Which printer should you buy for the office?

Inkjet or laser? Black and white or colour? To find the best printer that will deliver high-quality prints at a pleasingly low cost, read our expert guide about which printer should you buy?

The most important question to consider when buying a new printer is: inkjet or laser? Other key questions include whether you want to scan and copy as well as print? Are happy with just black and white or do you want to print in colour? And do you want wireless printing features, such as Apple AirPrint?

“Computers I can live with, but printers I hate from the bottom of my heart” says Adrian Chiles in his opinion computing column of The Guardian.

Which printer should you buy?

Do you need printouts fast, or is quality more important? What sort of documents will you print the most? Will you print from one computer, or lots of devices? How much do printing costs matter to you?

Printers can generally be split into two main categories, based on the ink technology they use: inkjet or laser.

They’re also referred to in terms of their features – such as wireless printers, or the tasks their best suited to – such as home office printers. Below you can find out the characteristics of the different types of printers to decide which will suit you best.

How much should I spend?

You can buy a new inkjet printer for less than £50 and you don’t need to spend much more to get a good one. For around £150, you’ll get a high-quality all-in-one, colour laser printer.

The more you spend, the more features you’ll get from your printer. But, these days, even an all-in-one printer/scanner with wi-fi and Apple AirPrint could only cost you £40. For more than £100, you’ll get home-office features such as an automatic document feeder, or automatic double-sided printing.

What is an inkjet printer?

Inkjet printers are great all-rounders. They can handle text-heavy documents such as a student’s coursework or minutes from a meeting, but they can also print photos – and do a better job of it than a laser printer. They’re quiet and unobtrusive, and they also take up less desk space than a laser.

However, inkjets are usually more expensive to run than laser printers, costing you more in ink per printed page than you would pay for laser toner. That’s not necessarily the case with a few business-focused inkjet printers, but as a rule of thumb, inkjets cost you less up front, but more in the long term.

• Pros: Smaller and cheaper than laser printers, can produce good-quality colour prints
• Cons: More expensive running costs, slower to print black text pages than a laser

What is a laser printer?

Laser printers shine when it comes to printing a lot of black text, and while colour models are more expensive than colour inkjets, they also produce professional-looking business graphics. They’re normally faster than inkjets when it comes to this kind of job and can handle a heavier workload if you’re planning to print a lot of pages every month.

What’s more, while the toner cartridges are expensive, each one prints a lot more pages than an inkjet cartridge, so the actual cost per black-and-white or colour page is usually much less. However, laser printers are usually bulkier and noisier than the equivalent inkjet printer and will take up more space on your desk.

While they can produce good graphs and charts, colour laser printers aren’t much good at printing photos. Stick to an inkjet if you’re likely to print off your holiday snaps.

• Pros: Fast prints and good-value printing for black-and-white pages
• Cons: More expensive to buy, bulkier and often noisier than inkjets.

What is an all-in-one printer?

You can buy straightforward inkjet or laser printers, but a device that scans and copies as well won’t cost you a whole lot more. Most have wi-fi connectivity so that you can print from several PCs or laptops, not to mention tablets or smartphones. Some include a fax function, too.

Some all-in-one printers have an automatic document feeder (ADF) on top, which is handy for scanning and copying multi-page reports.

• Pros: Can scan, photocopy and fax as well as print
• Cons: Tend to be larger models that take up more space

What is a photo printer?

The term ‘photo printer’ covers a wide range of devices. To some, it’s an A4 all-in-one that’s really good at printing photos. To others, it’s a dedicated compact photo printer that only prints small photos. Or perhaps you want an A3 specialist model with dedicated photo cartridges and high-resolution print heads for lab quality photo prints.

Photo printers usually have memory card slots and a USB connection on the front, so you can plug in your camera’s memory card or connect the camera itself and print away, with or without a PC.

• Pros: Optimised for photo-sized prints
• Cons: Can’t guarantee better print quality than a more flexible regular printer

What is an A3 printer?

If you want to print large office documents, posters or photos to hang on your wall, then an A3 printer is the one for you. They cost more money and take up more desk space, but they can print on larger sheets of paper than a standard A4 printer. Some have a strong photographic or design focus.

• Pros: Ideal if you need to print at poster-size
• Cons: Take up significant space compared to regular printers

Black-and-white or colour: Which printer should you buy?

Black-and-white inkjets are now pretty much extinct, but you can still save a little money by opting for a ‘mono’ (black-and-white) laser printer. These are cheaper to buy than colour models, and if you’re mostly printing black text on white pages, you’ll also find them nice and cheap to run.

Colour makes your printer much more versatile, however. On the off chance you ever need to print a photo or colour document, a colour printer is worth having.

Should I consider a wireless printer?

Wireless internet, or wi-fi, is an excellent feature to look for in your new printer. It enables you to connect it to the internet without needing a cable. This means you can place your printer where you like in your home.

Once you have connected your wireless printer to the internet, you can access a range of online services, such as the free mobile printing apps offered by the big printer brands – HP, Epson, Canon and Brother.

Other online features to look out for include Apple AirPrint, enabling you to print from Mac, iPhone and iPad devices more easily, and Cloud Print, enabling simpler printing from Google programs and services.

Still undecided?

Technology can be a mine field. Do you buy on price, make and model or recommendation? Which printer should you buy? Let us take the stress away from you. Contact the LIS Help Desk and speak to one of our friendly advisors. We spend time finding out about your business and requirements. We will then recommend the best option to suit your needs. When you speak to a LIS technician, you can be sure to receive, honest impartial advice.

LIS – SECURING YOUR DIGITAL WORLD

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