Choosing From Among Color Printers

Because there are so many options to choose from for color printers, deciding on one can be difficult. A lot of people believe defining your printing needs is a good starting point. With the many available options, sorting through the possibilities to find one that best fills need is important.

A good place to start may be in determining how many pages will be printed. If the machine will be used in a place of business, perhaps a color laser printer should be considered. While costing more initially, these devices are durable machines with a long life. The per page cost is much lower than with ink-jet based machines. The resolution is unmatched - up to nine thousand six hundred by two thousand four hundred. And the print speed is phenomenal - up to twelve thousand pages per hour on some models. Even when printing complex images, these devices still maintain their speed. Plus, if they are left to sit for a long period of time for any reason, they will not go dry. In other words, their ink will not dry up inside of them, ruining them.

For those with high volume printing needs, a modern copy machine can fulfill this demand. They are pricey and are usually borrowed on a lease agreement. Such agreements are typically for terms of one to five years. As part of this agreement, the unit is maintained by a professional technician. Many times these machines can hold upward of two or three thousand pages at once. They can process multiple jobs simultaneously. Lightning and darkening features produce better looking documents. These machines can even staple and collate jobs. With their large plate glass, they function well as large flat bed scanners. And there are no other printers that come close to matching their output speed. At more than two hundred copies every minute, they can handle even the largest of jobs. And their cost per page is very low.

Specialty printers exist for particular business needs. For example, some print on fabric using heat transfer or thermal technology. Others print on extremely large media, such as wood. These types typically require specialized ink.

Small businesses and individuals with limited printing needs usually find these machines to be too expensive. The price on these machines can range upwards of five to ten times more than ink-jet printers. Also, with the many varieties of ink-jet printers, most find a machine to fit their needs.

One such sub-type is the photo printer. These devices are configured to print edge to edge. They are equipped with many nozzles for finite control of ink placement. A standard feature is a card reader to read a camera's card. These are stand alone units, with no need to be hooked up to a computer. With their specialty inks and photo paper, these produce the most expensive prints. Yet for printing photos, their quality is unsurpassed. The smallest of these machines is just large enough to print a standard sized photo.

Regular ink-jet printers are found in many homes. These devices usually need a computer connection to function. Bottom end machines come equipped with only one ink cartridge. These cartridges contain four cavities - one with black, and one each for the three base colors. Better models have two cartridges. One holds the black ink and the other contains the colors. The best machines machines further separate the tints into individual containers. Some have only three color cartridges, some have five. High end machines can have seven or more cartridges for color. Most ink-jet printers also have cartridges of specialized ink that can be used for printing pictures.

Some people have 'all in one' machines. With built-in additions, these machines serve as copiers, fax machines, and scanners.

Because colored ink and toner is more expensive than plain black, cost can be a disadvantage to color printers. One method of reducing the cost of printing is to force the black or gray scale printing. Sometime printers use a composite to print black and are not really printing in black. Selecting gray scale printing will ensure that only black ink is used.

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