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There are different types of printers on the market today and new ones are being developed almost every day. Manufacturers frequently bring new printers to the market. Every new printer released to the public always has some new features over the older models. Users are sometimes confused about choosing the right printer for the home, for specific needs and on a budget. Among other parameters entering in the specification, one can quote: • Technically speaking, the best way to evaluate or classify a printer is to take into consideration the different properties or options provided by the printer:
• Ink or laser,
• Color or monochrome,
• Wireless (Wifi) or not
• All-in-one (photocopy, fax, etc.)
• The size and type of paper,
• Number and capacity of bins, etc.
Choosing a printer for an office environment is even more complicated, with high print volume and other special considerations related to performance (memory), print tray capacity, monthly print volume. In the remainder of our analysis, we will focus only on the options and criteria that are important for home users who acquire a printer for the first time in these times of covid-19 or the home office is overwhelming.
Most homes nowadays have a wireless local area network (WIFI) through which smartphones, tablets, computers, media players and other 4K Smart TVs are usually connected to WIFI to access the Internet. Therefore, there is no reason why your new printer today should not be able to connect to the wireless network, to allow printing from different devices (even from tablets thanks to ePrint technology) at home.
One of the main questions people ask when choosing a home printer is, « Do I need an inkjet printer or a laser printer? »: Gone are the days when laser printers were very expensive compared to inkjet printers. Today, some laser printers are less expensive (and more efficient) than inkjet printers. Consumables such as toner for laser printers are still generally a little more expensive today compared to ink for inkjet printers; however, what non-tech users do not know is that the cost of printing per page for laser printers is generally very low compared to that of inkjet printers. In addition to the usual printing function, some printer models allow scanning and making copies, thus they are called all-in-one printer.
Would you rather have a $ 50 inkjet printer and buy six cartridges (one cartridge for two months) of ink per year for a total of $ 180 ($ 30 / cartridge), for about 1,200 pages of printing, or having a $ 300 laser printer with a toner cartridge in one year at $ 100 that can print up to 1200 pages? To the previous question, no need to go into calculation details, because the answer to this question is obvious: the wireless laser printer costs more to buy, but it is more reliable, durable, and less expensive in consumable and the cost of printing per page. Whatever your budget, the best choice of home printer today is a laser printer with a built-in wireless network card. A wireless printer has the advantage of being placed anywhere in the house accessible, close to a power outlet. Below find the links to the best printers in each category:
Emmanuel T.T.
ICT lecturer and Consultant
Certifications professionnels : MCP, MCSA, Comptia A+, CompTIA Network+, ComPTIA Linux +, CompTIA Cloud+, CompTIA Security+