Best Printers

• What you need to know
• Multifunction printers with copying and scanning functions are equally suitable for office and home use.
• Depending on the purpose and frequency of use, either inkjet or laser printers are recommended.
• Thanks to a wide range of connectivity options, printers can be operated and controlled in different ways.
• Special functions such as duplex printing and page feed largely automate the work with modern printers.
• Anyone who buys a printer should keep an eye on the follow-up costs for ink and toner in advance.

The all-rounder for office and home

You may think that printing documents in the age of digitalization is a bit out of date. But far from it: Even though a paperless future is highly anticipated for efficiency and environmental reasons, the annual print volume in companies and private households remains at a high level. A letter to the authorities, for instance, cannot always be replaced by an e-mail, important documents are still filed in printed form, and worksheets are necessary for school and studies.

What we call “printer” today, however, is actually much more than that. The devices can no longer just print, but they offer a range of different functions, like digitising documents by scanning and copying them. Accordingly, these devices are not merely printers, but so-called multifunction printers or all-in-one printers.

Multifunction printers are all-purpose tools for the office or home. They combine at least three functions — printing, scanning, and copying — in one compact device. In this case, they are called 3-in-1 multifunction printers. There are also 4-in-1 devices that offer an additional fax function.

A printer for each purpose

Depending on the number of users, frequency of use, and primary application, a different type of printer is recommended.

To make your purchase decision easier, let’s take a look at a concrete example: Private users, for example families with school-age children, usually have a relatively low printing volume. The printer has to handle small print jobs a few times a week, mostly text documents — in some cases with illustrations — and now and then a high-quality photo. Occasionally, documents also need to be scanned or copied. For this user profile, multifunction printers with inkjet-based printers are best suited. Those who value high-quality photo printing should look out for an additional pigment black ink cartridge.

If, on the other hand, you can do without photo printing altogether and rarely use the printer, you should go for a multifunction laser printer. Laser printers are also recommended for larger offices where numerous large print jobs are performed regularly.

What printing technologies are available?

Commercially available printers and multifunction devices are based on one of three different printing technologies:

• Inkjet printing
• Laser printing
• LED printing

Each of the printer technologies offers different advantages and disadvantages. If you want to buy a multifunction printer, you should know these beforehand and choose the technology that best meets your individual requirements.

Advantages and disadvantages of inkjet printers

Advantages and disadvantages of laser printers

Advantages and disadvantages of LED printers

Other printer types

In addition to the conventional printing technologies used in multifunction printers, there are other printing technologies that are used for special applications.

Photo print

There is no single definition for the term photo printer. In essence, any printer that can print photos in high quality is also a photo printer. They offer a high resolution and the possibility to create borderless prints in the usual photo formats.

The printing technology of photo printers is not set in stone. For instance, they can be high-quality inkjet printers. These printers are compact and work independently of a computer. Via an integrated display, the user controls tools for image processing and optimizes images with special ink on photo paper before printing. These printers are not recommended for printing ordinary text documents.

Dye sublimation printers, which achieve a particularly impressive color depth and saturation, are also recommended for photo printing. The mode of operation is similar to monochrome thermal transfer printing, which is used in automatic pay stations or ticket machines. Dye sublimation printers heat dye wax to 572 to 752 °F and steam it onto the photo paper with pixel precision.

Dot matrix printing

Dot matrix printers are considered to be particularly robust and reliable, but they are rarely found nowadays. They are still used occasionally in companies, doctors’ offices, banks, or in the form of receipt printers. In terms of quality, they cannot compete with modern inkjet or laser printers.

Between 8 and 48 needles strike through a ribbon in the dot matrix printing process, transferring the image dots to the printer paper. The matrix of pixels creates the printed image. These are so-called impact printers that exert physical pressure during the printing process. This makes dot matrix printers ideal for producing carbon copies.

What to look for when buying

The printing technology may be the most important purchase criterion to consider when buying a printer. However, there are multiple other factors to consider when choosing the right model.

Resolution

The print resolution provides information about the best possible quality of the printouts. Manufacturers specify it with the unit “dots per inch (dpi)”. For sharp printouts of text documents with a laser printer, 600 x 600 dpi is more than enough. If you want to print pictures and color images, you should choose color laser printers with a resolution of at least 1200 x 1200 dpi.

For inkjet printers, the resolution should generally be higher, especially if the user also wants to use the device for printing high-resolution photos. Inkjet printers optimized for photo printing often have 4800 x 1200, 5760 x 1440, or even 9600 x 2400 dpi, according to the manufacturer’s specifications. But are such high values really necessary?

