Buying the right printer can be a daunting task. Before you start shopping, compare your needs with different printer features. This would make your selection task easy. Here is a two step guide to help you through.

Step 1:

What type of printer do you need – Inkjet or Laser or Multifunction (All-in-one)? Your decision can be based on what the printer will be used for.

Black-and-white Text only: Best choice is to buy a Laser Printer. They are fast and print top quality black-and-white text. Initial purchase maybe expensive but they have low running costs in future.

Color Text and Graphics: Best choice is to buy a Color Laser Printer. They are affordable, fast and print high quality text and graphics.

Text, graphics and photos: Best choice is to buy an Inkjet Printer. They are slow, but print excellent quality photos and text. Initial purchase maybe less expensive but they have high running costs in future.

Printing, copying, faxing and scanning text, graphics, and photos: Best choice is to buy a Multifunction (All-in-one) Printer. They are expensive, but print excellent quality photos, have good quality scanning and some have faxing capabilities too.

Photos only: Best choice is to buy a Snapshot Printer. They are fast, print excellent quality 4X6-inch photos, take little space and can print directly from digital cameras or memory cards.

Step 2:

What will the printer supplies cost in the long run? Your decision can be based on what you decide to buy and how you plan on using the supplies.

Ink Cartridges: Get prices of ink cartridges and number of pages each cartridge can print. Determine the cost based on this data. Generally, Inkjet Printers with separate color cartridges are economical than ones with single color cartridges. Buying ink in bulk also reduces the cost.

Paper: Cost varies from paper to paper. You can save the cost here, by printing on both sides of a paper and by using plain paper for most jobs, thus saving best paper for the final results. Also, buy in bulk.

Laser Toner: Toner cartridges are expensive. You can save by returning them to manufacturers for recycling. Most manufacturers offer discount when your return cartridges to them.

As a rule of thumb, Inkjet printers are the best option for transforming a digital image into a photograph. Laser printers, on the other hand, are best for speedy text documents.