Working in printer Consumable retailing, you would think that the majority of questions we receive would loosely revolve nearby "Which Ink should I use?", or "What cartridges will give me the best printing results?" If you find yourself according with that statement, then come and keep me company in the I-was-wrong-corner. That's right. The whole one topic of conversation we find is "What printer do you recommend?" either they're buying a new one themselves, or searching for a company contact, or just one of those population that in effect - in effect - wants to be up to date with the top technology information, we get asked non-stop.
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Whilst the temptation would be to fulfil our capitalist desires, recommend the printers which contribute us with the top margins and be done with it, amassing an untouchable army of customers utilising printer-X to their own cost along the way (mwahaha), this is not how we do business. In fact, quite the opposite. We believe that our palpate in the cartridges field, coupled with the fact we are not complex in the retailing of printers, leaves us in a foremost unbiased position for recommendations.
Best Laser Printer
Whilst the following is not intended to denigrate or damage any manufacturer's reputation, it is our honest opinion which will hopefully lead you in your printer browsing task.
So, capitalist army-building aside, the actual examine - What printer do we recommend? I wish I could put a singular printer here, an all encompassing beast of a machine that excelled in anyone you ever needed, and even did your Monday morning emails for you. But alas, my dreams are yet to reach fruition. The ideal printer for you is going to depend on a range of factors, which we will discuss and find out.
Firstly - what will you be using the printer for?
Now, stop your laughing at me for one moment, I know 99% of you read that and opinion "Well, for Printing, idiot", and I accept your mocking tones and counter with:
o Purely for home use - letters, kids homework, neighbourhood watch pamphlets
o potential printing, either it is photos or image intense documents
o Small office use - mainly company documents on a cheap scale
o Larger company use - high speed documents
Aha! Not as simple as you opinion is it. Whilst you settle which of these areas you fit into, I will cheerily carry on with this article, thinking of my next way to stump you.
I'm a home printer:
Now that you've got that truth out in the open, and can move on with your life as a computer hardware (I'm a funny man), this class of printer means you need to focus on ease of use and cost. You don't want to be spending £'s each time your child prints a new spell-checked version of their homework, or you try out the new letterhead for your house Christmas letter X whole of times. I shall start with the short and sweet part of this section:
Avoid - Old Hp and Lexmark printers, and Dell altogether
Now just fantasize me shouting that at you, maybe accompanied by violent shaking, and you should get the sincerity of the warning. Just don't buy them. These manufacturers use an ink cartridge with a built in head, with all 3 dissimilar colours placed within this singular cartridge. When one colour runs out, the cartridge is finished. Desist all your magenta printing, as who doesn't love red everywhere, and wave goodbye to any cyan and yellow you had stored away for a rainy day. This obviously means much higher printer costs than a law where the print head is built into the printer, with isolate ink tanks for each colour so you just top up where needed. This law is utilised by Epson, Canon and Brother, making them immediately good value for you, and our recommended beginning point for home printing.
Next you must think what you want your printer to be able to do. Did you manage to stifle your "print things" laugh this time? I hope so. With multi-function printers offering a range of extras nowadays, such as scanning/copying/wireless networking, you in effect get a diverse choice. We do recommend spending the few extra pounds and getting one of the multi-function devices. In the long haul, the multi purposes it provides will tailor for any home needs you may encounter, and with all manufacturers providing them, their costs are competing already.
Another benefit of these printers is a rescue on following printing costs. With original cartridges approaching the actual cost of the printer, many can be tricked into an apparent bargain, then duplicate their printing outlay as soon as the first cartridge runs dry. Home use printers opens up the avenue of compatible/refilled cartridges. With the only discrepancy in potential being noticeable towards high end photo printing, they will be perfectly sufficient for all home printer needs, and are significantly economy than manufacturer's original cartridges.
So what do we know? We are seeing for a multi-function printer, made by Epson, Canon or Brother. Regularly we would go into the hows and whys of using the printer, but the range of models for these manufacturers have in effect fine tuned the user experience, and we feel they all draw level on the usability test. So all 3 manufacturers carry on to the next stage, hooray. Multi function printers for these 3 providers is a great way to filter your browsing time, and anyone after this is in effect more down to personal preference than a definitive answer.
