One of the more perplexing decisions when faced with choosing a new printer is which print technology is going to suit you best. At the moment there are two main printing systems: the laser technology, using toner cartridges and a transfer drum assembly; and ink jets using ink tank cartridges and fine-spray nozzles. The method that will suit you best will depend largely on what you plan to print on your new printer, and cost factors that affect the costs of running it. Laser printers are possibly better for high-volume printing, with lower ‘per page’ costs and they better black intensity text than most ink jets. Laser printers tend to have a faster page rate but ink jets still offer the important advantages in affordable colour printing.
For home use, you’ll probably want to print out digital photos or graphics, which makes colour a must. The traditional differentiation between lasers and ink jets has been office versus home use; however, colour offers obvious presentation advantages for business use as well. Fortunately, prices for both categories of printers have come down enough to make it practical to purchase both a laser and an ink jet if you absolutely need both colour and high-quality text.
The work you do
There are a number of different printer configurations available today, many of them quite specialised in the applications. There are specialised photo printers, direct disc CD printers, Multifunction printers, desktop ink jets and high-speed lasers.
If you want a printer that is specifically designed for printing photographs, you will most likely look for a colour ink-jet system that is a photo printer, allowing very high quality colour output and capable of printing all the way to the edge of the page. Recent releases by major brands now include all-in-one Multifunction devices that include scanning and printing capabilities. Many smaller units that are designed purely as a photo-printer to plug directly into your digital camera are also available. Much the same can be said for CD or DVD printing, with specialist printers available for printing directly onto discs, saving label application.
On the other hand if you are a small home-office worker, then your requirements may be more general, in which case you need to make a printer decision based on the types of documents your produce and how many. In general terms, ink-jet printers offer high quality colour outputs at a low hardware cost, but high consumable cost. Lasers offer significantly higher speeds but at a much higher hardware cost. High volume usage however, reduces the cost per page considerably.
Multifunction printers (MFP) are often ideal for home office or student needs because they combine multiple functions into one unit, usually a scanner, printer, copier fax machine, doing a little bit of everything, and saving considerable desk and office space in the bargain. Generally ink-jet style printers, some MFP may trade-off performance for price and convenience (e.g. lower resolution, slower print speed) than if you were to buy a printer and scanner individually.
You can buy Multifunction printers specially configured for printing photographs, with some machines providing the ability to scan directly from 35mm slides and store digital files and print them, which is ideal for archiving old photo libraries. However, the scanned images may not exhibit the same clarity and brightness of digitally capture photographs, or as the kind of quality that you can obtain from a deidcated scanner. Search Myshopping.com.au for the specifications you require and compare prices and performance between brands and technologies.
Dealing with Technical Talk
One of the specifications that you will be faced with, is that of resolution. Up to a point, a printer’s resolution determines aspects of its print quality. Images are made up of tiny dots of ink or toner that is applied to the page, and resolution is the term given to the number of dots per inch-quoted as dpi. This usually represented in a two-dimensional matrix (eg: 600 x 300 dpi). Most printers today support a basic 600 x 600 dpi resolution that produces adequate quality in most instances. Many ink jets, however, especially photo printers and high-end plotters, offer higher resolutions and more dots in the vertical plane than the horizontal.
Resolution ratings are not the whole story however. Many printer manufacturers now incorporate smoothing and enhancing features through software algorithms. This means that some output from printers with a lower dpi looks just as good as that from a higher dpi unit. And, although some printers have very high resolutions, you’re not likely to notice any difference in quality with common print jobs once you go above 600 x 600 dpi resolution. What you will notice however, is much higher consumption of inks or toner. It is noteworthy, and perhaps obvious to some, that the higher resolution you are printing at, the higher will be your consumable consumption, and this is the most expensive part of your printer.
Speed is another important consideration. Vary rarely will you find that your printer performs at the ‘pages-per-minute’ rate (ppm) that is advertised or cited in the specification. There are a number of reasons for this including the size of the file being printed, the amount of ink coverage on the page, the proportion of black to other colours, the weight of the paper stock and possibly even the constancy of the power supply of electricity to your premises. This is not to day that the manufacturers, under laboratory conditions are not able to make the machine perform at spec, just not to rely on the claim as a gospel figure. However you can use the speed ratings to make some judgement of performance differences between brands and models. If speed is an important consideration, then you can short-list printers that claim to perform above a certain rate and the compare other factors. You can do this at Myshopping.com.au simply by searching for printers that offer a certain ppm speed.
