How to Buy an Ink-Jet Printer

While most people think that ink-jet printers are just cheap substitutes for laser printers, they're actually better for some things, such as photographs. And color ink-jets print vivid hues for a fraction of the cost of a color laser printer. However, ink-jet printers can be slow.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Ink Cartridges
• Ink-jet Printers
• Notebook Papers

Investigating Capabilities and Prices

1. Prioritize among price, versatility, print quality, speed and reliability.

2. Add specific capabilities such as photo printing, compatibility with operating systems other than Windows, ease of use, cost of use, ability to handle large files quickly, USB connectivity and ability to print on various media without jamming.

3. Choose a specialty photo printer if you plan to print a lot of photos.

4. Choose a higher-end model with a small dot size (and thus higher reso-lution) if printing presentation-quality text, graphics and photos.

5. Choose a printer whose paper path is no sharper than 90 degrees if you want to print on envelopes, labels, transparencies or card stock.

6. Spend $250 or less unless speed is the most important consideration.

Comparing Printers

7. Limit your search to models made by Canon, Epson and Hewlett-Packard, which offer a wide selection of consumer models ranging from $100 to $600.

8. Compare resolution, expressed in dots per inch (dpi), and print quality of display models.

9. Compare speed specifications. Although you will not experience the rated speed at home, the ratings are useful for comparing printers.

10. Look for an Epson printer with unparalleled 1440-by-720 dpi resolution if print quality for text, graphics or photo reproduction is most important.

11. Look for a Hewlett-Packard printer if speed is critical and you want to spend $250 or less.

12. Consider a Canon printer if primarily younger children will use it, if you plan to print challenging media often, or if space is very limited.

13. Consider a higher-end Epson printer for the best combination of speed, quality and reliability.

14. Compare bundled software packages and service contracts.

Tips & Warnings

• The speed at which a printer prints a test page or demo is not the same as the speed it will print at when connected to your computer. File size and computer RAM have more to do with actual speed than the printer does.
• Canon printers produce a lighter, less impressive black than other brands.
• Epson printers are noisier than others.
• Lower-end Hewlett-Packard printers lack quick-drying inks.
• A service contract should cover annual cleaning and alignment.
• Most ink-jet printers are not PostScript-compatible. If you need to print PostScript graphics or fonts, you'll need to find one of the few that understands PostScript, or else consider a laser printer.

[willybaseball]

on 6/8/2007 The best advice I can give is to check and see how much the ink cartridges are going to cost you to replace. Most printers are cheap these day -- that's because printer manufacturers want you to buy the printer so you are then dependent on them for the replacement ink cartridges. Thankfully there are some alternatives -- you can buy compatible or remanufactured cartridges instead. You may actually want to check out the cost of these kinds of cartridges before deciding on a printer. If it helps, you may want to check out http://www.123inkjets.com, http://www.carrotink.com, and http://www.castleink.com. Those look to be the "big three" in that particular space.

on 8/8/2006 Whatever you do, don't buy a Dell printer! They work fine, but you can only buy the ink cartridges directly from Dell so they're super-expensive!

on 8/8/2006 If you buy an HP product, be aware that if anything goes wrong your call to service support will take you to a remote call center. I have reported a fault and, after thirteen phone calls between HP and their nominated courier company, am unable to arrange to get my printer repaired under warranty unless I, personally, can deliver it to the courier company's offices (which are half a day away by public transport). I will never buy HP again!

on 7/14/2006 As indicated above, brands other than Canon, Epson, and HP tend to do poorly in all three of these categories. HP tends to do well in all three. Epson excels in other areas (especially if you want specialty inks), but does not do well in long term cost or maintenance. Epson is currently settling lawsuits because their printers consistently disable before they are really out of ink, and I can’t tell you how many people I know who have had to replace an Epson printer because the print heads got so clogged that the print head cleanings did nothing. This happens after only a short time of non-use. Canon printers with the BCI 6 cartridges are particularly cost effective especially if you use refilled cartridges. They are also very durable and the print head cleanings actually work!

After owning printers of almost every brand, the one I love the very most is a Canon Pixma 3000. I print about a ream of paper a week on the thing and it just keeps going! I have cartridges for it that I have had refilled about 30 times at Island Ink-Jet, and they just keep going, too. It is also one of the fastest printers I have ever had and is compact and stackable. Finally, it has tray, top and duplex paper feed all built in standard. It is the only printer I have loved instead of cursed.

on 11/22/2005 They are unreliable and have lots of ink cartridge problems.