For our uncut recommendation, we would go for Canon each time.. They are reliable, cheap to run, and potential output! If you just want a printer that prints, go for the Canon ip4700. Want a multi-function? The Canon mp640.
Now that you've had my Home printing two-cents, I am going to break open the piggy bank in a splurge of considerable data for High potential Photo printing.
Quality Image Printing:
Many population don't realise, but there are two types of imaging printers to select from, outlined in the following to make you knowledgeable on all things image based.
The first to cast your mind's eye over is a process called dye sublimation. Ignoring the scientific jargon, it transfers dye onto your paper/card/fabric with heat one colour at a time. If you're in effect wondering, and want to show off, it's called sublimation as the dye goes from solid, to a gas state, to solid in the printing sequence, without ever being a liquid. Fancy. This printing recipe produces very high potential photo prints, typically equivalent or in effect good than that produced by the original printing recipe employed in photo processing shops - the silver halide process.
In increasing due to the sublimation method, there is very limited mess, and the photos are promptly dry and ready to cope as soon as printing is finished. Also, due to the institute of the printers, fewer keen parts than other styles of printers limit the potential for break down, maximising the longevity of the printers. However, this recipe is limited by sizes that you can print in, typically only found in the 6x4 print sizes, and can be high-priced with the recipe utilising numerous panels for each colour. Concentrate this with a fact these panels cannot be reused, no matter how small an whole of ink was used of that colour, and your costs can speedily accumulate. Ultimately though, if you are seeing for a pure photo printing experience, you can't go wrong with this printing method, and we recommend Canon as the builder to side with.
If photo printing isn't the only potential image you're after, then dye sublimation may not be for you. With the replacement from a gas state to a solid, a small whole of diffusion (funny, and a scientist!) is unavoidable. Whilst this is not an issue with photos as it produces a very natural finish, when applied to sectors which need pinpoint accuracy, such as an architect's graphical outputs, this discrepancy is a weakness. Additionally, this technique of printing only works on special-coated paper, meaning an sure inflexibility in what you print. This leads me on nicely to the alternative recipe of image printing, Inkjet printers.
In the past, this recipe was so inferior to dye sublimation that it would not have been considered, especially in the realms of photo printing. This was due to dye sublimation utilising "continuous-tone technology" where, in layman's terms, any dot in the photo can be any colour. This is contrary to inkjet printing which, as the name suggests, jets ink onto the page in droplets in scattered layers to generate the image you are printing. Whilst this creates a level seeing photo, focusing in on the photo would narrate visible droplets and not one level progression of the image. However, large advances in the technology of inkjet printers have seen the implementation of limited droplets, and a more diverse range of injected ink colours, providing a far excellent picture than previously seen. Coupled with its definite printing for the aforementioned architects drawing, its potential to use numerous materials to print onto, and the flexibility of image size, the new range of inkjet printers contribute a much good uncut container for your diverse printing needs.
If you trust us implicitly, and need no more data than the gold mine you have just treated your eyes to, then our best choice would be the Epson Stylus Photo R2880. Hard working, reliable, potential output, even my boss has one!
From the charm of image printing, with the limitless potential of stunning scenery from photography, our exploration of purchasing a printer leads us naturally onto.... Small office printing. What good way to dismiss the opinion of grandiose panoramic views, than to the black and white (I'm sure they need colour at some times) monotony of the small office environment.
Small Office Printing:
Those of you whom have read the whole article will be glad to know that the requirement of these printers is very similar to that of the home printers, with low costs and good carrying out top of the agenda. You will be less pleased to note that these points will be repeated for those who skipped right to this section. I will make it as painless as possible.
Firstly, the foremost points:
Do not purchase a Dell Inkjet printer, or the old range of Hp and Lexmark printers. Whilst being good printers, they will not be cost sufficient for you. Utilising an ink cartridge with a built in head and three onboard colours, once one colour runs out you need a new cartridge. Infuriating in an environment specialising in black and white, with the occasional flash of colour for a company stamp or staff photo. This used to limit you to Canon, Epson and Brother printers, but the new ranges from Hp and Lexmark mean that you have a very wide choice. All of these take benefit of isolate slots for each colour, meaning that once one runs low, you just replace the personel colour.
