The Best Printers for Your Personal Needs

Paperless office? Ha! Despite all digital devices, we're printing more than we ever have. From photographs to Web pages to emails, we're churning out page after page after page. How do you know which type of printer is best for your paper trail? Easy.

The trick to choosing a printer is figuring out which types of documents you print the most and how much money you're willing to spend--both up front and over the long haul. Outlined below are the printer categories and the tasks for which they're best designed; the rest is up to you.

Personal Laser

Personal laser printers are the most cost-effective printers you can buy. They do a fantastic job on most business documents, including memos, letters, and anything else that you print in black and white. These printers combine cost-effectiveness and speed.

Fast and Cheap
You can find an exceptional personal laser printer for less than $300. And, unlike an ink jet, a laser printer costs very little in upkeep. You'll likely need to replace your toner cartridge every 5,000 to10,000 pages, depending on the printer. Because toner is relatively inexpensive, you'll be spending only a few pennies for every page you print, even those with heavy toner coverage.  Granted, the toner cartridges are NOT cheap, but you will replace them less often than ink cartridges so it does balance out.

Today, most personal lasers have an engine that prints 12 pages per minute (ppm) or better. That doesn't mean, however, that your printer will always churn out pages at that rate. Your performance depends on the complexity of your document – the more graphics and fonts, for example, the slower it prints. But you can bet that even low-cost lasers will print circles around today's ink jet printers. You can also find affordable laser printers with 16ppm engine speeds that offer a network option. These faster printers are an excellent choice for small or home offices that need to share one printer among three or four workers.  Read the "Network Laser" section below for more information.

Try Before You Buy
Most of today's personal laser printers produce 600-dot-per-inch output, although some offer higher resolutions. The output quality tends to be fairly consistent where text is concerned. You can expect crisp, sharp letters that are easy on the eyes. Some printers produce finer-looking text, which certain users prefer. Try before you buy, if possible: print a test page and see what you think of the text quality. Graphics quality among laser printers can vary tremendously. If you plan to print photos, presentations, logos, or other graphics, choose a printer that can ably handle these tasks. 

Personal laser printers are ideal for individuals and small businesses that churn out high-quality monochrome documents. They're relatively inexpensive to purchase and have overall low operating costs. However, they are not well suited for anyone who plans to print digital photographs or colorful newsletters. These tasks are better handled by a photo printer or a color ink jet.

Network Laser

It's not always a viable option to provide workers with their own personal laser printer. Network laser printers, while more expensive than personal laser printers, serve up faster speeds and extensive paper-handling options, making them suitable to share among 2 to 20 (or more!) workers. Check out these machines for multiple office users.

Range of Options
The costs and feature levels of network laser printers run the gamut. On the low end, printers whose engines output 12 pages per minute (ppm) may offer network options, while very high-end printers feature engine speeds upwards of 40 ppm or more. Today's most popular network lasers offer engine speeds of about 24 ppm, which is more than adequate for most business needs. You can expect to spend anywhere from $400 to several thousand dollars, depending on the speed of the printer and the options you purchase. 

Just because you're in the market for a network laser printer doesn't mean you need to settle for monochrome output. The print speeds of color laser printers are so much faster than those of ink jets that color lasers are perfect for sharing among several people. But color lasers also cost a great deal more up front than ink jets--up to ten times as much--which is another good reason to share a printer. Most color lasers offer decent (but not blazingly fast) monochrome speeds, usually in the 12- to 14-ppm range. Color speeds tend to be slower, usually in the vicinity of 3 to 5 ppm, which is still faster than most ink jets. Also unlike most ink jets, color lasers do a fine job of printing on plain paper. Partnered with the low cost of toner compared to that of liquid ink, these factors result in significantly lower long-term costs.

Expansion Essentials
Beyond fast speeds, you'll want to choose a network printer that requires minimal baby-sitting. Therefore, look for one with plenty of expandability options. For example, if your printer handles only 250 sheets of paper, you'll waste valuable time reloading paper bins. Many printers offer support for additional bins and trays, upping the paper capacity to the 1,000-sheet range. Other paper-handling perks to consider include: sorting bins for keeping print jobs separated; stapling or other finishing options; resizable envelope feeders; and support for larger-sized paper, such as 11 by 17 inches. 

You'll also want to check out the bundled network-management software when you purchase a laser printer. Typically, an IS department handles printer configuration and setup, but for everyday printing tasks, you'll want each user to be able to control basic functions through easy-to-use software drivers. Tasks such as choosing a paper tray or flushing a job out of the queue shouldn't require a computer science degree. The easier the software is for end users, the less likely you are to encounter time-wasting problems. 

If you work in a department or company that can't afford to outfit each worker with their own laser printer, or if you need to produce color documents on a regular basis, consider a network laser printer or color laser printer. The size of your group will influence the speed of the printer you buy, as well as the options you choose.

