If you are thinking of buying a printer for your small business, there are a few things to consider before making the purchase.

Most printers today fit into one of three categories: Inkjet, Laser, or Multifunction machines.  Each type of printer is better suited for different needs.  This post will examine the strengths of each type of printer to give you a better understanding of which one is best for you.

Inkjet Printers

Basic inkjet printers are great for printing text and the occasional photo. Most mix cyan, magenta, and yellow ink in order to reproduce the whole color spectrum. The colored ink can come from one ink cartridge or from separate cartridges for each color. Separate cartridges are convenient because printers don't use all colors at the same rate, so when you run out of one you don't have to replace all the others as you would with an all-in-one color cartridge. Inkjets usually have a separate black ink cartridge for text and grayscale printing. Portable inkjet printers that you can take along with your laptop are also available.

Photographers will probably want an inkjet photo printer, which usually adds light cyan and light magenta to the color mix for deeper, brighter hues. A built-in camera dock or flash memory card reader make these printers especially handy for printing photos directly from your digital camera. Many photo printers also have small LCD screens for previewing the picture before printing. Most photographers would probably want to make sure the printer is capable of borderless printing, so the picture goes all the way to the edge of the photo paper.

Laser Printers

Laser printers save time and money when printing large volumes. They print faster than inkjet printers, and laser toner usually costs less per page compared to ink cartridges. Color laser printers produce sharp, vivid colors. They are typically more expensive than black and white laser printers though. Personal laser printers have a smaller capacity than large professional printers. However, they still print quickly and are perfect for a home office or small business. If you need a printer for a large office, a network laser printer would be ideal, with a large paper capacity and fast printing. Many network laser printers have a built-in print server. They also have a connector port for connecting to a local area network. Most models offer expandable memory and optional extra storage trays. Higher-end printers offer several output trays with a collator and stapler.

Multifunction Printer

Printers that not only print by also fax, copy, and scan are known as multifunction printers.  These printers can be very handy since they can do the job of a number of separate machines. These all in one printers probably won't do a single task as well as a machine dedicated to that task would, but saving space is more important than optimum performance for many people. Multifunction printers can be either laser or inkjet.

Conclusion

No matter what model, price range, and type of printmaking technology you purchase, it is important to make sure you know what you want to do with it first. You will naturally choose a different printer for high-volume document printing than if you are trying to print out just your digital pictures for a family photo album. Likewise, you wouldn't choose the same printer to create brochures as you would to make forge-proof I.D. cards for your small business employees. Whether you would like to stick with ink or are tamper-proof toner, make sure that you've got the right printer (and printer paper!) for the job.

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