If you’re looking to know how to select printers then you’re at the right place. As here we are going to share with you the latest top 10 tips so that you can select which printer is best for you.
#Tip 1. Think about whether you are willing to pay extra for an A3 laser printer or a colour laser printer?
So, the first thing you should decide on when selecting a laser printer for your home is what you will use it for: will you print text, photographs, diagrams or drawings on it? The most common use for a home laser printer is of course text. Naturally, if your laser printer is colour, it will allow you to print photos on it. However, an inkjet printer is more suitable for these purposes (more on this in the following articles). An A3 laser printer can be useful for printing drawings and diagrams, but ask yourself the question: how often do you need this function? In order for you to be guided how much these functions add to the price, we note that an A3 laser printer will cost significantly more than an A4 printer.
A laser printer without such bells and whistles (perhaps you don’t need them at all) costs from 4000 INR. If you have a good budget then you can try the best printer under 10000. Most likely, the majority of readers will stop at A4 laser printers. We also note that the cost of colour laser printers with print quality similar to inkjet can cost several thousand dollars and weigh about 180 kg (if simpler, it is not for home use), while a cool inkjet photo printer costs quite reasonable 8-10 thousand INR.
#Tip 2. How often will you use your laser printer?
The point is that every laser printer has a recommended number of sheets to print per month. Of course, if you want to print several times more sheets, the device will not turn off in protest, it will do the job as it should, but the increased load will lead to the fact that your laser printer will fail earlier than expected. In addition, buying more efficient models (if this performance is fully utilized) can be much more profitable (lower maintenance costs). But the last remark concerns more about buying a printer for the office, for home use a laser printer with a load of 1000-2000 copies per month is quite suitable. Naturally, you shouldn’t worry
#Tip 3. Laser print resolution.
The print resolution is determined by the number of dots per inch your laser printer can print (indicated by dpi). For normal text printing, 300×300 dpi is quite enough, the most common is 600×600 dpi – small details (or small text) will look good enough when using this printer. There is also the so-called interpolated resolution 1200×1200 dpi, which is achieved artificially using a special software package. The print quality of a device with such an artificially increased resolution will naturally be worse than the “native” 1200×1200 dpi, but better than the usual 600×600 dpi (which, in our opinion, is quite enough).
Tip # 4 Memory and processor are the brain of your printer.
The point is that a laser printer is a page printing device. Accordingly, by pressing the “print” button, all information is transferred to the printer, which must keep it in its RAM all the time until the entire document is printed. For everyday printing, 2 Mb is enough, but if you plan to print heavy pdf-files or PowerPoint presentations, then we recommend buying a laser printer with a large amount of RAM. A laser printer can also have a connector for connecting additional RAM modules (and thus increasing it in the future). This is especially useful if you are still unsure which laser printer to buy. The printer processor (or rather, its frequency) shows the speed at which the device performs operations. Frequency from 100 MHz and above will be quite sufficient.
#Tip 5. First page out time – is it important?
To fix text or other information on paper, a laser printer uses a so-called “oven”, which must have a certain temperature for printing to be successful. And, as you might have guessed, it needs some time to reach a certain temperature – to warm up. Therefore, between how you send the document to print, and your laser printer will give you the first page, it will take some time. Modern laser printers “warm-up” in 5-25 seconds. In our opinion, when selecting a laser printer for home use, this parameter should not be given too much attention (of course, within reason).
#Tip 6. Printer print speed.
Print speed indicates the number of pages a laser printer can print per minute. This parameter should be at least 20 pages per minute. Like the previous characteristic, you should not put the print speed at the forefront (this is what manufacturers most often use to present a model as super-fast and, accordingly, of higher quality). Indeed, if a laser printer prints, not 24, but, for example, 26 copies per minute, then when printing, say, 50 sheets you will save only 13 seconds each time. Think about how important it might be for you?
#Tip 7. The operating environment in which a laser printer can operate.
When selecting a device, consider which operating systems your laser printer supports (or candidate for one). If you are accustomed to printing from Windows, this is not so important, since almost all printers can work in this environment. It’s another matter if you plan to print from macOS or Linux. Note also that most laser printers work with MAC. But it is better to check the availability of drivers for MAC in the printer model you like before buying. If so, please read the specifications of the printer carefully or check with your dealer.
#Tip 8. We connect the laser printer to the computer.
Most often, modern printers will connect to a computer via USB. In ancient times, printers were connected via the LPT port. Some modern devices also have such a port (to use it if the computer does not have a USB input). Sometimes an Ethernet connector can also be useful – such a laser printer can be connected to your local network (after all, the number of families with several computers is constantly growing). Also, the Wi-Fi wireless interface is becoming more widespread, although it is most often equipped not only with printers but with multifunctional devices – MFPs.
#Tip 9. Think about ergonomics.
Among the features that a laser printer may have and the presence of which may slightly simplify your life, we can single out the possibility of duplex printing and the volume of trays at the input and output of printing, the presence of a screen. The latter is most commonly found in inkjet photo printers and is useful when printing photographs. Since a laser printer was not originally intended for this, this is a very rare option for it (and, frankly, not very necessary). If you often need to turn a page for various reasons (for example, to save paper), then this is not very convenient, especially with a volume of 20 pages or more. But at the same time, do not forget that the availability of the possibility of two-sided printing today does not lead to a significant rise in the cost of the printer. A sufficient volume of the tray of a home printer can be considered 50 sheets out and 100 sheets in. Also, think about where you plan to place your laser printer. Some models offer vertical loading and unloading of paper (i.e. you can save valuable workspace). If the dimensions of the printer are important to you, take a look at the new products from the Japanese company Ricoh, especially it’s model Ricoh SP 150, which is perhaps the most compact of the home laser printers.
#Tip 10. Maintenance of a laser printer.
A laser printer (like an inkjet printer) can be refilled, but after several refills, buying a new cartridge is inevitable. So, a cartridge for different printers will cost differently. HP will cost a little more than a similar product for Samsung or Canon. Many printers also provide the option of economical printing, in which power consumption can be reduced by 25-30% without noticeable deterioration in image quality. Accordingly, you will have to refuel (and change the cartridge) less often in such printers.