Color Ink Jet

Prices continue to plummet while technology improves, making today's color ink jet printers better than ever. Ink jet printers are a great choice for home use: they're inexpensive and versatile enough to handle most tasks. Speed, output quality, and cost vary tremendously. You can get a low-end ink jet printer for about $100, or you can spend $400 or even more for a higher-end model. Shop for a printer that does a good job with the types of documents you plan to print the most, be they text memos, letters, presentations, flyers, photographs, or just your kid's digital masterpieces. Home tasks are best suited for these printers.

Pluses and Minuses
Ink jet printers do, however, have their drawbacks. The main one is long-term operating costs. If you have a high volume of output, especially monochrome business documents, you're probably better off choosing a personal laser printer or using your ink jet as a companion to a laser printer. Ink costs can add up, and to get the best-looking output from an ink jet, you might need to splurge on special paper. Depending on the paper you choose, you could be looking at print costs upwards of $1 to $2 per page--which adds up quickly.

That said, it's hard to beat ink jets for what they can deliver. If you shop around, you can find a printer that does a fine job of printing text, graphics, and even photographs (though dedicated photo printers might be a better buy if that's all you plan to print).

Take a Test-Drive
Some printers do a better job of plain-paper printing than others. For example, we've found that the Epson Stylus Color 900 serves up fabulous output if you're using ink jet paper, but plain-paper output is lacking. On the other hand, the Lexmark Z51 does a good job no matter what kind of paper it's using. Try to get a feel for your printer's capabilities before you buy it. 

When you're shopping for ink jet printers, don't forget to check out the bundled software. Most manufacturers include a healthy amount of programs, but they're of little value to you if you're not going to put the software to good use. In addition, remember to scope out ink costs, as well, because you'll no doubt be replacing ink cartridges at some point. 

If you're a home or small-business user and you do any type of color printing on a regular basis, then a color ink jet printer is a smart buy. If you print only occasionally and want the option and versatility that color provides, you're a good candidate, as well. If most of your printing is monochrome documents, consider a personal laser printer instead, as you'll save a bundle in long-term costs.

Photo

Anxious to get the pictures out of that new digital camera and onto the page? Consider buying a photo printer, one designed specifically for that task.

Two Types
There are really two breeds of photo printers: ink jet printers designed specifically to make good work of photographs, and more specialized dye sublimation printers. Each of these technologies has strengths and weaknesses. You can expect to spend about $150 to $500, depending on the technology and sophistication of the printer you choose. 

Ink jet photo printers usually use more than four colors of ink (often six or seven) to achieve smoother blends and a greater range of colors. They tend to do a better job handling complex shades, such as flesh tones, than basic ink jet printers. To get the best results, you'll probably need to use special photographic paper, which will boost your printing costs.

Dye sublimation printers use a much different printing technology. The ink comes on ribbons and is applied and blended on the paper through a heating process to produce colors much smoother than anything you'll find with an ink jet printer. Most of the dye-sub photo printers are smaller in size, and some can print only on 4-by-6-inch paper, a drawback over their ink jet competitors. Be sure to look for a photo printer that includes an input paper tray. Some printers force you to load each sheet of paper individually, which is tedious, to say the least.

Gauge Your Needs
Photo ink jet printers have a few benefits over dye-sub printers. One is that you usually aren't limited to one size of paper. That is, you can easily print on 4-by-6 sheets of paper, as well as larger 8.5-by-11-inch paper. Another plus is that some ink jet photo printers can ably handle other printing tasks, such as text or business graphics. If you do mostly photo printing but would like a printer for other needs, check out an ink jet photo printer. 

If you plan to do most of your printing from your digital camera (as opposed to attaching your printer to your PC), then shop around for a printer that makes this connection brainless. Some photo printers will let you plug in the storage card from your printer--such as PCMCIA, SmartMedia, or CompactFlash--to print directly, no camera or PC required. Others may let you connect your camera to your printer via a USB or video port. Finally, other printers will require you to print via your PC using a parallel or USB cable.

In general, dye sublimation printers tend to produce more consistent output than the ink jets. But they also suffer the drawbacks of limited paper sizes and are incapable of handling other printing tasks. Decide in advance what you really want and need in a photo printer, and buy accordingly.

Multifunction/Portable

There are printers out there that do more than print--or that fall just outside of the usual realm of what you think a printer would be. The most common are multifunction devices, which usually consist of a printer, scanner, copier, and fax machine. Another type is a portable printer--one that is actually small enough to take on the go.

Multifunction Devices
Multifunction devices come in two flavors: ink jet and laser. The ink jet variations usually offer color capabilities, though these don't always extend to scanning and copying, and rarely do they include faxing (unless the recipient also has a color fax device that speaks the same language as yours). Color scanning and copying is a real perk to the color ink jet devices, but you'll probably pay a premium of $100 to $200 for the privilege. Laser multifunction devices are usually monochrome. They do offer advantages over ink jets, however, serving up faster speeds and better output quality, especially where faxes are concerned.

