The best cheap printer. Laser printers for home use: overview, models, selection tips and manufacturer reviews

During the time when modern technologies“attacked” humanity on all fronts, a printer for home use has become a harsh natural necessity. It is much more convenient to print digital images at home than in a studio. If your children are studying at school or university, this device acquires the same indispensability as a kettle in the kitchen.

So, when choosing any device, you first need to answer a simple question - what is it for. Depending on whether you will print photographs or documents, we choose an inkjet or laser unit.

Types of printers

First, let's dive into the thick of the variety of these devices. What are the printers?

• jet;
• laser, LED;
• inkjet photo printers;
• inkjet MFPs;

What are they characterized by?

What are their features? Inkjet printer (for home use this is the best option) is perfect for printing images, color documents, small amounts of text. If you plan to use the unit exclusively for printing documents, feel free to purchase a laser machine.
Thermal sublimation photo printers are designed to please amateur photographers. This color prints high-quality 10 x 15 cm pictures. The MFP is a copier that can create documents and photographs, as well as scan photographs, documents and films. Dot matrix printer - a device for printing black and white documents, feature which is a dot print. It is practically not found on sale, it can be found in state banking structures.

Characteristics of printers and their types

And we will start with inkjet technologies. When choosing a color printer for your home, you need to understand that there are three types of inkjet technologies. It:

• piezoelectric;
• bubble;
• thermal jet.

An example of piezoelectric printing would be Thermal Inkjet devices from Hewlett-Packard. Bubble Possesses Canon printer(but not all models). By the way, in terms of performance characteristics, inkjet counterparts win. They are capable of printing up to 19 pages of color documents per minute, while for "laser printers" this figure is 3-4 sheets.

Piezoelectric technology

Between themselves, these technologies are very, very similar, but their main difference is the way ink drops from the print heads get on the surface of a sheet of paper. However, each type has its own advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of the piezoelectric imaging method include the possibility of fine tuning the droplet size. This makes it easy to print from high resolution. In addition, this system is considered more reliable, but also more expensive. More precisely, a more expensive printer print head. Using poor quality ink may cause the nozzles to become clogged and need to be replaced. Among other things, when using any of the inkjet units, be it an Epson or HP printer, from time to time you will have to print something so that the ink residue does not dry out and you do not have to change the head.

Bubble and thermal inkjet printing

Bubble technology occurs as follows. Ink is ejected only due to gas bubbles. They, in turn, appear in the process of heating the ink. This technology is cheaper than the previous one, and the print quality is high.

Thermal inkjet printing (a Canon printer has it) is carried out in the process of raising the temperature of the ink. They spill out of print head under high pressure.

Despite the significant difference in technology, it is difficult for the average user to see the difference between the results.

Photo printers: what is it and why is it?

More and more people are taking pictures every day. Digital pictures are accumulated on media. They can be viewed, edited, improved. At the same time, the romance of tangible pictures, touchingly pasted into the album, has disappeared somewhere. Therefore, photo frames are back in fashion, and with them photo printers. These are units that are connected to a digital medium (camera) and print an image within a minute. There are devices that create standard A4 formats, but there are also compact models for displaying 10 x 15 cm images. The latter are needed when it comes to offline printing from a camera or flash drive.

Types of photo printers

There are two types of photo printers:

• sublimation;
• jet.

The latter in terms of printing technology are practically no different from those described above. I must say that the disadvantages of inkjet include banding. It can manifest itself to varying degrees in different models. It is usually difficult to detect, but it appears when the unit malfunctions or when some nozzles are clogged. As a result, the image becomes divided into horizontal stripes. Sublimation devices do not have this drawback.

Sublimation units, which work even at the lowest resolution conditions, are not inferior in quality to inkjet counterparts with much higher resolution. To negative qualities sublimation models rank high cost of consumables.

They print much faster than their inkjet counterparts. In such devices, their main task is carried out as a result of heating the film on which the dye is applied. The latter evaporates, thereby imprinting on a special paper. As a result of the increase in temperature, the pores of the paper open, and the ink is firmly fixed on it. The future photo cools down, the surface becomes glossy and smooth again. The whole process is divided into several approaches, because to get the result you will have to apply the three main dyes in the correct sequence.