Laser printers use powder toner that is electromagnetically attracted to the page by an image temporarily made on a transfer drum through a laser scanning process, and then fused to the page with a heat-setting system. This toner is supplied in cartridges, usually one for each of a four-colour printing system (cyan, magenta, yellow and black). Manufactures give some estimate of how many pages of a given size each toner cartridge will print, based on a predetermined proportion of coverage (say 10%). As with the speed claims, these estimates are rarely accurate, but can be used to make some judgement between makes and models. The higher resolution of image you are printing, the more toner will be used in the process. Ink jet printers use a liquid ink stored in tanks that are sprayed by very fine nozzles onto the page as they are required. Just as you replace the toner cartridges in the laser system, you replace ink tanks when they’re depleted in an ink jet printer.
It is important to understand that even thought the printer might be cheap, consumables is where the manufacturers actually make enormous profits, so be sure to consider replacement consumables when doing your cost comparisons. With ink jet printers, some have colour cartridges in one unit, others have separate colour units. In the long run, separate tanks will most likely work out cheaper, because as one colour runs out, you replace only that colour. When all colours are housed in the one cartridge unit, you may have a nearly full tank of cyan when the yellow is completely gone, and you have to throw away unused ink. Not only does this waste your money, it can also be environmentally expensive.
Cost
There are two parts to your cost assessment of a printer. The first is the purchase price of the printer itself. This can vary considerably between brands and models, and is usually differentiated through different features being offered. Use Myshopping.com.au to search for a printer based on a given price range and compare the features. However, possibly more important is the ongoing cost, often measured in cost per page. A typical ink jet printer may cost you 40-50 cents per printed page, depending on how much ink you are using on the page, it may even cost more. By comparison, a colour laser may work out to 15-20 cents per page. These costs don’t usually include the paper stock, and are based on consumables and maintenance costs. Companies like Xerox often supply large colour Laser printers for a cost per page fee.
One cost assessment technique is to estimate how much printing you will do in a given period, load your calculations with a percentage of ink coverage (if you are printing all full gloss and high resolution photographs, for example, you might load the cost per page by a factor of 8-10), factor in the machine cost and make a comparison of what you will spend in a year, including the cost of the printer.
Other things you might consider
How paper travels through a printer can affect your whole printer experience. The closest you can get to a ‘straight through’ paper path, the more trouble-free your printer will be. If all your printing is only on plain white bond paper, then paper path will possibly not be a major consideration. But if you’re printing on photographic stock, thick paper, envelopes, transparent film or other materials, then be sure the print path is compatible with your requirements. How you connect to your computer might also be a consideration, especially if you work with large files where connection speed is a consideration. Most printers today offer relatively high-speed USB interfaces. But you might want to consider wireless connections or networking capabilities.
When choosing a Laser printer, on-board RAM (read only memory) might be a consideration. A printer with a standard 64 Megabytes of RAM will be slow to print a quantity of documents that are larger in size than the printer’s memory. If large documents are a consideration, make sure you can upgrade the printer’s memory. The printer driver provides the software interface to your printer, offering you on-screen control over copies, page size, orientation, resolution, text smoothing and paper thickness and type. Many drivers now include advanced features and enable you to create your own custom-setting profiles for quick selection. Moreover a good driver provides complete printer management from on-screen, including paper jams and job queue management. Ink-jet drivers often provide graphical indications of remaining ink levels for each colour.
Search using Myshopping.com.au
Consider any bundled software offerings when you’re choosing a printer, for this can mean a significant bonus in value-added software. Bundled applications might include greeting card, poster, and banner creators, and photo editing programs. With computing becoming a major component of education, software for kids that provide a user-friendly way to create word processing and graphics documents can be a major bonus. Space may be an issue in your office, in which case you should consider the amount of space the printer will need to operate efficiently. This is often more than just its footprint. You need to also consider access to paper trays and airflow around the machine. While basic printer configurations may be fine for your immediate needs, take a look at the options available and their costs for each unit before you buy. You may see future applications. This is easy to do using Myshopping.com.au where you can simply compare types of technology, prices, vendors and the options each one offers.
