There has never been a better time to buy an inkjet printer. With price points at all time lows and feature sets at an all time high, owning a inkjet printer has never been this easy. Choosing the right model for your needs however can be a bit daunting. Our Buyer’s Guide will help to make you a savvier consumer and help you navigate the through the wide array of Inkjet Printers available today. Becoming a savvy shopper means not only knowing your budget but also asking yourself the right questions about how you intend to use your printer. Here are some questions to keep in mind as you work through our interactive buyers guide:

• What is my budget? Have I considered the cost of consumables (Ink and paper)
• How much printing do I plan to do, what is my monthly average?
• How much space do I have?
• Do I need it to run on Mac or Windows?
• What type of printing am I going to do? Mostly text, graphics, photos, a combination?
• Will I need this printer to connect to more than one computer?
• Will I need to connect this printer wirelessly?

With some of these questions in mind, our buyers guide will now take you step by step through the some of the most important aspects of choosing an Inkjet Printer most suitable for your needs

Budget

Before determining what features and specifications to look for, you should establish a clear budget for your Inkjet Printer purchase. With over 250 models to choose from, the best way to narrow your search is to have a clear notion of how much you want to invest.

As will most things in life: the more you invest the better the quality and number of features. When considering your budget, don't forget to factor in the cost per page based on consumables—mostly ink and paper but also any additional supplies the printer requires. Below is a rough guide to what you can expect for each price range.

$40 to $100 at this price range, you can expect:

• Relatively low output quality and slow speeds
• Lower end photo printing
• Low yield ink cartridges.
• Connect to one computer
• Print an average of 20-100 pages per month
• Look in this price range if you need to attach a printer to a single computer and a low purchase price is your chief concern.

$100 to $200 at this price range, you can expect:

• Mid Range output quality and speeds
• Basic Printing needs
• Good quality photo printing
• Connect to one computer
• Print an average of 20 pages per day
• Look for a printer here if you need to attach it to a single computer and you expect to print no more than about 20 pages a day.

200 to $400 at this price range, you can expect:

• High output quality and speeds
• Basic Printing needs
• High end photo printing
• Possibly connect to more than one computer
• High Yielding ink cartridges.
• That the printer can handle about 15,000 pages per month.
• Ink jet printers in this price range generally offer excellent output and speeds. Some offer special paper-handling features, such as duplexing or the ability to handle tabloid- or supertabloid-size pages (somewhat larger than 11 by 17 inches). You can also find ink jets in this price range with connections for standard Ethernet, 802.11b wireless, or Bluetooth networks.

$400 and higher

Inkjet printers in this range offer the highest photo printing quality available today. Many come with as many as 10 separate ink cartridges to give the widest breadth of color for photographers who need high contrast professionally quality pictures.

Maximum Print Resolution

Inkjet printers work by placing extremely small droplets (dots) of ink onto paper to create an image. The capacity of a printer to jam a certain amount of these dots into a square inch of space is known as the maximum print resolution. The higher your inkjet printer’s resolution, the better your printouts will look. Look for at least 600x600 dpi for text printing and at least 1200x600 dpi for graphics and photos.

Maximum Mono Print Speed

The speed of a inkjet printer is measured by the ppm (pages per minute) i.e. the number of pages a laser or inkjet printer can produce in one minute. Generally the speed increases as the price of the printer increases.

Inkjet printers have 3 levels of quality settings: draft, normal, best. The higher the quality, the lower the speed. Bear in mind that the speeds stated by the manufacturers are often higher than real life speeds. While testing the speed, the manufacturers often print the basic text with lowest print quality and come up with such fast speeds. The real speed is likely to be nearly half the speed stated by the manufacturer if you use the normal printing quality.

If monochrome print speed is of particular importance, then we suggest choosing a Inkjet Printer with a Mono Print Speed twice that of what you expect to actually print. So if you expect a normal output of 20 ppm then we suggest you choose a printer with a rated ppm of 40 or more.

Maximum Color Print Speed

The speed of an inkjet printer is measured by the ppm (pages per minute) i.e. the number of pages a laser or inkjet printer can produce in one minute. Generally the speed increases as the price of the printer increases. Inkjet printers have 3 levels of quality settings: draft, normal, best. The higher the quality, the lower the speed. Bear in mind that the speeds stated by the manufacturers are often higher than real life speeds. While testing the speed, the manufacturers often print the basic text with lowest print quality and come up with such fast speeds. The real speed is likely to be nearly half the speed stated by the manufacturer if you use the normal printing quality.

If color print speed is of particular importance, then we suggest choosing a Inkjet Printer with a Maximum Color Print Speed twice that of what you expect to actually print. So if you expect a normal output of 15 ppm then we suggest you choose a printer with a rated maximum color ppm of 30 or more.

Summary

With price points continually coming down and feature sets continually going up, it is a great time to purchase a Inkjet Printer. With all of the above considerations in hand you should now be better equipped to make a more informed choice when choosing a Inkjet Printer that best suits your needs.

Thank you for using our buyers guide. We hope you enjoy your shopping experience!