Laser printing technology

Every day it is getting easier to buy an inexpensive laser printer. And no wonder, because the laser recent times much cheaper for manufacturers. Many people buy such printers for the home. Printing documents using such a device is much more profitable than using an inkjet. This fact is explained by the fact that consumables, when converted to a page, are much cheaper. However, the printer itself is more expensive, the price of which more than pays off with large print volumes. Another point should not be overlooked. It should also be taken into account that if you buy a laser printer, the price of components and consumables (including toners) in case of repair will be lower than for an inkjet printer (at least 2 times).

The economic benefit from the purchase of such a device appears when the user needs to print large volumes of text documents daily - from several tens to several hundreds. For a couple of pages a week, an inkjet printer is enough. If you want a color printer for the home, then it is better to neglect the laser one. The quality of the color printing of the laser device leaves much to be desired. Good photos are unlikely.

What to look for when buying a home printer?

1. Price. A good thing cannot be cheap. In addition, no one wants to closely communicate with service centers to repair the purchased printer. Therefore, the price should be at least average (about $100-150 for inkjet and $200-300 for laser).
2. Functionality. Before purchasing a printer, you need to decide for yourself which features you plan to use and which can be neglected. In modern units (especially for MFPs), there are a lot of additional functions that increase the price of the device.
3. Possibility of color printing. If you do not need it, feel free to buy a monochrome printer. Even if the price is practically the same, from time to time you will have to change cartridges. Why are you spending extra money?
4. Quality assurance. Ask the store about the terms of warranty service.

What else do I need to ask the salesperson in the store (applies to inkjet printers only)?

1. What is the average typing speed.
2. How many copies will an average of one set of consumables last.
3. Are there consumables available for sale that are compatible with this model, the use of which can make printing cheaper.
4. Can the user refill cartridges on their own. Is it possible to buy ink in this (or any other) store.
5. Does this device have protection against refills on the cartridge.
6. Is it possible to install According to experts, this makes it possible to significantly save money and deprive yourself of pleasure in unexpected this moment see the absence of one of the paint colors.

Cartridges from laser printers are strongly recommended to be refilled at specialized service centers. Without the necessary preparation, you can disable the cartridge, which costs up to 50% of the total price of the entire device. In addition, inhaling toner vapors is extremely harmful to the body. Yes, it's a messy and messy business.

Which company to buy a color printer for home use?

At the moment, there are many manufacturers of this equipment. However, the most popular are the following companies:

• Hewlett Packard.
• Epson.
• Canon.
• Lexmark.
• Xerox.
• Panasonic.
• Samsung.

Let's recap!

When purchasing a printer for home use, keep the purpose of the purchase in mind. Do you want to print colorful photos? Pay attention to sublimation or inkjet photo printer. If you are planning to build a career as a photographer, and the quality of the images created is a matter of fundamental importance, it is better to buy a sublimation printer. Are you shopping for work or school? Looking to print large volumes of black and white documents? In this case, a laser unit will come to the rescue. In any case, pre-calculate the average cost of refilling the cartridges of the selected device and the average monthly costs for a particular unit. Find out if your city has service centres manufacturer. This will save you time in the event of an emergency. Be vigilant, attentive and reasonable. Happy shopping and good mood!

So, we found out the printing technology and characteristics of printers.

The printer in the house can perform a lot of functions, so you need to choose it carefully. Here it is worth considering some features of printing and its frequency. An ordinary office printer will certainly not suit you, but overpay a large sum money for a universal model, too, no one will have a desire. So before buying home printer, I strongly recommend that you read our tips and tricks, which we have published below.

Device type

The type of device directly depends on the breadth of possibilities. Now often produce two types of devices for printing:

• MFP (multifunction device);
• Printer.

For home, it is better to choose a multifunctional device (MFP), since in addition to the ability to print, this technique has the following functions: copier, and some MFP models can even be used as a fax. Naturally, such a purchase will cost several times cheaper than if you purchased the same devices, but separately, and the MFP will take up much less space, unlike all of the listed devices separately, not to mention the minimum of wires.