Printers are essential peripherals, performing a critical role as they render electronic information into tangible records or material output. You’re simply not using your computer to its fullest potential if you are unable to print reports, presentations, letters, photos, or whatever it is you need to output. Choosing a printer can be confusing, however, in today’s competitive, ever-changing landscape. This buying guide rounds out some of the more important criteria to consider before you make that all-important purchase decision.
Printing Technologies
This is the biggest decision to make before anything else. Your choice should be based on how you work and the kind of output you will be expecting from the printer.
o Inkjet: Inkjet printers can deliver stunning color, so this is the way to go if you are mostly concerned with printing photos. Inkjets can be used for printing text, but the print speed is too slow if the primary purpose of the printer is document printing. To obtain more photo-realism, choose inkjets with an expanded range of colors that includes light cyan and light magenta in addition to the standard four-color CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black). The extra colors deliver more subtle color gradations in blue skies and skin tones. And if you print a great deal of black-and-white photos, consider photo printers with more than one variation of black ink or with gray inks. Many photo printers use color inks to produce a composite black, resulting in a muddy tint. A second black-ink cartridge and different shades of gray help maintain a neutral tone, with the gray ink allowing for subtle shading and thus improving the quality of black-and-white photos.
o Dye-sublimation: Dye-sub printers can print continuous tones and a superior range of colors that laser printers are unable to, making them ideal for more demanding graphic applications or color printing. Dye-sub prints are also less prone to fading and distortion over time than dye-based ink prints. In addition, many consumer-based dye-sublimation printers can print directly from digital cameras and also accept memory cards. They are, however, more limited in the range and size of printing media that can be used — usually letter-size paper or smaller.
o Laser: Laser printers are the perfect choice if you need to print large amounts of text documents. They print faster than inkjets and have a lower cost of operation over the long-term — even though they may cost more to buy initially. There are trade-offs, however. Monochrome laser printers produce crisp black-and-white text but cannot be used for color printing. Color lasers deliver excellent text and graphics but are much more expensive and can be costly to maintain.
Printer Usage
Some printers are good for general printing, while others are better at specialized tasks or combine several functions into one machine.
o Photo: If you take lots of pictures, consider getting a photo printer. Photo printers can be in the form of photo inkjets — which can print both photos and text; snapshot photo printers — for outputting small 4×6-inch prints; or professional photo printers — for large, tabloid-size photos and often including network connections to enable printer sharing. Most consumer and professional photo printers use inkjet technology, while most snapshot photo printers that print 4×6-inch prints rely on dye-sublimation technology. Regardless of the type or technology that is used, the most important thing to look for in a photo printer is photorealistic quality. Everything else is secondary.
o General Purpose: As the name implies, general purpose printers can be used for printing almost anything, including text and photos. Choose a general printer with a laser format if you print more text than photos; and choose an inkjet format if you print more photos than text.
o Multifunction: Multifunction printers (MFPs) combine in one device several functions such as printing, scanning, faxing, and copying. MFPs cost less than buying separate stand-alone devices and cut down on the hassle of setting up individual machines. If you are strapped for budget or space, consider these all-in-one devices. Take note, however, that a malfunction with one component takes down the whole device, and individual components may not be upgradeable. MFPs are available with either laser printers to emphasize speedy text printing and the occasional graphics output; or they are available with inkjet printers for vibrant photo printing.