So this is where your choice gets more difficult. Let us start with the simple decisions. Try and side towards the multi-function printers, which can cater for all the needs your office environment will place upon it. For only a limited increase in price, the supplementary practicality of the printer will be invaluable. The availability of compatibles for this range of printers is also worthwhile to note, with no degradation in potential for your office printing needs and a huge rescue on uncut printing costs.
Now, which manufacturers to look at. Hp and Lexmark have a wholesome dominance of this area of printing, with Hp edging ahead with their latest range of printers. Interestingly, they differ thoroughly in the type of ink they use, meaning your preference can in effect help you select which to side with.
Lexmark printers utilise dye based inks, the original ink found in the majority of inkjet printers, whilst Hp printers utilise a newer pigment based ink. First used by Epson, this pigment based ink is made up of minuscule, encapsulated particles which sit on top of the paper, opposed to dye inks which are absorbed into the papers fibres. "Why should I care?" I hear you ask? Well, for your office environment, whilst these differences which typically only impact longevity of the prints and the colour quality, they also have implications for your costs. Dye based inks are known to soak into the page, lowering the efficiency of the cartridge per page, whilst pigment based ink has no such problem. Furthermore, pigment based inks typically have larger cartridges meaning you get even more prints for your money.
Whilst this is occasionally reflected in price, we tend to recommend siding with the pigment based inks, with a higher value for money being experienced.
This soaking result leads onto an additional one benefit of pigment ink. As soon as the page is filtered out onto the tray, it is touch dry. With no risk of smudging or ink dispersion that you can get with dye based inks, pigments warrant the cleanliness and professional appearance of documents you print within your office. The longevity of prints is also a variable worth considering. With the filing systems employed at most offices you want your printed records to be durable and long lasting. Whilst advances in dye based ink have shown an increase in the lifetime of prints, pigment based inks still have the advantage.
Finally, dye based inks are not waterproof! Now I realise most offices do not work in downpours or go swimming for meetings, but the benefit of a pigment based ink being used to print a letter, which gets posted and delivery on a rainy day and stays legible, cannot be frowned at.
Ultimately we recommend the Hp Officejet Pro 8500. A solid reliable printer from the new range of Hps, with phenomenal per-page costs, backed up by potential pigment based inks.
In our final section we will be seeing at the heavy duty office printing, for business's who scoff at any print speed lower than 15 pages per minute.
Business Use:
Colour Laser Printers. Thank you for reading. I hope this section was helpful for you.
In all seriousness though, with the fall of colour laser printer prices for under £200, your choice is made for you. Small footprints, networkable, and outstanding results from the chemical toners now in use, all lend itself towards a phenomenal company printer.
The benefits of these printers just roll off the tongue:
o Faster print speeds
o Lower cost per page
o More robust
And this is just the beginning point. An perfect potential range of compatibles presently ready for a wide whole of these printers means you can supplementary save on your printing costs. In fact, the only conjecture we would say don't go for these printers is their apparent fussiness about the potential of paper being run straight through them. Ignoring the sure "my printer is telling Me what I can print on?!?" issue, we found them to be temperamental when trying to print on the very cheapest 80gsm copies paper. However, upgrade to the 80gsm LaserJet paper which we use in all of our machines and the colour LaserJet's return to their serene performing best, causing us no problems at all. If you can afford it, stretch to the multi-function range of these printers, adding even more benefit to the small space these printers now take up.
This section may be the shortest, but it's because we believe your decision is such a formality. If we had to pick one and save you the effort, we would side with the Oki range, brilliant printers. With a superb output, nice gloss finish, and very cheap running costs with our perfect potential compatible range, your company will try and find reasons to print. That may be stretching the truth, but you got the idea. Specifically, the Oki c5650, but they are all potential products.
We hope this article has been useful for you, and that you all stop asking us what printer to buy.
Thanks To : printer ink toner digitalcameraratings