If you want to save money, and you are sure that you will not need a scanner, fax and copier, then it is better to buy a printer, not an MFP.

Choosing a print technology

The next step is to select the printing technology of the device. Today you can find the following types of them:

• Laser printers . Designed to work in the office where you need high speed printing and low cost per printed sheet. The quality of the printed text is really high. However, this technique is much higher in price compared to its counterparts.
• Inkjet printers. Widespread in home use. Have very high quality of the press of color photos and drawings. The price of inkjet printers is much lower than laser ones, however, ink is consumed by an order of magnitude more, but given that we print less at home than at work, then the consumption becomes quite adequate.
• Solid Ink Printers. Comparable to lasers: print fast, can withstand heavy loads prints are very durable (due to their design), and the quality is higher than laser ones. With all the visible advantages, there is one caveat - the high price, which is 10-15 times higher than the price of conventional printers, which is not actually an option for the home.
• sublimation printers. These models are used, as a rule, for printing small photos in excellent quality.

Print color

It should be said right away that when choosing a home printer, pay attention, first of all, to printers with color printing. Black and white printing (the second type of device) is often preferred in offices where most of prints - texts for which it is enough to have black ink.

The lack of color ink and the ability to print in color significantly reduce the cost of the printer, but be realistic about whether you are really ready to give it up. That is, if you do not plan to print text highlighted in color, color graphics and photos, then there is no point in overpaying for an inkjet printer. For the sake of several possibly printed photos that can be printed in a photo salon, there is no point in overpaying for color printing.

Print format

Standard print sizes are: A0, A1, A2, A3, A4, A6.

Sizes such as A0 and A1 can only be printed by large format printers and multifunction devices. These are quite rare devices, as they are specialized (used in engineering and advertising).

The A2 format occupies a middle position between large format printers and conventional printers, but is used quite rarely, both for work and for home.

The A3 format is often used in offices to print this type of paper, such as letterheads, announcements or other documents in large format.

A4 format (album sheet format) and A5 (album half sheet). These formats are supported by all printers and MFPs. Therefore, if you do not have special requirements for the print format, then choose a regular printer.

The A6 format has a size of 10 × 15 cm. As a rule, such printers are used to print photos without a computer (directly from the camera).

Printing photos

Having the ability to print photos is a very beneficial feature of a home printer. Devices with this feature allow you to print any images in high quality, they can be compared with printing photos in a professional laboratory.

This photo printer is optimal to buy in the case when you often take pictures and make an album. It is also beneficial to buy it when you plan to have children, whom you will photograph many, many times. This class of devices typically has the ability to print directly from camera and .

But it is also worth noting that in addition to the high price of such a device, one must take into account the need for frequent ink refills.

WiFi interface

Modern printers and MFPs have such an amazing opportunity as connecting a device without unnecessary wires using the Wi-Fi interface. The wireless communication standard allows you to install the printer anywhere in the house and send photos or documents for printing from any device that supports a Wi-Fi connection (from a phone, tablet, netbook, laptop, and of course from a computer). However, such devices will cost a little more than usual ones, but believe me, such convenience is worth the money spent.

CISS, cartridges and ink

Today, such a thing as CISS (continuous ink supply system) is very popular. This design costs about 25% of the cost of the printer. Its essence lies in the fact that the system saves ink consumption several times during printing. If you have a printer with color printing, and at the same time you print a lot and often, then the CISS will quickly pay off and the ink savings will be enormous, especially since it is very easy to refill it yourself.

In other cases, it is best to give preference to a printer with this type of cartridges, which will make it possible, instead of the original ones (when they run out), to insert non-original - serviced cartridges (to do it yourself). This is best done in view of the fact that original cartridges are unreasonably expensive.

Suggestions to watch a video about the printer, which are given helpful tips by his choice.

To print on a printer beautiful pictures, You will need a high-quality camera, about which I gave advice in one of the previous articles. Happy shopping!

The printer is one of the most needed devices today. There are dozens of brands on the market, hundreds of various models devices.

