enter a single page again and again for copy, scan, or print. Many ADFs can also print two-sided documents. Ethernet port is also provided in many printers. Which gives a faster network than Wi-Fi.

The price of an inkjet printer can be between INR 3000 to 60000.

Laser Printer

The biggest advantage of laser printers is that you get more minutes on print, which means you can print more prints in less time than inkjet. Hence it is in high demand in commercial business. Also, they are cost-efficient as compared to inkjet printers. But the cost of color laser printers remains high. And its photo quality is not so great compared to an inkjet.

Uses a negatively charged drum to transfer electrically-charged ink (toner) onto paper which is then heated to make it permanent.

The cost of a laser printer can be anywhere between INR 6000 to 140000.

Multi-Function Printer

Inkjet or laser can both be multifunction printers. And you can find many types of functions in it.

Print

The main function of all printers as you all know is printing. Using this function, you can print photos, documents, books, assignments.

Copy

With this function, you can copy your photos or documents.

Scan

With this function, you can scan your documents and save them on your computer. Or you can also take out the print of those documents immediately.

Fax

Fax is considered outdated in many places but is still in use today (especially in government offices).

Output

Color or Monochrome

Monochrome

If you want to print only documents, word files. If you have to print only a black and white copy, then Manochrome printer is right for you. With this, you can print a lot of black and white prints with super fast speed, and the cost on the page will also be very less.

Color printer

Color printers are becoming a favorite in both home and office these days. With this, you can remove color print as well as a black and white print. Color printers are available in both inkjet and laser types.

Resolution

Resolution means the clarity of the print you take out. The resolution is measured in DPI -Dots per inch. The higher the DPI, the better the clarity of the print.

Print speed

Print speed is calculated in two ways. If you want to print text documents, then the print speed will be measured according to PPM – Page per Minute. And if you want to print the image, then the print speed will be measured according to IPM – Image per Minute.

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Connectivity

These days printers are dotted with a variety of connectivity options. You can take out the print from any place away from your mobile. Some such options are mentioned below, which you can keep in mind.

USB – Using the USB port, you can print documents, photos from your pen drive.

Wi-Fi – With Wi-Fi, you can connect your mobile, laptop and take a printout. This function becomes more useful when there are multiple users. It has become necessary to have this function in your printer for office or home.

Bluetooth – By connecting your printer to a Bluetooth-enabled device, you can take prints very easily.

NFC – Many new printers come with NFC- Near Field Communication feature. Using this feature, you can take the printout by bringing your NFC-enabled device near to the NFC-enabled printer or if you are mobile then it can be printed by touching the printer.

Memory Card Printing – Many printers come with memory card slots. With which you can take out the memory card from your mobile, camera, or tablet and put it in the memory card slot of the printer, and take out the print.

E-Mail – Through email printing, you can take a printout by sending documents, photos, through the email id set in the printer.

Ethernet – This is the most widely used option for connecting printers to computers. This is a cable to which the RJ-45 connector is attached. These functions are ideal for offices because they can be used to connect multiple computers at once.

Parallel Port – This is a 25-pin connector, previously used to connect printers and computers when there were no USB ports.

Google cloud print – This Google printing service allows you to send files from any network-compatible device, such as a mobile phone, tablet, or computer, to any printer you register in your Google ID. This way you can print files without having to install the printer’s driver on the device you are using.

Apple AirPrint – AirPrint lets you print from your Apple device via a Wi-Fi network to your AirPrint-compatible printer.