A printer is one of the peripheral output devices. It connects to a computer and is used to print images, including photographs, texts and other documents. Buying a printer is often fraught with a number of problems: which printer to choose, which brand and model to prefer, how not to lose the price. Printers differ from each other in the principle of printing, speed and other parameters.
What you need to know before going to the store
First you need to decide for what purpose you need a printer. If you are a student, then the simplest laser is suitable, which does an excellent job of printing a large number of text documents (for example, term papers or abstracts). Color inkjet printers are usually preferred by those who love photography and print photos regularly. However, such devices require frequent replacement of cartridges.
The toner in a standard laser printer purchased for your home or office is enough to print thousands of pages. You can refill the cartridge at any service center. This service is relatively inexpensive. If you have an inkjet printer, you should always remember to use it regularly. This is because the paint is fed through small nozzles. If you print infrequently, ink particles will clog the holes and the print head, causing damage to the device. In addition, original inkjet cartridges are quite expensive. Recently, the so-called CISS - continuous ink supply systems - have been very popular.
CISS are several containers with toners that are located next to the printer. From them there are tubes that feed paint into the device. By the way, buying ink for SPNCH is much cheaper than original cartridges. The continuous ink supply system cannot be installed on all models of inkjet printers. But even with the CISS installed, it is recommended to print at least one color image per week.
Laser printers are capable of printing text or graphic information quickly enough. One of their main strengths is print speed. Before choosing a particular model, calculate the approximate number of pages you intend to print monthly. Many printers have additional options that make one model or another more expensive. For example, the duplex function - double-sided printing, built-in card readers and hard drives.
Laser or Inkjet?
The cheapest printers are monochrome laser printers. They can only print in black. It is these printers that are most often bought for offices. Most of the models can withstand a print load of up to 5-6 thousand pages per month. Alas, monochrome laser printers are not suitable for printing photographs and images.
Color laser printers are characterized by high print speed and quality. However, they are quite expensive and consume a lot of electricity. If you print photos on them, then the image quality can be disappointing (when compared to inkjet printers). However, this parameter directly depends on the manufacturer and model.
Inkjet printers are relatively inexpensive and have excellent color reproduction, but a set of cartridges is enough for a very limited number of pages. Some models refuse to work with non-original cartridges, and original ones are very expensive. Thus, with a fairly low cost of the device itself, you will have to regularly pay a considerable price for components.