Environment and Applications
When deciding on a printer, think about where and how you plan to use it. The home user will have different printing needs from that of the office worker, photographer, or traveler.
o General/Basic home use: Versatile, affordable printers are the best choices here, and inkjets usually satisfy the printing needs of most home users looking to output photos from their digital camera or for other light printing needs. Ink cartridges can be expensive, so look for inkjets with separate cartridges for each color. This way, you need not throw out entire cartridges — simply because one color has been used up ahead of the others — but replace only the ones that run out.
o Home office: An MFP may be a great device to have in your home office, especially if it comes with an automatic document feeder that can process multipage documents unattended. Extra onboard memory increases efficiency and allows for processing of larger graphics and documents with ease. And if scanning and photocopying are important to you, get an MFP with a higher resolution.
o Photography: Photo printers are the obvious choice if printing photos is your main thing. Choose either the smaller, snapshot photo printer that produces 4×6-inch prints; or choose larger-sized, professional photo printers that are capable of delivering tabloid-size 11×17-inch prints — even up to full-bleed 13×19-inch prints that include a border to allow room for registration marks.
o Text printing: If printing large amounts of text is what you’ll be doing most, monochrome standard laser printers are your best bet — as they can turn out page after page of crisp text fairly rapidly. These printers are ideal for printing black-and-white text and simple graphics, so you may need to get a separate inkjet or photo printer in order to print color photos – unless you wish to invest in the more expensive color lasers that can print both black-and-white and color documents.
o Small network: A workgroup laser printer can be what you need if your home office or small office is built around a network. Workgroup lasers pack faster print speeds and have more memory to handle multiple print jobs. They also offer more advanced handling capabilities such as larger trays, and may offer duplex (double-sided) printing, sorting, and stapling. More expensive than standard laser printers, the majority of workgroup lasers are monochrome — designed for printing text and simple graphics.
o Traveler: For the businessperson on the go and looking to print, portable printers provide the solution with their compact size (small enough to fit into a briefcase), light weight (less than 5 lbs.), and handy power (operates on batteries or with a car charger). Newer models can print wirelessly — making it a non-issue if you forget your USB cable at home. Some portables offer great extras such as a sheet feeder for automatic page feeding, are able to handle transparencies and envelopes, and even support an optional scanner cartridge that replaces the ink cartridge and turns the printer into a scanner. Portable printers are more expensive and print more slowly than standard printers, but convenience is what you’re paying for.
PC-free printing
With something called PictBridge support, photo printers do not need to be connected to PCs to be able to print photos. PictBridge is a standard adopted by manufacturers of printers and digital cameras for PC-free printing, allowing photos to be printed straight from the digital camera to the printer by simply connecting them through a USB cable — as long as the printer and digital camera are compatible. A variation to this idea is the ability for printers to read memory cards directly from a digital camera or other image-storing device by simply inserting the cards into designated printer slots.
Once the camera is connected to or the card is inserted into the printer, photos can be reviewed in a number of ways, depending on the printer model. Some may feature a built-in LCD screen that allows shots to be reviewed, edits to be made, and the ones to be printed chosen directly from the screen. Other models may let you create an index sheet — similar to a contact sheet in film printing — so you can mark the ones you choose for printing and rescan the sheet. Other printer models let you decide which shots you want to print straight from the digital camera. Many types of memory cards are available on the market today, so make sure the printer accepts the kind used by your camera for you to enjoy card-direct printing of photos.
Paper Handling
Paper is obviously an important issue in printing. Here are some important tips on paper handling for printers:
o When buying a printer, make sure that it’s equipped to accommodate all the paper sizes and types that you’ll be using. If you need to print on heavy stock, for instance, make sure the printer can handle the heaviest paper you use. For this purpose, a printer’s paper path can give an indication of how it handles paper: Inkjets generally use straight-through paper paths, while lasers use S-shaped or U-shaped paths. Generally speaking, the straighter the path, the thicker the media that can be used. However, the curved paths typical of laser printers also makes it possible to have more flexible configurations for input and output trays.
o Using the correct type of paper will also make a difference to your printing. Inkjets can print on a variety of matte or glossy photo paper, but make sure you choose the right kind of paper for your printer to obtain optimal print results. For example, matte papers are suitable for both pigment and dye-based inks, while luster finishes are generally more suitable for dye-based inks.
o In terms of size, most inkjets and lasers can handle printing of letter and legal sizes. If you need to print larger prints, however, consider a printer that can handle sizes like 11 by 17 inches. You may also consider getting a printer with multiple paper drawers if you’ll be switching between different paper sizes on a regular basis. For a laser printer, multiple output trays, duplexing (double-sided printing), collating, and automatic stapling can be additional useful features.
o If you plan to use third-party paper, make sure it works well with your printer. Before you buy a large quantity of third-party paper, try a few samples by printing the same photos on both the printer manufacturer’s paper and the third-party paper, and then compare the results.
