Long gone are the days when a printer was a rare and expensive piece of equipment that not everyone could afford. In 2022, hundreds of models are presented on the printing equipment market in various price ranges, with a wide range of tasks performed.
In this article, we will try to help you navigate all this diversity and choose the best printer for office or home use.
Laser printers
Laser printing is the technology most widely used in most modern office equipment. The printing process takes place in several stages:
- After the “print” command, the roller charges the photoconductor with electricity.
- A laser beam directs an imprint of the desired image onto the dielectric surface of the drum.
- The magnetic shaft of the drum attracts microparticles of toner, forming a pattern.
- A drum rolls over the paper and leaves an imprint of the document.
- The sheet with the finished image passes through the heating section, thereby firmly fixing the result on paper.
Laser printers are characterized by high printing speed, so they are common in offices with a high document flow. Good for home use when high-volume text and black-and-white images are to be printed. When choosing a laser printer for your home, keep in mind that a new cartridge is quite expensive. Refilling an old cartridge with toner is possible, but only at service centers.
Inkjet printers
Inkjet printing is the process of producing an image by spraying drops of ink from a printer’s printhead onto paper. To date, there are three types of inkjet printing: thermal inkjet, piezoelectric, and bubble.
An inkjet printer is preferable for home use. It is relatively cheap, beneficial when printing small volumes of documents, and allows you to get high-quality photographic images. But keep in mind that to achieve the quality of the resulting prints, it is necessary to timely replace the original cartridges or heads. Therefore, you should choose an inkjet printer based on their availability.
Which printer is right for the office?
Choosing a printer for the office should be based on its expected workload. For standard simple tasks, budget models of inkjet or laser printers are suitable. For companies with a high document flow, you should choose black and white laser printers with high print speeds. If color printouts are required for work from time to time, then you should get an inkjet color printer. Designers, photo studios, advertising, or creative agencies need a professional multi-color photo printer like a dtg printer. A wide-format printer is indispensable for outdoor advertising studios. For the manufacture of commemorative symbols and souvenirs, sublimation printers are used.
Which printer is right for your home?
The choice of a printer for home use is ultimately determined by your plans. Students require a lot of printing during their studies and the ideal one for them is a laser printer. Similarly, people working from home also require printing, so the same printer can benefit them as well. If you decide that you just need equipment for color printing at home, feel free to choose an inkjet MFP, but keep in mind that you need to print on it at least once every few days, otherwise the colors will dry out. Well, if your color printing volumes are above average, then inkjet devices with CISS will be a profitable option for you.
Conclusion
Regardless of the tasks for which you select a printer, it is worth buying models from manufacturers proven over the years: Canon, HP, Epson, Xerox. It should be noted that original printing equipment and consumables should be purchased only from authorized dealers. Read more