How to choose the best printer for home or office use? Should I pay attention to multifunctional devices (MFPs)? How to choose a color printer?

Main characteristics of printers

Regardless of whether the device belongs to one type or another, there are a number of common characteristics of printers. Let's list them.

• cartridge yield. This printer component is directly responsible for printing. This device contains a coloring element - ink or toner. The printer cannot work without a cartridge. The resource of this device is usually measured in the number of processed sheets of paper, counted from the moment the first page was printed on a new cartridge (or freshly refilled). A typical measurement object is a sheet on which text is printed in medium font.

• Page processing speed. This characteristic expressed as the number of sheets printed per minute. Just as in the case of the previous parameter, a typical object for measuring this characteristic is a text page.

• Chroma. There are two main varieties of printers in terms of printed shades. Firstly, these are monochrome (or black-and-white) devices (and if we speak more correctly from a technical point of view, devices that support only this type of cartridge). They are designed for printing texts, tables and other graphic data that do not require bright visualization. Secondly, there are color printers (that is, those that support, in turn, this type of cartridge). Their cost is usually significantly higher. But the owner of the device also has more opportunities - you can print photos, color booklets, covers, etc.

Main types of printers

Printers are available in a wide range of models. Manufacturers use dozens of different manufacturing technologies for these devices. At the same time, in domestic use, three main types of printers are most common - dot-matrix, laser and inkjet. Consider what tasks each of them is optimized for, and also name the main pros and cons of the devices.

Dot matrix printers are considered historically the very first inventions for printing from a computer. Their use is best adapted for printing single color texts, very simple drawings and spreadsheets.

pros: economy.

Minuses: quite a lot of noise during operation, relatively expensive repairs and components.

Laser printers, like dot matrix printers, are best suited for working with texts and tables. However, in such devices, you can use not only a black and white cartridge, but also a color one. This significantly expands the range of application of the printer. Of course, laser technology is not quite optimal for printing high-quality photographs, but it is quite suitable as a tool for creating color booklets or, for example, covers. It is worth noting that color cartridges tend to become cheaper (both in terms of their retail price, and in terms of refilling and maintenance costs).

pros laser printers: cost-effectiveness (cartridge resource - 30-50 thousand pages of text, easy replacement of this component), versatility, high print speed.

Minuses: big size, unstable operation of cheap models.

Inkjet printers are ideal for printing color images. Contemporary photographers almost always use such devices in their work. Inkjet technology at the same time allows you to print excellent quality text.

pros: absolute versatility, cheap devices.

Minuses: low print speed, low resource (about 150-200 pages of text) of cartridges, their high cost in retail, high cost of maintenance (refueling). Many IT professionals assign inkjet printers a specific niche associated specifically with printing images. Or a print release. If the user is thinking about how to choose a printer for printing photos, then he should pay attention to inkjet models first of all.

What is an MFP?

There is a special class of electronic equipment - MFPs. This abbreviation stands for simply - "multifunctional device." Despite the potential breadth of interpretation of the term, it is almost always understood as a device that combines the functions of a printer, scanner and copier. The classification of MFPs is carried out on the same grounds as for printers (except that the matrix type of device is very rare). And therefore, the pros and cons for each variety will be partly identical to those that are typical for printing devices.

MFPs are available in the widest range of specifications. You can always find a device that suits in terms of any desired function. How to choose a "printer-scanner-copier", performed "in one bottle"?

IT experts recommend paying attention to the most important aspect when selecting an MFP model - the performance of functions in the event that others are not available. Many manufacturers program their devices in such a way that if, say, the cartridge used for the "printer" or "copier" function runs out of ink, then the scanner will not work. When choosing an MFP in this way, you should find out in advance (through forums on the Internet or by asking a sales manager in a hardware store) how the device behaves in relation to the interdependence of functions.

Office printer: basic nuances

How to choose a printer optimized for the office? First of all, let's define the criteria that most clearly reflect the specifics of using this device in the operating mode at the enterprise.

Firstly, an office printer is most likely to be used to print black and white documents - contracts, invoices, tables. This will affect the choice of printer type: for typical “office” tasks, from an economic point of view, a laser printer with a black and white cartridge will be the most profitable device.

