A printer can now be found in almost every household; it is part of the basic equipment in the office. However, device selection is not as easy as is often assumed. We show you which points and criteria you should consider before buying to satisfy your printer in the long term.
Which printer is the right one?
If you want to buy a new printer, you are often overwhelmed with many different models. Laser or ink? How does it work with the cartridges? What happens if the usage is low? Questions about questions that have to be answered first. This is exactly where you should start before digging deeper into different models:
First, ask yourself what you need and want to use a printer for. Do you get this for the occasional printing of private photos, or would you like to use the device in the office? Should the printer also include other functions such as scanning, copying, or faxing? Will you mainly be printing in black and white or color? Do you value high printing speed and high-quality printing results? Also, make a rough estimate of how many pages you have to print per month and ask yourself whether the printer will not be used for a long time.
Once you have clarified these points, you have come a great deal closer to the right printer. A printer purchase advisor can now help you evaluate your answers to the various questions – so the right device type is quickly identified. For example, if you want to print more than 200 pages a month, you should use a laser printer, as this uses toner more economically, and the page price thus drops. Simple laser printers in the monochrome version, which only print in black and white, are suitable for users with low print volumes. A color laser printer is a good choice for printing photos.
Consider running costs
Apart from the initial costs for the printer, there are additional costs for paper, ink, toner, printer consumables, and energy costs. If you have a suitable printer in mind, find out about the consumption costs before buying, as the running costs can make printing unnecessarily expensive.
A laser printer test can, for example, provide information about the power consumption of individual devices. With a printing cost calculator, you can compare different printers, including devices with different technologies.
You can also easily calculate the ink and toner costs per printed page from the purchase price of the cartridge and its range in pages. You can also find some tips and tricks on all aspects of cost-saving printing on the Internet. If you pay attention to this, you can relieve your wallet considerably.
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