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How to choose the best cheap printer

We give you tips so that you can choose the printer that best suits your needs

Choosing a printer may seem like a fairly simple task, but it has its crumbs. We must take into account a series of parameters that in the long run can help us choose the best cheap printer. It is not only the price of the printer, we must take into account the use that we will give it and the price of the inks, and even the printing technology it uses.

How we will use the printer

The first thing we must take into account when choosing a printer is the use that we will make of it. A printer for home use that we will use from time to time is not the same as a printer for a small office that we will use quite continuously.

If we are going to make a spaced use of it, we can opt for an economical solution that is compliant. There are many simple printers on the market that will make the paper for us. In case of more intensive use, we already have to look at many more aspects. For a more continuous use, we should already look at the price of the ink, the number of pages per minute it prints, if it is double-sided, etc.

In addition to supporting you in the aspects that we consider fundamental, you also have a guide with the best cheap printers.


Ink price over printer price

Large stores have a large number of very low-priced printers. In many cases the printers are sold at a loss, charging the difference in inks. So the important thing is not the price of the printer, it is the price of the ink.

Before deciding on a printer we have to look at the price of the inks, rather than the price of the printer. We even have to investigate if there are generic cartridges for these printers or if there are refillable cartridges for them.

This point is very important to find the best cheap printer, since in addition to the price of it, we must take into account the cost of the printed page.


Printing technology

Inkjet

They are quite popular due to the low price of the printers. Current business models add document scanning and photocopying capabilities.

  • Good print quality especially in images and photographs
  • They are quite cheap
  • They have no warm-up times
  • Small, light and requires little adjustment for printing
  • They usually include photocopying and document scanning functions
  • We can find generic cartridges easily
  • If we use it little, it may dry out and not print
  • These types of printers are usually quite slow
  • Small input tray, designed for few sheets
  • Official cartridges can be quite expensive

Laser printer

These types of printers are based on a toner instead of cartridges, this allows the price per page to be lower than ink printers. Typically this type of printer is intended for black and white (monochrome) printing. They are especially suitable for intensive use.

  • They are much faster than ink printers
  • Intended primarily for monochrome printing
  • Large capacity trays
  • They usually offer the possibility of double-sided printing
  • May have scanning and photocopying capabilities
  • Cost per page printed is very low
  • They require a prior heating time
  • Higher initial outlay than ink printers
  • They are not designed to offer great graphic quality
  • They are usually quite bulky

Print speed

Speed ​​in printers is measured in pages per minute (PPM)

Depending on the end use of the printer, we will need some speeds or others. For domestic use, that we are going to print little and spaced out, this is not a relevant factor. Yes, it is an important factor in offices and work centers.

Ink printers tend to be quite slow, mostly because it relies on head movement. Laser printers tend to be faster, as they print in monochrome. They do not usually offer a perfect quality impression, a good quality / speed ratio is sought.


Print quality

This factor in home or small office use is usually not a key factor.

If we want to look at it, we must look at the DPI (Dots Per Inch) parameter. It tells us the precision that our printer will finally offer us when it 'writes' on paper. The higher the DPI value, the better the image quality.

Ink printers tend to offer better precision than laser printers. This is because for offices, simple documents are printed. For domestic use, a little more precision may be required, depending on the needs.

print-quality

Color or monochrome printing

When choosing the best cheap printer, we must know the end use of it. We must bear in mind that printing in black and white is cheaper than in color. What's more, printing in color is usually much slower than printing in monochrome.

Normally, laser printers are usually monochrome, because they are intended for the office, where speed prevails over quality or colors. Ink printers typically carry one cartridge or more color cartridges. Also, ink cartridges tend to last less than black cartridges and tend to be more expensive (colored ones, of course).

If we are going to print a lot in color, the best thing will always be a printer with ink tanks and see if there are generic ink bottles, cheaper than those of the brand.

printer-monochrome

Multifunction, more possibilities

It is increasingly rare to find a non-multifunction printer, laser or ink, on the market. This additional function may seem silly at first, but then we find that it offers very interesting possibilities. These are:

  • Easily scan documents and store them on our computer
  • Photocopy documents at the push of a button

Wired or wireless printer

Most ink printers offer the ability to connect via USB cable. More and more printers of this type allow connection via WiFi and some also include an RJ45 connector to share it on the network. Some even integrate a screen and a USB port, allowing you to print directly from a USB memory

Regarding laser printers, most can be connected via WiFi or Ethernet cable. These printers are intended for offices, so they must be accessible to all users. They also typically include a USB port for direct document printing.

Connecting the printer via WiFi offers us the possibility of printing from the smartphone. Also, we have very cool features like Google Cloud Print.

printer-wifi

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Robert Sole

Director of Contents and Writing of this same website, technician in renewable energy generation systems and low voltage electrical technician. I work in front of a PC, in my free time I am in front of a PC and when I leave the house I am glued to the screen of my smartphone. Every morning when I wake up I walk across the Stargate to make some coffee and start watching YouTube videos. I once saw a dragon ... or was it a Dragonite?

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