Secondly, in the office, unlike at home, the dynamics of work, labor productivity, which to a certain extent will depend on the printer's productivity indicators, are of fundamental importance. The main criterion here is the number of printed pages (as a rule, it is indicated in units per minute).

Thirdly, when deciding how to choose a printer for the office, it is necessary to analyze how compatible the device is with the current infrastructure of the company. This can be expressed in many aspects.

Take, for example, the noise level: it is known that, first of all, matrix printers are famous for generating increased decibels. And therefore their installation is undesirable in offices of the "open" type, in which there are no walls (instead of them - plastic partitions). Employees simply will not be able to work comfortably. When choosing a printer for the office, it is important to find out if it is able to work under the operating system that is installed on enterprise computers. The fact is that on the PC of many companies, due to different reasons not Windows, but a completely different architecture can be installed operating system(Linux, FreeBSD, MacOS, etc.). Before thinking about which printer to choose, you should analyze the specifics of the computer platforms on which the device is supposed to be used.

Laser printers: operating features

As we have defined above, a laser printer with a black and white cartridge is best suited for the office. What is the specifics of operation of devices of this type?

1. "Laser" is incompatible with "gloss". IT professionals recommend careful selection of paper used in laser printers. black and white printers. First of all, it is not recommended to use coated paper of the glossy type for any purpose: printing toner is very poorly attached to sheets of this type. This leads to the fact that the printer parts become dirty and the life of the device is significantly reduced.
2. Refueling the "laser" is better to entrust the pros. The toner used in this type of printer is a fine, very loose and sticky material. If it gets on clothes or pieces of furniture, it is incredibly difficult to wash and clean them. Therefore, having bought a laser printer, you should find a company that provides refilling services for such devices.
3. "Laser" loves economy. Features of the technology used in printing in these devices are such that the rendering of many graphic elements on the page, such as texts and tables, requires relatively small portions of the coloring matter (toner). Therefore, it makes sense to enable the "save toner" option (it is in the software settings of most modern printers). The print quality will not suffer, but the life of the cartridge will increase noticeably.

"Laser" brands

Having decided on the basic characteristics of laser printers, let's move on to the practical choice of device models that are best suited for office use.

Which brands should you pay attention to first? How to choose a laser printer based on its belonging to a particular brand?

Experts refer to HP, Samsung, Canon, Epson and Xerox brands as printers with the best combination of price and performance.

Devices can be conditionally classified according to the degree of intensity of their use.

1. Low-intensity (involved in small groups of 1-5 employees). These include printers like HP LJ CP1215 and their counterparts from other brands. The print speed of such devices is about 15-20 pages per minute, the maximum load on the cartridge is 30 thousand sheets.
2. High-intensity (for teams of 5-20 people). In this category, experts note devices like the Xerox Phaser 3140 and their analogues. They are characterized by printing speed (20-25 sheets), cartridge resource - 50 thousand pages.

So which printer is better to choose based on belonging to a particular brand? It is difficult to answer unambiguously. If only because printing technologies are constantly changing. If Samsung is now considered a conditional leader, then it is possible that in just a few months it will overtake HP in some technological aspects.

Choosing a color laser printer

According to many IT professionals, a color laser printer is the ideal solution in terms of versatility and cost-effectiveness. Until recently, however, such devices were incredibly expensive and therefore were not very common.

The criteria for choosing a color laser printer are generally the same as those for black and white devices. This is the cost of refilling and the price of cartridges (branded and non-branded). Of course, some consumer characteristics of devices manufactured by different manufacturers may vary, but this is usually a very subjective criterion.

Choosing an inkjet printer: key criteria

How to choose an inkjet printer? Devices of this type operate on a technology that is fundamentally different from that used in laser devices. As a coloring element in such printers, as a rule, liquid ink is used. Therefore, the architecture of the device, as well as typical areas of its application, have features.

Inkjet printers are much better than laser printers at printing photographs (as well as various types of printing). Of course, they cope with the text perfectly. Indeed, as we noted above, technological features of these devices predetermine their high resource consumption. But if this aspect is not critical, then you can safely choose such devices. But by what criteria? How to choose an inkjet type printer?