Printer Specs and Key Features
Printers feature various specifications, so navigating the spec sheet intelligently requires familiarity with what each specification entails according to the printing technology involved or for the type of usage planned for the printer.
o Resolution: For laser printers, 300 dpi is adequate if all you need is to print black-and-white text, but choose at least 1200 dpi for photorealistic grayscale or color printing. For inkjets, choose one featuring 1200-dpi or higher resolution with a droplet size of 4 picoliters or smaller for sharp, clean output. With photo printers, resolution varies according to technology: Output at 300 dpi by photo printers using dye-sublimation technology is comparable to photo printers using inkjet technology outputting at 1200 dpi or higher.
o Speed: Speed ratings vary greatly, and the print speeds cited by manufacturers usually refer to printing in draft mode or at the lowest resolution. For laser printers, a more accurate way of measuring actual print speed is to time just how long it takes from the minute you hit “Print” — to the time that it takes the printer to warm up, spool the job into the print queue, and for the printed output to finally come out. For inkjets, print speed is not one of its stronger suits; so don’t be overly concerned with this spec.
o Memory: Extra memory will come in handy for laser printers to enable them to handle large graphics and documents more easily. Check the maximum upgradeable memory allowed for your printer, if it features a hard drive with similarly upgradeable memory, and if the printer can use generic memory or needs the manufacturer’s brand. In the case of inkjets, memory is built-in and not upgradeable, but this is not an issue inasmuch as processing occurs on the side of the computer — so there’s no need for large amounts of installed RAM to begin with on inkjets.
o Connectivity: Most printers today no longer support the older parallel connection but feature instead USB 1.1 or Hi-Speed USB (USB 2.0) — either of which should work fine with USB computers. For printers to be used on a network, it will need to have an Ethernet port to enable printer sharing. For more flexible printing options, you may want to look for printers with infrared input/output ports that allow wireless printing from notebooks or other devices with infrared ports. And if high-speed or long-distance printing is what you need, consider printers with a FireWire port.
Consumables and cost per page
The purchase price of the printer is just the beginning of its overall cost because over time, the hidden cost of ink or toner, paper, and parts will add up. These “hidden costs” are the consumables; dividing the total cost of consumables by the number of pages that can be produced from the consumables gives you the cost per page. Laser printers offer the lowest cost per page, using relatively inexpensive toner and normal-weight, uncoated paper. On the other hand, cost per page for inkjets can be four or five times as much, depending on how much ink you use and the cost of the paper — normally more expensive, coated, glossy paper for higher-quality color output. The tank configuration for inkjets should also be taken into consideration. Inkjets with a single cartridge for the colored inks will incur higher replacement costs because the cartridge must be replaced as soon as one color runs out — even if the cartridge still contains plenty of ink for the other colors. To save costs, get an inkjet with separate cartridges for black and each individual color.
Print Quality
All the specs and fancy features in your printer won’t mean a thing if you don’t have good, solid print quality — whether of text or photos — to back it up.
o Text: Text should be smooth and crisp. At the smallest font sizes, the individual letters should be clearly readable, and they should not bleed into one another. Medium-size fonts should have no fuzzy edges, and the largest fonts — especially bold ones — should be filled with solid black, not a muddy brown or bluish tone. You should also be able to see well-formed and well-rounded counters (the openings) in letterforms; if you don’t, it’s usually a sign of the printer laying down too much ink. (Remember, however, that inkjet printers will display some wicking on plain, 20-lb. paper, as the ink bleeds along the paper fibers.)
o Graphics: For color printing, look for gradients — or areas where a color goes from dark to light. Color should transition smoothly, and you should not see any color banding, where distinct bands progress from dark to light. On a test page, you will likely see a gradient bar that goes from black to white through a series of progressively darker gray shades; the transition from shade to shade should be smooth without a noticeable line. Also, look for a nice balance of colors in color-graphic printing — something that’s not overly saturated nor flat and washed out.
o Photo: A good photo print should like the original photo. Colors should be accurate and balanced, vivid but not oversaturated. Good detail should be present in all areas, with no jagged lines or pixels or any other visual artifacts. Good contrast should exist between shadow and highlight areas — not muddy or flat and without color. You may not always be able to tell the difference from one great print to another, but almost everyone can recognize a bad print when they see one. Trust what you see.
