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Time: globisoftware

On: Mar/03/2022

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DT en Español could receive a commission if you buy a product from the site ByJose Luis Plascencia

No matter what you need to print, there will always be a home printer that can do it. Now, knowing how to choose the right one is not always easy, given the large number of options on the market. To help you, we've put together a guide to the best tips for buying a home printer, with simple explanations of some of the most common terms, plus recommendations that will work for most buyers.

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Inkjet or laser?

The first question all printer buyers need to address boils down to a simple question of what and how much you plan to print. Inkjet printers use cartridge ink, which is applied wet to paper and dries quickly, while laser printers use toner, a type of powder that adheres to paper for fast results and efficient use of resources. means.

Color inkjet printers comprise the majority of the market simply because they can print just about anything: essays, pie charts, glossy photos, you name it. Plus, these machines, including all-in-ones, today are fast, often with print speeds that rival or exceed their laser counterparts.

Laser printers are still the best choice for office environments if you typically print your documents in monochrome. In addition, this type of equipment, for the most part, can be purchased at affordable prices, offers good print speeds and provides prints at a lower cost per page than color inkjet printers.

If your choice is a laser, you must decide whether to give up the flexibility offered by a color inkjet printer. Color laser printers are another option, but they generally have a higher cost per printed page than color inkjet printers.

Laser printers tend to have excellent page yields; its long-yield toner cartridges can last between 3,000 and 20,000 pages before they need to be replaced.

Inkjet cartridges tend to last between 2,000 to 2,500 pages on average. That's less important if you don't print much or often, but for prolific printers or those buying for an office, it can make a real difference. Note that the average page is based on lines of text and not filled graphics.

multifunction printers

A multifunction printer is a printer that can also scan and fax as well as print. They come in inkjet and laser varieties and are generally called all-in-one or multifunction printers (MFPs).

For home use, a multifunction unit makes a lot of sense, not only because it's cheaper than buying a separate printer and scanner, but also because it saves space. Since all-in-ones are extremely common and are rarely considered premium by manufacturers (you can often find some for as little as $50-$60), we highly recommend them for home users.

Multifunction printers make it easy to scan documents directly to your computer, while some even offer faxing. They're more likely to be used in the office, but even then, faxing has largely faded from the business world, except in a few select industries, so the added value isn't definite.

photo printers

If you're more interested in keeping family photos on paper than printing homework assignments and pie charts, consider a dedicated (single-feature) photo printer. Although they lack the flexibility for multitaskers, the quality of prints is often better, often rivaling or exceeding the quality of what you would receive from a kiosk or mail order service. However, the price you'll pay for this type of convenience is reflected in the cost of printing.

Many of the printers sold for specific photographic or graphic use are either small-size units capable of printing photos up to 4 by 6 inches in size or wide-format models designed to support prints up to 24 inches wide.

Supplies for these specialty printers are also generally more expensive than those for the typical multifunction printer. Both Canon and Epson have models that print 8.5 by 11 inches and use five or six colors of ink to produce more color-accurate photos. Many all-in-one devices are capable of producing photos up to 8.5 by 11 inches in size when using the proper paper.

Speed, resolution and color

It used to be quite easy for a printer manufacturer to make outrageous claims about how fast their printers were or what could be expected in terms of page yield from an ink or toner cartridge.

Today, almost all vendors use a standardized set of tests developed and authorized by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ISO test protocols provide a level playing field: all claims and qualifications are developed using the same document sets and test procedures. Important specifications include:

PPM – This stands for “pages per minute” and is a guide to how fast a printer can print. That sounds simple enough, but PPM can quickly get complex. For example, printers have very different PPMs for black and white compared to color, so it's common for many printers to provide two different PPMs if they focus on color.

The number of pages per minute is not especially important for home printers unless you are under time pressure for a print job or need to print a lot at once. The average PPM for black and white is around 15 to 20 pages. When printing in color, that number tends to be lower, around 10 to 15 pages per minute.

DPI – Refers to “dots per inch” or how many dots of ink the printer can apply to a square inch of paper. This specification is useful for studying how good a printer is at creating high-resolution, fine-detail images. However, it's also a bit out of date: newer printing methods and software can improve the resolution of a printed image without changing the DPI, so don't let it be the latest spec.

Duty Cycle: This number is the number of pages per month that a printer can reasonably be expected to print. You want your expected number of pages per month to be well below this number so your printer doesn't experience as much wear and tear. It's an important number for a busy office with lots of printing needs, but it's less important for less intense home use.

Use these specifications as a basis for comparing one device to another, but remember that they are not all-encompassing factors, especially if you are looking for something specific.

connectivity

Today, almost all printing devices offer multiple connectivity options. Basic Wi-Fi connectivity and cloud printing are now standard, but for particular projects, other types of connections may be more useful.

