To understand which is the best printer for your needs, you must first know which are the different types of printer available on the market. Some, such as inkjet or laser, differ in the method and printing technology: LED printers and sublimation photo printers also belong to this category.
Others, however, are characterized by the ability to integrate multiple uses in a single device, or to be equipped with particular connectivity: multifunction printers and Wi-Fi printers are part of this type. Finally, not all printers are fixed: some models can also be taken with you wherever you want.
Here we had listed out the latest and advanced models of the best home printers that are given below.
Things to Consider Before Buying Home Printers
Now that we have a clear idea of what the market offers, we are ready to go into the technical characteristics of the printer, or in the actual purchase guide. As you know, there is no absolute best printer, but only the one that comes closest to your needs: here are all the technical characteristics to consider before buying a printer.
Dimensions and Positioning
Although it is not the main element that characterizes a quality printer from a less interesting one from the point of view of performance, the dimensions of this device are an important element to consider, to understand how and where to position the printer inside home or office.
As we have seen, the inkjet models that are usually used at home are more compact and suitable to be positioned almost everywhere, while the multifunction laser models are often quite bulky, and therefore must be positioned in an ad hoc space.
Another element that affects the positioning of these devices is certainly the presence of the connection cable with the computer, while wireless devices do not clearly entail this problem.
Print Resolution
Print resolution is one of the most important features for those looking for a printer that takes care of putting images on paper, while it is less important for those who need to print documents. Expressed in DPI, the print resolution is an element easily identifiable on the technical datasheet of all the models we have considered.
Print Speed
Print speed is an important element especially when using this device in an office, and therefore you need to print many sheets in a short time. It is located on the datasheet and is expressed in PPM, or in pages per minute.
Paper and Formats
The weight of the paper supported by the printer and the size of the sheets is a feature to be taken into consideration, but which does not absolutely determine the quality or otherwise of the different models. All the printers subject to our comparison have a maximum format of 21 x 27 cm, equal to the size of an A4 sheet. In many cases it is possible to print also in smaller formats, such as A5 or A6, but not in larger formats, such as A3.
Scanner and Fax
The presence of the scanner, fax, and copier – therefore the fact that the printer model is multifunctional – is an almost obvious element in the new printer models. As we have seen, in fact, even the cheapest devices are equipped with scanners and fax machines most of the time.
Cartridge and Toner
The presence of cartridges or toner included, their availability on the market and the possibility of using compatible cartridges and toner are characteristics to be taken into consideration when choosing the best printer for your needs, especially if you use it frequently: if you choose a model that only supports original cartridges or toner, you may find yourself spending a lot of money over time.
Led
From the point of view of the technology with which the printing is carried out, the printers that work with LEDs are the most innovative: these models use multiple LEDs inside them, positioned in an alternating order, which works and activates when it is sent the command for printing.
The main advantage of these models lies in their speed, higher than the inkjet and lasers; the main disadvantage lies in the cost, which is still quite high, also because there are only two companies that produce printers of this type.
Multifunction
Multifunction printers are now the most popular model on the market, and they are gradually replacing “pure” printers, that is, those that only deal with reproducing documents and images on paper.
What characterizes the multifunction models is first of all the presence of the scanner, then that of the copier and the fax. Better a “pure” printer or a multifunctional model?
More and more people are choosing to buy a multifunction printer for home or office, because the cost is often equivalent to that of a device that can only print, and it may happen that you have to make a photocopy or, even more, scan a document to have it handy in digital format.
Wi-Fi Printers
The presence of connectivity and connection to Wi-Fi is a very appreciated feature and to be evaluated in choosing the best model for your needs, especially if you do not want to have cables and wires around the house.
Thanks to connectivity and Wi-fi, these models are able to connect to different devices in the home or office and to receive the signal to start printing without there are physical elements, such as cables, which in addition to being annoying are also aesthetically unpleasant, and which above all affect the positioning of the printer.