Caution with resolution specifications!

High values such as 9600 x 2400 dpi are usually values calculated by interpolation. To compare the specs with those of a laser printer, the physical resolution must be taken into account. Unfortunately, this is rarely specified by the manufacturers.

The fact is that 2400 x 2400 dpi is sufficient to reproduce a polished art print in the best possible way — provided the highest resolution is selected in the print menu and high-quality ink and paper is used.

After all, resolution is by no means everything: ink and paper play just as big a role in the quality of the printouts! For multifunction printers with a scan unit, it is not only the print resolution that matters, but also the scan resolution. If you scan a lot, you should make sure that the scan resolution is high enough even at standard settings. Increasing the resolution in the scan menu leads to a longer scanning process.

Speed

Print speed and scan speed are measured in pages per minute. A higher page throughput typically leads to a higher purchase price. If you do not have to handle numerous large print jobs regularly, you can save some money here. While the print speed of laser printers is identical for color and black-and-white prints, inkjet printers need more time for a color print than for a black-and-white print.

With inkjet printers, it is above all the number and arrangement of the nozzles that determine the printing speed. In black-and-white printing, many good inkjet printers now compete with laser printers. However, the information on page throughput always refers to specially configured test pages at a low resolution. Elaborate photo prints with higher resolution take considerably longer.

Functions and features

Printers now have a number of functions that automate printing, scanning, and copying to a large extent, and make operation much easier.

Format and capacity

How much paper fits in the printer? Which paper format is the right one? If you print a lot, have large print jobs to handle, or want to print in formats larger than A4, you should pay attention to these specifications when choosing a printer.

Format

The standard size of printers and multifunction devices allows printouts up to A4 format at most. Smaller formats, especially A5, are always supported. If you also intend to make printouts in A3, you should go for an A3 capable printer. Inkjet A3 printers are nowadays of a similar size to A4 printers. As multifunction printers, however, they are usually only available as 3-in-1 versions without a fax function.

Paper capacity

The paper capacity defines how many sheets of plain paper the printer can hold in the paper input tray as a paper supply. The specified number of sheets refers to paper with a recommended thickness. If you want to use thicker paper, you must reduce the number of sheets accordingly. Printers for home use usually have a capacity of 60 to 250 sheets.

Many laser and LED printer models allow an additional paper tray to be added at a later date. Caution is advised with inkjet printers: Some manufacturers specify a “media capacity” instead of a paper capacity. Inkjet printers often have separate trays for plain paper, small-format photo paper, CDs, and transparencies. The indication of the total media capacity is therefore the sum of the capacities of all individual trays, not just the capacity of the paper feed tray.

Attention, paper jam!

If the printer refuses to work, there may be a paper jam. This is one of the most common problems with inkjet and laser printers. Many devices detect this automatically and show an error message via the display.
To clear the jam, first try slowly pulling the paper out of the printer by hand. If it is stuck or about to tear, switch off the printer, unplug it from the mains, open the cover, remove any cartridges or toner, and check whether there are any paper remnants hanging between the feed and guide rollers. Remove these remnants if necessary.
After you have cleared the paper jam, you should restart the printer. To prevent jams, it is advisable to use only suitable paper, not exceed the specified paper capacity, and load the paper correctly.

Connectivity

Nowadays, you don’t necessarily have to wire a printer to a computer. The devices offer a wealth of different connection options that allow the device to be integrated into a smart network.

Purchase price and follow-up costs

The purchase price of a printer depends on various factors:

• Printing technology
• Print speed
• Print resolution
• Additional functions
• Number and bandwidth of connectivity options

A household that prints infrequently can save money when choosing a printer by opting for a model that is not quite as fast and foregoing any unnecessary additional features such as duplex printing or certain connectivity options. However, it should also be noted that the follow-up costs for ink, toner, and paper will have to be paid regardless.

Ink cartridges

Cheaper printers often turn out to be very cost-inefficient because the original cartridges from the manufacturer contain little ink and are outrageously expensive. There are three ways to avoid overly high ink costs:

• Get an ink subscription from the manufacturer’s line.
• Use cheaper alternative cartridges.
• Refill original cartridges or have them refilled.

Some printer manufacturers now offer ink subscriptions. With the HP instant ink subscription model, for instance, you pay a monthly fee based on your actual consumption, i.e. the number of pages printed. The printer automatically orders a new cartridge as soon as the cartridge runs out.