Apart from the characteristics that are universal for all devices (cartridge resource, print speed), it makes sense to pay attention to a number of criteria specific to inkjet devices:

• “refillability” of cartridges;
• support for non-branded inks.

Choosing a device, therefore, we focus primarily on the extent to which it is possible to reduce the cost of its operation. First, we find out whether it is possible to refill cartridges in principle. Secondly, we will find out if it is possible to use inexpensive ink produced not by the brand itself, but by a third-party factory.

The aspect related to saving consumables is extremely important when the user decides how to choose a printer for photo printing and printing products. Otherwise, what is the point of buying a device? It is easier to give digital layouts to a specialized salon - it will be more profitable.

Home printer

How to choose a printer for home use? First of all, let's pay attention to how IT-specialists characterize the policy of manufacturers in this segment. Brands produce fairly cheap devices (so that the average citizen does not think that the printer is an expensive thing, go and boldly buy it), but the cost of the main printing element - the cartridge - is set very high. Moreover, it does not matter if it is a black and white or color printer. For the house, you will need to choose one that, first of all, will not become a burden on the family budget. Or at least worth the investment in yourself.

Which printer to choose for the home? IT-specialists recommend paying attention to its selling price last. Other aspects are much more important, namely:

• the price of a branded cartridge, its “non-branded” counterpart (as well as its practical compatibility with printers);
• the cost of refilling ink (if we are talking about an inkjet printer) or toner (laser device).

When deciding which printer to choose for your home, you can focus on this formula. First, we find out whether a cheap branded (or affordable and compatible “non-branded”) cartridge is being sold for the device, whether the refill price is acceptable, and only then we look at the cost of the printer itself.

How to choose a color printer based on whether the device belongs to the laser or inkjet class? Very simple. If the printing of photographs and polygraphy prevails, then we choose inkjet. If the text and tables - laser.

Does printer resolution matter?

When choosing a printer, you can pay attention to a number of important technical parameters. These include, in particular, permission. It directly affects the print quality. The higher the resolution, the more detailed the image will be on paper.

Technologically, the printing process is arranged as follows. The image is built from small dots applied to paper by a cartridge using ink or toner. Resolution is a measure of how many of these same dots fall on one inch of paper area. This characteristic is expressed in two numbers (for example, 600 x 300). Is this indicator important?

Many IT professionals believe that resolution is a secondary characteristic in modern printers. The fact is that the technologies used today involve software and hardware image smoothing algorithms. Printers, even if they have a low resolution, can produce images comparable in quality to those printed by devices that support printing more dots per inch. At least to the naked eye, the difference is almost imperceptible.

In addition, as some experts point out, higher resolution printers consume much more ink (or toner). Which, in principle, is logical: more "dots" - more intensive consumption of the coloring matter.

It turns out that experts' assessments regarding such a characteristic as printer resolution are divided into "moderate" and "radical". Those specialists who adhere to the former do not consider resolution important characteristic, urge users to treat it neutrally. Those that belong to the "radicals" generally speak of high resolution rates in a negative way.

Useful options and accessories

With how to choose a laser printer or its inkjet counterpart, we have decided. At the same time, as additional criteria for the attractiveness of a particular model of devices, there may be a number of interesting options in the device, as well as its compatibility with various accessories. Consider examples.

The most sought after accessory for printers is the Continuous Ink Supply System (or CISS). This device ensures virtually uninterrupted operation of the device cartridge: it does not need to be refilled every time. At the same time, as noted by IT specialists, printer manufacturers really do not like CISS.

And therefore, devices are programmed so that they are not compatible with this accessory. Many IT professionals believe that the key criterion for choosing the right printer is preliminary analysis device compatibility with CISS.

Useful options include the presence of a built-in Wi-Fi module. If it is, then the printer can be connected to a computer, located almost anywhere - wires are not needed. In addition, with the help of Wi-Fi, it is much easier to share a device from different computers.

