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Buying an inkjet printer
| Date post: | 24-Jun-2015 |
| Category: |
Devices & Hardware |
| Upload: | theofficesuppliessupermarketcom |
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Buying an inkjet printer
An inkjet printer offers all-around quality and affordability. It can produce images that rival the quality of laser printers, but is more economical for occasional use or low-volume printing.
Inkjet printers work by propelling tightly controlled ink droplets from cartridges filled with black and colour cartridges. Basic inkjet printer models use a tri-colour cartridge made up of Cyan, Magenta and Yellow inks, while high-end models and inkjet photo printers use up to eight colours to produce excellent graphics and film-quality photographic prints.
WHEN DETERMINING WHICH MODEL OF INKJET PRINTER IS SUITABLE FOR YOUR NEEDS, CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING FEATURES:
Printer resolution
Measured in dots per inch (dpi), this determines the quality of your prints. The higher the dpi, the better the quality of prints. Choose a printer with a high resolution if you’re looking to print more photos or documents with a lot of graphics.
Printing speed
It is measured in pages per minute (ppm). Printing speed for inkjet printers vary depending on the quality settings the user chooses and whether printing using black or colour ink.
The speed for monochrome and colour printing is listed separately as printing in black-and-white is almost always faster than printing in colour.
Printers also produce more text-only documents compared to photos and images at a given time. Buying an inkjet printer with fast printing speeds is ideal, but print quality should not be compromised.
Ink cartridge
It is an important, but often overlooked, factor in choosing which inkjet printer to buy. Note that ink cartridges are intended to be used for a specific printer or a series of related models, so read the printer’s manual and look for the compatibility chart that gives the specific ink cartridges it can use. You can buy original equipment manufacturer (OEM) ink cartridges or third party cartridges.
Buying original cartridges from the printer manufacturer itself is more expensive but will guarantee quality and lower chance of failure, while third party ink cartridges are cheaper. However, be aware that some manufacturers patent their cartridge design so you cannot buy a third-party ink cartridge for this particular model.
Connection options
Inkjet printers generally connect to a computer via USB or FireWire (IEEE 1394), while more advanced models offer networking capacity through an Ethernet or WiFi, allowing the user to print from any device connected to the network.
WiFi printing also offers greater flexibility because the user does not need a cable to connect back to the computer and multiple users can all share one printer. Some of the latest inkjet printer models already support Bluetooth printing allowing users to print directly from a compatible camera or smartphone.
Memory card slots
Having this features means the printer can read data directly from one or several types of memory cards such as xD, MultiMedia Card (MMC), Secure Digital (SD), Picture Card, CompactFlash or Sony Memory Stick.
Some cameras and many smartphones are already equipped with built-in editing functions, eliminating the need to edit pictures and documents via a computer and allowing the user to print straight from the memory card.
Print media
This determines what types of material the machine can print on, from everyday office paper to envelopes through to heavy cardstock, photo paper, lightweight vellum and even printable CDs and DVDs.
Some inkjet printers have a dedicated tray for special types of material such as photo paper or non-paper media. Always secure the best printing results from your inkjet printer by choosing paper especially made for inkjet printer use.
View the range of inkjet printers we have at http://www.theofficesuppliessupermarket.com/c/office-machines/computer-hardware/printers-inkjet