USB: USB connections are the most common in printers, with the USB-A standard being especially used. This allows you to connect external hard drives and a variety of other devices, then use the printer's menu screen to print files directly from them.

It's useful if you don't want to use your computer as an intermediary. Cameras and other devices that support the PictBridge standard can make this process even smoother, but it's not as necessary as it was when it was introduced in 2003. Keep in mind that most home printers still don't support USB connections. C, although that is changing.

Ethernet: Printers may also be equipped with Ethernet ports for wired connections to a network. However, the printer's data needs are fairly basic and a wired Ethernet connection is rarely necessary for a home printer (it may be more useful in some office printer setups).

Wi-Fi: Most home printers are designed to connect directly to your wireless network. It will usually provide you with your Wi-Fi network information during setup. You can then download software to your computer, phone or other device to send print jobs directly to the printer, without the need for cables.

It is one of the most convenient options for home projects. Wi-Fi connections also allow for remote printing in an office, which can be very important in work-from-home situations.

Wi-Fi Direct: Wi-Fi Direct is a peer-to-peer connection that isn't really related to your Wi-Fi network. Instead, it establishes a secure signal directly between a device and the printer. Apple's AirPrint, for example, is a type of Wi-Fi Direct connection, and other platforms support similar technologies. It's secure, fast, and great for on-site printing needs.

NFC: NFC (Near Field Communication) is also available on some models, allowing you to connect your printer to a smartphone or tablet simply by touching the device to a specific area of ​​your printer.

Cloud printing: Many full-featured printers, particularly all-in-ones (AIOs), now offer internet-based features that let you access photos stored on sites like Facebook, Flickr, Dropbox, and Google Drive, as well as to remote printing and access to arts and crafts you can print.

Please note that if your printer is not connected to the internet, you will not be able to access these services or print to it remotely from devices such as a smartphone or tablet.

SD Cards – Some printers may also have SD card slots, which you can then navigate through using the printer's menu and choose the selected files to print. This can be especially useful for photographers who can transfer SD cards directly from cameras to printers.

ink costs

If you do large print jobs on a regular basis, perhaps for a home business or remote work situation that requires hard copies, the cost of printing ink is an important factor to consider.

The cost of ink can be measured per page, but the efficiency depends on the printer model and how it is designed. With a powerful and expensive printer it will only cost you about 4 cents per page for black and white and 8 cents per page for color. A more affordable printer (or a cheaper cartridge) will increase these costs by a couple of cents, but it's not much of a difference unless you print hundreds and hundreds of pages each month.

Some printers will provide direct cost-per-print information that you can refer to to get a better idea of ​​your costs before you buy, or you can divide the cost of the toner cartridges against the cost-per-cartridge page yield. print yourself.

Subscription plans for a continuous supply of printer ink can help reduce costs for home-based businesses if needed. Buying refilled cartridges or refilling them yourself is a tricky prospect: many printers don't recognize cartridges that aren't new or purchased directly from the manufacturer.

double-sided printing

One feature that is becoming very common and that we see as a big plus is automatic duplex printing. Duplex printing refers to printing or scanning both sides of the page without the need to manually flip the page.

In a printer, duplex printing is achieved by printing the first side of the page, and in an automatic process, the mechanism pulls the page back through the printer, flipping it over and printing the other side.

Many all-in-ones with an automatic document feeder (ADF) for the scanner also have duplex printing, allowing you to scan both sides of the page as the document passes through the ADF.

An all-in-one without an automatic document feeder cannot scan duplex without you turning the page on the scanner glass. Duplex scanning is a great convenience if you frequently scan two-sided pages, such as those cut out of a magazine.

paper handling

All printers feed a thick stack of 8.5 x 11-inch paper, but what about legal envelopes, index cards, and glossy paper? Fortunately, many printers now include dedicated feed trays for printing on special papers with unusual sizes or different weights, making it easier to deal with those situations when they arise.

Consider the size of the input tray: smaller trays will require you to add paper all the time, while a 250-page tray can make it a once-a-month affair.

Printers for the modern paperless home

Many printer buyers in the 2020s are facing a conundrum of a different kind: Their homes are largely paperless, and most of their work is digital. However, they still need a printer for the occasional photo art project or to scan and send a signature. For buyers like these, a large printer may not be worth the price, especially when it comes to the space they take up and the maintenance of their ink cartridges.

A new type of printer has gained popularity in response: compact, often portable, home printers that are made for the occasional job here and there without taking up space or effort. One example is the Canon Pixma iP110 wireless printer. Another option is the highly portable HP Tango X. Printers like these are designed to work directly from your phone or laptop and can fit almost anywhere.

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