Purchasing an ink jet printer

An ink jet printer is likely to be the cheapest option if you're looking to buy a printer to use at home. When buying a printer it is easy to make a mistake by instantly choosing one that looks much cheaper than the others, but before you do so there are a number of issues to consider.

Cost of printer cartridges

Replacing printer cartridges can become very expensive and can radically alter the cost efficiency of a printer. Before you buy a printer you should find out the price of its printer cartridges, but also ask how often the cartridges are going to need to be replaced.

Price differences can be so extreme that a cheap looking printer can rapidly cost you a lot more then you bargained for.

Does it match your computer?

Before you buy a printer you need to ask yourself whether it suits your computer. For example, can it be used with your operating system and does it come with all the cables you need, or do you need to buy this as well? If you have an old computer you may be best asking a salesman which printers would be suitable.

Quality

Quality of printing is determined by a number of things, and, aside from asking for a test print, your best option is to check out what dpi, or dots per inch, the printer prints at. Higher is better, and for general use most printers are of a reasonable quality these days.

All in one printers

Depending on your needs it may also be worth considering an all-in-one printer, which combines a scanner, photocopies, printer and sometimes fax machine. While these are unnecessary for most people, they may save money or space for those who need all of these devices.

A final tip

The important thing to remember is to not just jump into buying the cheapest printer, but instead to investigate all the issues surrounding it, and, if you can, run a test print, as this will tell you more than all the numbers put together.