Working in Printer Consumable retailing, you would think that the majority of questions we receive would loosely revolve around “Which Ink should I use?”, or “What cartridges will give me the best printing results?” If you find yourself agreeing with that statement, then come and keep me company in the I-was-wrong-corner. That’s right. The number one topic of conversation we find is “What printer do you recommend?” Whether they’re buying a new one themselves, or searching for a business contact, or just one of those people that really – REALLY – wants to be up to date with the top technology information, we get asked non-stop.
Whilst the temptation would be to fulfil our capitalist desires, recommend the printers which provide us with the highest margins and be done with it, amassing an untouchable army of customers utilising Printer-X to their own cost along the way (mwahaha), this is not how we do business. In fact, quite the opposite. We believe that our experience in the cartridges field, coupled with the fact we are not involved in the retailing of printers, leaves us in a prominent unbiased position for recommendations.
Whilst the following is not intended to denigrate or damage any manufacturer’s reputation, it is our honest opinion which will hopefully lead you in your printer browsing task.
So, capitalist army-building aside, the actual question – What printer do we recommend? I wish I could put a single printer here, an all encompassing beast of a machine that excelled in anything you ever needed, and even did your Monday morning emails for you. But alas, my dreams are yet to reach fruition. The ideal printer for you is going to depend on a range of factors, which we will discuss and find out.
Firstly – what will you be using the printer for?
Now, stop your laughing at me for one moment, I know 99% of you read that and thought “Well, for Printing, idiot”, and I accept your mocking tones and counter with:
o Purely for home use – letters, kids homework, neighbourhood watch pamphlets
o Quality printing, whether it is photos or image intense documents
o Small office use – mainly business documents on a reasonable scale
o Larger business use – high speed documents
Aha! Not as simple as you thought is it. Whilst you decide which of these areas you fit into, I will cheerily carry on with this article, thinking of my next way to stump you.
I’m a home printer:
Now that you’ve got that truth out in the open, and can move on with your life as a computer hardware (I’m a funny man), this category of printer means you need to focus on ease of use and cost. You don’t want to be spending £’s each time your child prints a new spell-checked version of their homework, or you try out the new letterhead for your family Christmas letter X number of times. I shall start with the short and sweet part of this section:
AVOID – Old Hp and Lexmark printers, and Dell altogether
Now just imagine me shouting that at you, possibly accompanied by violent shaking, and you should get the sincerity of the warning. Just don’t buy them. These manufacturers use an ink cartridge with a built in head, with all 3 different colours placed within this single cartridge. When one colour runs out, the cartridge is finished. Finish all your magenta printing, as who doesn’t love red everywhere, and wave goodbye to any cyan and yellow you had stored away for a rainy day. This obviously means much higher printer costs than a system where the print head is built into the printer, with separate ink tanks for each colour so you just top up where needed. This system is utilised by Epson, Canon and Brother, making them immediately better value for you, and our recommended starting point for home printing.
Next you must consider what you want your printer to be able to do. Did you manage to stifle your “print things” laugh this time? I hope so. With multi-function printers offering a range of extras nowadays, such as scanning/copying/wireless networking, you really get a diverse choice. We do recommend spending the few extra pounds and getting one of the multi-function devices. In the long haul, the multi purposes it provides will tailor for any home needs you may encounter, and with all manufacturers providing them, their costs are competitive already.
Another advantage of these printers is a saving on following printing costs. With original cartridges approaching the actual cost of the printer, many can be tricked into an apparent bargain, then double their printing outlay as soon as the first cartridge runs dry. Home use printers opens up the avenue of compatible/refilled cartridges. With the only difference in quality being noticeable towards high end photo printing, they will be perfectly adequate for all home printer needs, and are significantly cheaper than manufacturer’s original cartridges.
