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Printers - what to ask before you buy

If you're thinking about buying a printer, but you're not sure what to ask before you buy, these questions should help you get the information you need to make an informed choice.

Click on a question below for more information.

1. Type: Should I get a laser or inkjet printer?
2. Multi-funciton: Should I get a multi-function printer?
3. Real cost: What does the printer really cost?
4. Ink: What about ink (for inkjet printers)?
5. Toner: What about toner (for laser printers)?
6. Speed: How fast is the printer?
7. Photos: Will it print photos?
8. Text: What about printing text?
9. Recycling: Can I recycle the printer ink or toner cartridge?

1. Should I get a laser or inkjet printer?

This depends on how you propose to use the printer.

• The advantages of an inkjet is it's low initial cost, but if you print a lot, especially colour, the cost of ink will add significantly to your costs and eventually overtake the initial cost of the laser printer.
• If you are printing high volume, or if exceptionally high quality is important, consider a laser. If you just want to print a few letters and a few photos, you can save money by buying the inkjet. Colour printing via laser printers can be slow. Lasers are generally single function.

2. What is a multi-function printer?

These days multi-function printers are so cheap, you can have all these features incorporated into your printer:

• Scanning can be useful if you have to email a document, or send one via your computer's fax/modem. A flat bed scanner is more useful if you want to scan a book (or individual pages), while an automatic sheet feeder is limited to unbound pages. Scanners can also include 'OCR' (optical character recognition) software which enable you to produce a document you can edit on your computer from a paper copy.
• The photocopy function can also be really useful for any paper documents you need to reproduce. Many will photocopy without you even having to turn on your printer.
• Being able to fax documents via the printer is handy - if you want this function, see if the multi-function printer will store sufficient fax numbers for your use, and if it has a multiple sheet feeder.

3. What does the printer really cost?

To determine what it really costs, don't just use the price of the printer, which can be quite reasonable. Estimate what kind of use you will give it, then add the cost of ink or toner cartridges and refills for say, a year. Laser toner cartridges have a limited life, and can be very expensive to replace, but for large volumes can be cheaper than inkjet.

Before you buy a printer, check out various suppliers of both the printer and the consumables (ink and cartridges) including online, just to get an idea of the price range - prices can vary widely. While the most expensive are not necessarily the best., you still often get what you pay for.

4. What about ink (for inkjet printers)?

You can buy generic ink for inkjet printers in bulk from printer suppliers, so you don't have to buy brand name refills.

Some cheaper inks don't perform as well as the more expensive ones. Choose one that suits your purpose - a few glitches when you are printing a draft copy won't matter, but if you're trying to impress customers, you want to avoid smudges and streaks.

If you're going to be printing in colour, try to get a printer with separate colour ink tanks - that way, if you use up one of the colours early, you can refill that colour only.

Interesting sideline: We recently purchased an entire multi-function printer for less than the cost of a set of colour and black inkjet ink cartridges for our existing colour printer. The new printer came complete with ink. Go figure.

5. What about toner (for laser printers)?

You will usually find cartridges with a bigger capacity are much better value than smaller ones.

6. How fast is the printer?

Probably not as fast as the manufacturer says. Check this out with the retailer. If possible, watch the printer print several pages to get an idea how fast (or slow) it is. Printing graphics is usually slower than printing plain text.

7. Will it print photos?

• Some colour inkjet printers are specifically designed to print photos so if that's what you plan to use it for, concentrate on those. They are likely to have specialised features like a card reader (for reading the card from your camera, for example) and providing software for editing your photos - some don't even need a PC to work. In any case, most colour inkjet printers will do a pretty good job of printing pictures.
• Colour laser printers will also print photos, but they can be really slow.

8. What about printing text?

If you're printing is high volume and high quality plain text, a monochrome laser printer is worth considering. It will provide better quality print than the inkjet. But if you just want to print off a few letters and the occasional photo, the inkjet could be the one.

9. Can I recycle the printer ink or toner cartridge?

You can recycle your old ink and toner cartridges. Many Australia Post, Harvey Norman, Tandy, Officeworks and Dick Smith stores will accept your old cartridges for recycling - find out your nearest participating recycler by going to Cartridges4PlanetArk.

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