Another useful option is the presence of a card reader. If it is, then the printer can be used without a computer. This option is useful in offices where operational production tasks are being performed, and it is difficult for one employee to give up his PC seat to another. Also, the option is useful if it is not technically possible to connect a computer to a printer.

A home printer today is not a luxury, but required device, which allows you to solve urgent problems in one click.
The most popular are inkjet and laser models with color printing. The laser type implies a higher price of consumables, but it lasts for a long time. jet type has a relatively low price, but is not economical with rare use, since the paints can thicken and dry. The market is literally teeming various types MFP and it is easy to get lost in this variety. Therefore, the consumer often faces the question: which color printer is better for the home?
In this article, we will describe the most popular models that have received good feedback.

4 000 rubles

It is an MFP and is designed for those who want to save money. This is one of the cheapest models in the series of inkjet color printers. Provided wireless operation mechanism, thanks to the available WI-FI function. The print speed is 8 units per minute. The quality of the printed photos is far from professional, but quite decent. Externally, the device is quite compact. Its average price is 4000 rubles. This is one of the best budget options available today.

7 000 rubles

- A good and inexpensive option for home use. The MFP is designed for copying, printing and scanning. Print type - thermal inkjet. The images come out pretty good. One of the disadvantages of this model is the relatively low print speed - 7 pages per minute. But this negative point is smoothed out by the price of the goods, which is about 6500-7000 rubles.

8 500 rubles

- A great budget option for home use. Provides good quality and fast printing - 28 pages per minute. When using a special mode, it consumes the color of the cartridges quite economically. The device provides high quality images and is designed for large volumes. The printer also provides duplex printing, but its speed is much slower than single-sided. The cost of the model is approximately 8000-8500 rubles.

10 000 rubles

Great for home or small office use. The printer gives high quality indicators when printing, including from mobile devices, at home. Connection functions via WI-FI or RG-45 are provided. The print speed is 16 pages per minute. The disadvantages include the relatively small capacity of the cartridges. For home needs - this is an ideal model for a relatively low pricing policy. The average price is about 8500-10 500 rubles.

11 000 rubles

has a good price-quality ratio. The MFP is perfect for home use. The laser printer is equipped with a wireless WI-FI system, which is a big plus. Printing of any document takes place in one touch, for this you just need to bring the phone to the device and the necessary information in a few seconds you will have in printed form good quality. In addition, the multifunctional printer scans information and transfers it via WI-FI directly to a mobile device. It has a fairly high print speed - 20 pages per minute. With regards to dimensions, this is a relatively small device with dimensions of 40x35. For an MFP, this is a fairly modest size. The price of Samsung Xpress M2070W at the moment is about 8500-11500 rubles.

11 500 rubles

is a multifunction printer for home with WI-FI and Internet. Inkjet MFP includes 6 colors, which allows you to convey the full depth and saturation of images. The photographs are of fairly high quality. The printer also provides duplex printing. Thanks to a special mode, the device is able to work almost silently. average speed photo printing is 7 units per minute. The device provides wireless printing from mobile and tablet devices, thanks to AirPrint and WI-FI. Canon PIXMA MG7540 also supports the cloud function, which allows you to print images directly from online services from the screen of the device. The model is quite compact and will fit well into any interior. The cost of such multifunctional electronic equipment is 11,500 rubles.

15 000 rubles

- A multifunctional device that is suitable for work in small volumes. The Epson L_350 has an inkjet printing technology, which means the ink dries out with infrequent use. Claimed throughput speed is 33 pages per minute. But among consumers, it was noted that with large volumes, the MFP starts to print more slowly. Otherwise, there are no complaints about the model. The ink consumption is very economical, and the print quality is quite good. A feature of the device is to work with Mac OS, as well as direct printing from memory cards. The approximate price of the MFP is about 15,000 rubles.

15 000 rubles

– color laser MFP medium sizes. It has a good print speed of 16 pages per minute, provides good quality photos and documents. The device can print necessary information wherever you are. To do this, it is enough to send a document, an image to the mail of the MFP and it will independently print everything on paper. The disadvantages of the model include a low supply of color cartridges. Good for home use if you print in small volumes. The average price of a printer today is 15,000 rubles.