So what do we know? We are looking for a multi-function printer, made by Epson, Canon or Brother. Normally we would go into the hows and whys of using the printer, but the range of models for these manufacturers have really fine tuned the user experience, and we feel they all draw level on the usability test. So all 3 manufacturers carry on to the next stage, hooray. Multi function printers for these 3 providers is a great way to filter your browsing time, and anything after this is really more down to personal preference than a definitive answer.
For our overall recommendation, we would go for Canon each time.. They are reliable, cheap to run, and quality output! If you just want a printer that prints, go for the Canon ip4700. Want a multi-function? The Canon mp640.
Now that you’ve had my Home printing two-cents, I am going to break open the piggy bank in a splurge of valuable information for High Quality Photo printing.
Quality Image Printing:
Many people don’t realise, but there are two types of imaging printers to choose from, outlined in the following to make you knowledgeable on all things image based.
The first to cast your mind’s eye over is a process called dye sublimation. Ignoring the scientific jargon, it transfers dye onto your paper/card/fabric with heat one colour at a time. If you’re really wondering, and want to show off, it’s called sublimation as the dye goes from solid, to a gas state, to solid in the printing sequence, without ever being a liquid. Fancy. This printing method produces very high quality photo prints, typically equivalent or actually better than that produced by the traditional printing method employed in photo processing shops – the silver halide process.
In addition due to the sublimation method, there is very little mess, and the photos are instantly dry and ready to handle as soon as printing is finished. Also, due to the design of the printers, fewer moving parts than other styles of printers limit the potential for break down, maximising the longevity of the printers. However, this method is limited by sizes that you can print in, typically only found in the 6×4 print sizes, and can be expensive with the method utilising numerous panels for each colour. Couple this with a fact these panels cannot be reused, no matter how small an amount of ink was used of that colour, and your costs can quickly accumulate. Ultimately though, if you are looking for a pure photo printing experience, you can’t go wrong with this printing method, and we recommend Canon as the manufacturer to side with.
If photo printing isn’t the only quality image you’re after, then dye sublimation may not be for you. With the transfer from a gas state to a solid, a small amount of diffusion (funny, and a scientist!) is unavoidable. Whilst this is not an issue with photos as it produces a very natural finish, when applied to sectors which require pinpoint accuracy, such as an architect’s graphical outputs, this discrepancy is a weakness. Additionally, this technique of printing only works on special-coated paper, meaning an unavoidable inflexibility in what you print. This leads me on nicely to the alternative method of image printing, Inkjet printers.
In the past, this method was so inferior to dye sublimation that it would not have been considered, especially in the realms of photo printing. This was due to dye sublimation utilising “continuous-tone technology” where, in layman’s terms, any dot in the photo can be any colour. This is contrary to inkjet printing which, as the name suggests, jets ink onto the page in droplets in scattered layers to create the image you are printing. Whilst this creates a smooth looking photo, focusing in on the photo would reveal visible droplets and not one smooth progression of the image. However, large advances in the technology of inkjet printers have seen the implementation of microscopic droplets, and a more diverse range of injected ink colours, providing a far superior picture than previously seen. Coupled with its accurate printing for the aforementioned architects drawing, its ability to use numerous materials to print onto, and the flexibility of image size, the new range of inkjet printers provide a much better overall package for your diverse printing needs.
If you trust us implicitly, and need no more information than the gold mine you have just treated your eyes to, then our best choice would be the Epson Stylus Photo R2880. Hard working, reliable, quality output, even my manager has one!
From the beauty of image printing, with the limitless potential of stunning scenery from photography, our exploration of purchasing a printer leads us naturally onto…. small office printing. What better way to dismiss the notion of grandiose panoramic views, than to the black and white (I’m sure they need colour at some times) monotony of the small office environment.
Small Office Printing:
Those of you whom have read the whole article will be glad to know that the requirement of these printers is very similar to that of the home printers, with low costs and good performance top of the agenda. You will be less pleased to note that these points will be repeated for those who skipped straight to this section. I will make it as painless as possible.