You should shop for a multifunction device in much the same way as you would a printer. Look for the best output quality and speeds, and find a feature set that agrees with your needs. You're bound to find differences in areas like print resolution, copying capabilities (such as the number of copies allowed, and reduction and enlargement), and fax features (such as memory storage and fax-broadcast capabilities). It's also important to find a machine that's easy to use. One-button copying from the front panel, memory for storing fax numbers, and integrated software will make your life easier in the long run. 

Portable Printers
Portable printers are, well, just that. They're smallish printers that weigh just a few pounds (usually 3 to 5) and are designed for printing on the go. They can operate using AC power or batteries (keep in mind that batteries will add to your weight load). Portable printers are not amazingly fast, and they don't offer many features besides their small size. But you can't beat 'em when you need to print on the spot. Try to put your hands on a portable printer before you buy one--see if its dimensions are suitable for your travel needs. Some portable printers are shaped like a notebook computer and are designed for the notebook to rest on top of, thereby taking up minimal desk space. Others are a little thicker but much narrower, and sit alongside your notebook computer.

Portable printers come in both monochrome and color. You'll find some that use ink jet technology and others that use thermal technology similar to that of older fax machines. Thermal printers may require special paper, so understand your printer's requirements up front. Paper trays are not standard fare on portable printers; oftentimes you'll need to feed in your documents one sheet at a time. They're not designed for heavy-duty work, as the battery life often doesn't last for more than 30 pages or so.

How to Get Great Output

Face it: A printer isn't worth the paper it prints on if the output doesn't look good. Output quality varies tremendously among printers, and the most expensive printer isn't always the best. Whenever you can, test a printer before you buy it, or make sure it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, in case the printer doesn't measure up to your standards. No matter what, your printer should be able to handle basic text and graphics. Photographs are trickier, but some printers can ably take on the task.

Text Quality
From work reports to resumes, most text documents are very important. Because you'll always want these documents to look their best, be sure your printer can handle text ably. Letters should be crisp and sharp, produced in a rich black. You shouldn't be able to detect any toner splatter or bleeding ink, which gives letters a fuzzy appearance. Be sure to print several different fonts, and apply formatting such as bold and italic to letters. Sometimes formatting can bring out the worst in a printer. One way to test letter quality is to make sure that text quality stands up to the resume test: if you wouldn't be comfortable sending a company your resume from that printer, then don't buy it. You should also check out other formatting elements that are often found in basic business letters and documents. For example, try printing frames or rules, and look for sharp, straight lines and edges. 

Graphics Output
When you're testing basic graphics quality, you have a few elements to check. One is heavily printed solid areas, be they black or color. You want colors to be uniform, not splotchy or dithered. In the case of ink jet printers, you want to make sure that colors don't bleed outside their designated areas, and also that the printer doesn't apply too much ink to achieve a color. Gray and shaded areas are tricky for printers, so test those out, too. Again, you want the color to be uniform across the shaded areas. See how your printer can handle two colors placed next to one another, such as something you'd find on a bar graph or pie chart. Watch for colors that seep into other colors, such as dark blacks and blues that overtake light yellows. 

Picture Perfect
Evaluating photographic output can be tricky, and in some cases you might find yourself simply choosing between the lesser of a few evils. Flesh tones are particularly tough for any color printer, so watch to see how a printer reproduces them. See if flesh appears to suffer from red or yellow hues, for example, or if it appears overly dark or washed out. Look at details, such as leaves on a tree, to see whether they get lost in the image. Just as you checked out the quality of solid colors for business graphics, look at the overall colors in photographs. 

The bottom line with output quality is that you should be comfortable with it. A subjective element is involved here, and what you might deem appropriate may not be acceptable for someone else. Set your standards accordingly, but don't buy anything less than what pleases you. 

Buyer's Checklist

Summed up below are the most important buying points.

Performance
Look around for fast engine speeds, but remember, performance will vary tremendously. Check out CNET Labs' performance results for any printers you're considering.

Output Quality
Determine the types of documents you'll print the most, and shop for a printer that ably handles those tasks. The best text printer may not always produce the best graphics, but if you shop carefully, chances are you can find a printer in your price range that is a jack-of-all-trades.

Feature Set
Get the features you need, and don't pay for those you don't. For example, don't pay for network support if you don't plan to share your printer. Similarly, don't get a color printer if all you plan to print are monochrome business letters.

Cost: Initial and Long-Term
It's easy to understand your initial cost investment, but don't forget to look at long-term costs, as well. If your printer requires special paper to do its best work, you'll be spending much more cash over the long haul.

Software Bundle
When all else is equal, scope out the software bundle the manufacturer supplies. While this shouldn't make or break a printer purchase decision, it may be the deciding factor in a tie.