Choosing a printer can be a challenge until you take
the time to determine what your needs are. You need
to decide between an ink jet printer and a laser printer.
Then you need to decide on what size printer you
require for the tasks you will ask the printer to do.
The two main types of printers are inkjet printers and
laser printers. Laser printers use a laser beam to
imprint an image on a drum which then fuses the
image to the paper. Conversely, inkjet printers spray
ink through tiny jets onto the page no laser imaging
occurs.
Inkjets can print anything from spreadsheets, brochures to
word documents and photos. They are considered optimum for
printing professional and inexpensive documents on a small
scale. Hence they could cope only with small print volumes,
the chief advantage being that they are far more affordable
than laser printers. That is to say, such printers have
lesser running costs than laser printers.
Another advantage of ink jet printers is that they are
usually small and lightweight. Some also come with carry
cases for easy portability. Hence they would be optimum for
laptops and PDAs and such devices that require printing
facilities. Their maintenance is also very easy with its
spares readily available.
But, in case your requirement is for more advanced print
jobs then you should think of buying a laser printer. Laser
printers are made to take voluminous workloads and print at
a much faster speed. And the quality of the print is far
superior to that of the inkjet printer. That is why not
only the laser printers cost more but even the consumables
of the laser printer are more expensive. Laser printers are
portable and can be carried from one place to another.
Sometimes they come with their own hard cover carry cases
for convenience in shifting them around.
If you own a laptop, you would be well advised to consider
purchasing an all in one solution. These systems have the
advantage of being lightweight, small and would answer all
your printing, scanning and photocopying needs. That is,
all in one device. These low cost all in one systems are
usually ink jet printers, hence their running costs is
quite low as compared to the laser printers. They usually
come with their own hard carry cases, so you could carry
them wherever you travel. Keeping these factors in mind,
you could surely find a printer suitable for yourself.