Firstly, the important points:
Do not purchase a Dell Inkjet printer, or the old range of HP and Lexmark printers. Whilst being good printers, they will not be cost effective for you. Utilising an ink cartridge with a built in head and three onboard colours, once one colour runs out you need a new cartridge. Infuriating in an environment specialising in black and white, with the occasional flash of colour for a company emblem or staff photo. This used to limit you to Canon, Epson and Brother printers, but the new ranges from HP and Lexmark mean that you have a very wide choice. All of these take advantage of separate slots for each colour, meaning that once one runs low, you just replace the individual colour.
So this is where your choice gets more difficult. Let us start with the simple decisions. Try and side towards the multi-function printers, which can cater for all the needs your office environment will place upon it. For only a slight increase in price, the additional practicality of the printer will be invaluable. The availability of compatibles for this range of printers is also worthwhile to note, with no degradation in quality for your office printing needs and a huge saving on overall printing costs.
Now, which manufacturers to look at. HP and Lexmark have a healthy dominance of this area of printing, with HP edging ahead with their latest range of printers. Interestingly, they differ completely in the type of ink they use, meaning your preference can easily help you choose which to side with.
Lexmark printers utilise dye based inks, the traditional ink found in the majority of inkjet printers, whilst HP printers utilise a newer pigment based ink. First used by Epson, this pigment based ink is made up of miniscule, encapsulated particles which sit on top of the paper, opposed to dye inks which are absorbed into the papers fibres. “Why should I care?” I hear you ask? Well, for your office environment, whilst these differences which typically only impact longevity of the prints and the colour quality, they also have implications for your costs. Dye based inks are known to soak into the page, lowering the efficiency of the cartridge per page, whilst pigment based ink has no such problem. Furthermore, pigment based inks typically have larger cartridges meaning you get even more prints for your money.
Whilst this is occasionally reflected in price, we tend to recommend siding with the pigment based inks, with a higher value for money being experienced.
This soaking effect leads onto another advantage of pigment ink. As soon as the page is filtered out onto the tray, it is touch dry. With no risk of smudging or ink dispersion that you can get with dye based inks, pigments guarantee the cleanliness and professional appearance of documents you print within your office. The longevity of prints is also a variable worth considering. With the filing systems employed at most offices you want your printed records to be durable and long lasting. Whilst advances in dye based ink have shown an increase in the lifetime of prints, pigment based inks still have the advantage.
Finally, dye based inks are not waterproof! Now I realise most offices do not work in downpours or go swimming for meetings, but the advantage of a pigment based ink being used to print a letter, which gets posted and delivery on a rainy day and stays legible, cannot be frowned at.
Ultimately we suggest the HP Officejet Pro 8500. A solid reliable printer from the new range of HPs, with fantastic per-page costs, backed up by quality pigment based inks.
In our final section we will be looking at the heavy duty office printing, for business’s who scoff at any print speed lower than 15 pages per minute.
Business Use:
Colour Laser Printers. Thank you for reading. I hope this section was helpful for you.
In all seriousness though, with the fall of colour laser printer prices for under £200, your choice is made for you. Small footprints, networkable, and outstanding results from the chemical toners now in use, all lend itself towards a fantastic business printer.
The benefits of these printers just roll off the tongue:
o Faster print speeds
o Lower cost per page
o More robust
And this is just the starting point. An excellent quality range of compatibles presently available for a wide number of these printers means you can further save on your printing costs. In fact, the only reason we would say don’t go for these printers is their apparent fussiness about the quality of paper being run through them. Ignoring the obvious “my printer is telling ME what I can print on?!?” issue, we found them to be temperamental when trying to print on the very cheapest 80gsm copies paper. However, upgrade to the 80gsm LaserJet paper which we use in all of our machines and the colour LaserJet’s return to their serene performing best, causing us no problems at all. If you can afford it, stretch to the multi-function range of these printers, adding even more benefit to the small space these printers now take up.
This section may be the shortest, but it’s because we believe your decision is such a formality. If we had to pick one and save you the effort, we would side with the Oki range, brilliant printers. With a superb output, nice gloss finish, and very cheap running costs with our excellent quality compatible range, your business will try and find reasons to print. That may be stretching the truth, but you got the idea. Specifically, the Oki c5650, but they are all quality products.