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Buying a new
desktop printer can be a stressing task. So many brands...so many
different features. One can buy a printer for
less than $40, or spend several hundred on a model that looks almost
identical. So how do you know which printer to get...which one is right
for you?
?
Work out what you will be
printing (and how much of it). There is little point in buying a high end photo printer, or a
colour laser printer, if all you print is couple of emails per
week. A cheap inkjet
printer will do the same job - much cheaper.
At the same time, it would be false economy
to buy the cheapest printer in the shop, if you have a lot of printing to
do. Cheap printers can be (not all) painfully slow and ink / toner usually works out
far more
expensive in the long run.
If you print a
fair bit
- get a printer that can be easily refilled, fitted with a continuous
ink system (CIS) or at least one that you can buy reasonably priced ink or toner for. If you plan to
only use new ink cartridges, check how much they cost and how many pages
they should print. Find out if there are compatible cartridges or higher yield
ones available. This is good to know, even if
you want to refill the cartridges. Ink cartridges don't last forever and will need
replacing every now and again.
Laser or inkjet?
What and how much you
print will determine the print technology that's more suitable for you...
Laser printers are generally faster, the print is
more permanent and toner cartridges don't dry up, like ink - if not used
regularly. On the negative side, toner
cartridges can be very expensive and DIY refilling is generally not
an option. Cheap
colour laser
printers are the most expensive for consumables.
If your print very little, this may not be a major
problem. Cartridges supplied with a new (laser) printer should print 1000
or more pages, so you may never need to replace them.
If you print a lot, find a printer
that takes the "biggest" cartridges and make sure there are compatible or
reconditioned cartridges available - even if it means paying a bit more
for the printer. If you plan to print "thousands" of pages per week,
required speed may rule out ink printers altogether and quality laser
printer may be your only option. Contact us
if unsure...
Another point to consider with laser printers is
the "imaging drum" (OPC) cost and life expectancy. With some laser printers, the drum is part
of the toner cartridge, so it gets replaced with every cartridge change.
In other models, the drum is a separate part that needs replacing after
certain number of pages is printed. With some "cheap" laser printers, the
drum may need replacing every few thousand pages and often costs as much as a
complete printer ($150-250). Other printers (eg Kyocera) come with a 100
000+ page drums, so if you print a lot it may be worth spending few
hundred dollars more initially in exchange for lower running costs. Do
your research..! No good complaining once you buy the printer.
Inkjet printers are usually
cheaper to buy and more "flexible" to use than lasers. Today's inkjets can not
only print almost as fast and at similar (or higher) quality as lasers, they can
be much cheaper to operate as well. You generally have the option of refilling your
ink cartridges or fitting a continuous ink system (CIS) and buying ink in
bulk at minimal cost. Once again...do your research! Not all recent ink
cartridges/printers are "refill friendly" and some genuine ink cartridges can
be incredibly
expensive. It's not uncommon for a set of ink cartridges to cost as much
(or more) than a new printer. Another advantage of ink printers is
the option of using different ink for different applications (eg pigment
ink for longer lasting prints, dye ink for cheap, high quality photos, high
temperature ink for thermal transfers, sublimation ink for non-printable
media...etc).
Work out what features
you need. Majority of today's printers come packed
with bells & whistles many people don't need or ever use, but different makes and
models do offer unique options. If you want to print double sided, onto
CD's, or prefer wireless connectivity etc, you need to pick a printer that
can do these things. Not all models do!.
Don't stress too much about
print resolution or drop size. It makes very little difference to print
quality, if a printer has advertised resolution of say 5760 DPI (dots per
inch) or 9600 DPI. Similarly, 2pl (picolitre) ink drops don't look any
different on paper to 1pl drops (without magnification). All recent inkjet
printers have more than adequate print resolution.
Individual ink tanks - or multicolour
cartridges? Despite popular belief (and printer maker claims)
individual ink tank (one tank for each colour) printers are no cheaper
to operate than printers with two (black & colour) ink cartridges.
Individual ink tank printers can in fact use considerably more ink than combined
cartridge printers, because more ink gets used for cleaning and purging the print-heads. Most
individual tank printers clean/prime all colour print-heads every
time one colour tank is replaced and this can consume 5-10% of ink from all
the
cartridges at once. Unless you print mostly in one colour, or use a printer with
50ml+ ink tanks, individual ink tanks are only "economical" for the printer
makers.
If you're planning to refill
your ink cartridges, there may be some advantages in having individual ink
tanks. There are usually more aftermarket refill products (eg refill
friendly cartridges, chip re-setters etc) available and as some (not all)
individual ink tanks are transparent, refilling can be easier as
well.
Can the cartridges (with
printer) be refilled or should you buy "refillable" cartridges? There are printers that refuse to accept refilled
cartridges, other models are difficult to refill successfully. Majority of
today's printer cartridges and tanks use IC chips to measure the ink
levels, which can cause problems with refilling. Do your research!
Are refillable cartridges available - do I need them? Will I need a chip re-setter? Can
the ink monitor be disabled? You should be able to find most of this info
somewhere on this website. If you can't, feel free to
contact us.
Some printers have two black
ink tanks...why? Canon and HP use two black ink tanks with different
ink in some printer models. One tank is usually pigment ink, the other dye
ink. Pigment ink works better on plain (copy) paper, dye ink on
glossy (photo) paper. The printer software selects the correct ink
automatically. Benefit? Higher quality photographs.
You can
often buy a new printer cheaper if you don't buy the newest model.
Shops like Officeworks regularly offer discontinued printers cheaper
than new models. But the main
advantage of buying an "older" model can be the availability of compatible
and refill products, often not yet available for the latest releases. And
as an added bonus, older models more often than not use bigger or cheaper
ink or toner cartridges. Check out
www.officeworks.com.au. Easy to navigate and use.
Don't bother buying a second hand printer,
even if is cheap, unless
you have a very good reason. Replacement ink or toner cartridges often cost as
much as a complete new printer (with cartridges), so used printers aren't
terribly good
value these days. At same time, some older models can be better
than new printers, may use larger cartridges etc, so if you know what you're doing...go for it.
Some laser printers are definitely worth buying second hand, some less so.
Printer
model suggestions...
By now you're hopefully getting some idea as to
what you want from a printer...so let's have a brief look at what's
available. All printers featured below are available for sale at
Inkbank...but not listed on site yet. Please
contact us.
Note: Printers listed below are available now (Feb 2012) but new models
come out every few weeks and the model numbers may be different between
what you see here and in the shops.
For legal and other reasons I
prefer not to name printers I don't recommend, but believe you can draw
your own conclusions. All printer makes and models have their pros and
cons, but some are too refill unfriendly or downright annoying to deserve
a mention here. Having said that...if you prefer different makes/models to
the ones listed below, so be it, but do your research.
BEST
VALUE PRINTERS:
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