Often times, inexpensive ink from off-brand manufacturers hardly differs in quality from the original ink. However, the costs for alternative products can be up to 70% lower than those for original ink cartridges. It is worthwhile to compare alternatives yourself. However, you should make sure that the cartridges are actually compatible with your printer model.

If you refill empty ink tanks yourself, you should make sure to reset the printer cartridge chip after refilling. The chip documents the fullness level of a cartridge and will not accept a refill on its own. Chip resets are usually included in refill packs. In the service of an ink filling station that offers refilling as a service, resetting the cartridge should be standard.

Reduce ink consumption

It is not only the printing itself that uses up ink in an inkjet printer. Every time the machine is switched on, it automatically performs a print head cleaning, which also consumes ink. Since modern devices consume little power in standby mode, it may be more cost-efficient to not switch the printer off completely. If print assignments only occur sporadically, it is advisable to collect a few and send them to the printer in one go.

The PC does not recognize the cartridge

After inserting non-proprietary cartridges, the PC may continue to display an empty cartridge and prompt you to change it. In this case, the cartridge has not been recognized. Make sure that the cartridge is suitable for use in your printer model, and clean the contacts of the cartridge with a cloth. If this does not work, you should remove all cartridges and disconnect the printer from the mains and from the PC. After some time, reinsert the cartridges, connect the machine and start it. If the problem persists, you should reset the chip.

How do printers work?

There are essentially two different printing technologies for ordinary home and office printers: laser printing and inkjet printing. In addition, there is LED printing, which is very similar in its mode of operation to classic laser printers. Each technology has its advantages and disadvantages, which are based on its specific characteristics. Inkjet-based multifunction printers currently dominate the market because they are more popular with private users.

Inkjet printer

Inkjet printers are matrix printers. They produce a finished print image by placing closely spaced image dots. The inkjet printer places these dots through ink droplets that are shot from the nozzles of the print head and directed onto the print medium — usually paper. The print head with the inserted ink cartridges moves back and forth horizontally on a rail, driven by an electric motor and a toothed belt.

Another motor drives a roller that feeds the paper under the print head. The ink is applied to the paper line by line through the nozzles on the print head. The ink drops are produced separately by the print head according to the print pattern at hand and not continuously, which is why it is called drop-on-demand (DOD). The print head therefore does not come into direct contact with the paper. Therefore, inkjet printers are not only matrix printers, but also non-impact printers.

Non-impact printing

Abbreviated to NIP, “non-impact printing” refers to various printing processes that do not require a printing plate at all. In addition to inkjet printing, this also includes laser printing, thermal printing, and photography.

Different inkjet printer technologies

Printers that operate on the basis of DOD inkjet printing can be divided into two groups based on the technology used to drive the ink out of the nozzle: BubbleJet and piezo printers.

In BubbleJet technology, a heating element heats ink droplets, causing them to expand and inflate. This creates a vapor bubble that catapults an ink droplet through the nozzle under high pressure. BubbleJet technology is used by some leading manufacturers, like

• Canon,
• HP,
• Lexmark.

Epson inkjet printers, on the other hand, are so-called piezo printers. These use the inverse piezoelectric effect, in which piezo crystals in ceramic elements are pulsed with electrical voltage. This technology is said to produce more uniform and sharply contoured droplets and to be more durable than the BubbleJet printers.

Laser printer

Unlike inkjet printers, laser printers are not matrix printers but page printers. They print an entire page in one pass. They use the so-called electrophotography or xerography process (named after the company Xerox which invented the technology), which is also used in photocopiers. An image drum covered with a light-sensitive layer, the photoconductor, is negatively charged electrostatically by applying an electrical voltage.

A movable mirror directs a laser beam specifically to the spots on the photoconductor the toner needs to get to and releases the electrostatic charge. The image drum rotates further to the toner cartridge, where toner is transferred to the erased areas of the photoconductor. Since the toner has the same charge as the photoconductor, it only gets to the erased areas.

The photoconductor then rolls over the printer paper. A positive voltage is applied under the paper, which causes the toner to transfer onto the paper. Finally, the toned paper passes through the fuser unit, where the toner is permanently fused with the paper at around 356 °F.

LED printer

The way LED printers work is similar to that of laser printers — in fact, LED printers are often even referred to as laser printers. One difference, however, is that LED printers do not need a mirror construction because they do not transfer dot by dot with a laser, but entire lines in one go with a row of light-emitting diodes onto the photoconductor. Thanks to this single-pass technology, LED printers can transfer all colors to the paper in one step, whereas conventional laser printers need one pass per color. As a result, LED printers work faster than laser printers.

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