Inkjet Printer

1. Price Range  

Looking for a general multi-purpose printer that won’t break the bank? An inkjet printer might be what you are looking for. If you are looking for a printer that can print school reports to an occasional picture, you can find inexpensive inkjet printers that will meet all your printing needs. If your printing needs are a little more advanced, you can find inkjet printer with added features that still be cheaper than purchasing a laser printer. The more features you need and the type of quality you are looking for will add to the cost of the printer; however, you can find a printer with good print quality under $100. General price range of inkjet printers is between $50 - $200.

2. Advantage & Disadvantage  

   Advantages

   • Inexpensive
   • The ability to print in color

   
   Disadvantages

   • Slow
   • High cost of inkjet cartridges

3. How Inkjet Printers Work 

Inkjet printers shoot tiny droplets of ink through the print head onto paper to create an image. The print head moves back and forth across the page, when it finishes a section the paper is move forward for the print head can continue across the page.
You will find most inkjet printers will use four colors (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) to create almost any color combination you can think of. Most inkjet printers that double as a photo printer will use six colors to extend the printer’s color gamut. The more colors a printer offers will give you more accurate and bolder colors. Here are a few suggestions on what to look for when buying an inkjet printer.

4. What to Look For 
   
   
   • Print Quality & Speed:
     Before deciding on what inkjet printer is best for your printing needs, don’t let price be the deciding factor. Higher price doesn’t always indicate the best print quality or speed of an inkjet printer. Before purchasing a printer, shop around and when you have a specific model in mind, ask to print a test page to see for yourself the printer’s print quality.
     
     Inkjet printers speed is measured by the number of pages the printer can spew out in a minute. The cost of any inkjet printer will go up the faster the printer is. The print speed might not be important for many home users but if you are planning to be printing a great deal, a faster printer might be a better option for you. When it comes to print speed, most manufacturers tend to base their print speeds using the simplest text in draft mode so in most cases print speeds are twice the speed you will actually have. Again ask to print a test page to be able to judge for yourself if the speed is worth paying a little extra for the printer.
   
   
   
   • Print Resolution:
     Resolution is the maximum number or dots per square inch that an inkjet printer can spit out onto a sheet of paper. The more dots will give you finer details such as sharper text and cleaner images. Look for an inkjet printer with a resolution of 1200 dots per inch or higher.
   
   
   
   • Cartridges & Supplies:
     The real cost of an inkjet printer comes from the ongoing cost of buying replacement inkjet cartridges. If you know you will be using one color more than the others, consider an inkjet printer with individual ink cartridges. It will save you money in the long run because you will only need to replace the cartridges you need. With tri-color inkjet cartridges (three colors in one container), you will need to replace the whole cartridge when one color is empty.