19 000 rubles

- one of best models for home use. The printer provides high quality images due to the presence of electrographic LED printing. The print speed is quite high and is 22 pages per minute. The model has a separate toner cartridge and drum, which will save a lot when replacing them. Brother has rich features and high performance. The device is equipped with WI-FI, Internet and provides printing on almost any type of media. Double-sided printing and quiet operation complement the advantages of a color printer. The price of the goods is approximately 18,000-19,000 rubles.

Epson Eco Tank L555 28,500 rubles

Epson Eco Tank L555 with WI-FI support allows you to print from mobile phones and using the Epson iPrint application provided in the printer. One of the most important advantages of the model is the minimum paint consumption for large volumes. This means that the device is quite economical. In addition, inkjet 4-color printing provides good image quality. Productivity is about 33 pages per minute. The price compared to similar models is quite high - 28,500 rubles.

I welcome you to my blog!
The printer has long ceased to be a luxury for ordinary computer users and is already almost a mandatory attribute of home office equipment.
It may seem at first glance that choosing a printing device for your home is not difficult, but when you go to the store, you understand what to do right choice not just as it seemed at first.
In this article, I will show you how to choose a printer for your home and note what you need to pay attention to when choosing one. You need to approach the choice of a printing device seriously so that the money spent on it is not thrown to the wind and your printer does not become just a piece of furniture from which there is no practical use.

This article will focus only on printers, multifunctional devices will not be considered, as this is a topic for a separate article.
Before buying a printer, you need to clearly define its capabilities and functionality that you need in advance.
For example, answer the following questions to yourself:

Will you print color images or only monochrome.

Will you print images on thick paper: business cards, photos.

Will you print images directly from memory cards.

Ability to print on CDs and DVDs.

How often will you print on it or rarely.

Interface for connecting the printer to a computer: USB, network cable or WIFI.

These are some of the questions you need to answer before buying a printer. Some of these questions are key when choosing a printer, and some are only optional and optional, but this will help you choose the most suitable model just for you.

Of course, there may be more such questions, everyone may have their own requirements for the printer, but the answers to them sharply narrow the choice of printer model and its purchase becomes more rational.
In this article, I will review some of these questions and give my own answer to them so that you can choose the right printer for the home that meets exactly the characteristics that you need.

The article is large, so I broke it into parts and brought links to each part in the content, if you are interested in something specific, then you can immediately jump to this point.

Types of printers.

First, let's decide on the type of printers, find out what printers are in general and which ones are suitable for home use. I will only briefly describe their characteristics and features, and conclude which of them are currently relevant for home use.
Mostly for home use, printers are used that print on A4 paper, these are standard size ordinary sheet and a density of 80g / m 2. But sometimes printers are also used that support printing on A3 paper. If you do not need printing on large sheets, then A4 is enough for you.

Laser printer.

Laser printer– the toner (powder) that is in the cartridge is used for printing. Printed circuit board processes the signal and the laser beam sends this signal to the photo drum, where a static voltage is created with the help of the beam and as a result, the image turns into a real one. And then the toner sticks to this drum and when the paper is rolled through the drum, the image is transferred to it.

After that, the paper passes through a thermal roller, where it heats up to about 200 degrees and the powder is tightly soldered into it, which makes such an image resistant to fading and moisture.

Laser printers are ideal for printing texts and tables on any kind of plain paper. They are not suitable for printing high-quality photographs, since this image creation technology does not yet allow you to take high-quality photographs.

The advantage of a laser printer is a large resource of cartridges, 1500-2000 ordinary text pages, high print speed and ease of maintenance.
The downside is high power consumption, up to 300 watts when printing and above, as well as the high cost of toner cartridges.

LED printer.

LED printer- Printing technology is about the same as that of laser, but instead of a laser, a ribbon consisting of several thousand LEDs is used.
Due to the fact that such a printer uses LEDs, there is no mechanical part that a laser has to move it. The LEDs stand still, just at the right time a certain diode lights up.
Due to this, such a printer is slightly more reliable than a laser one and is smaller. In terms of print quality and speed, compared to laser, it is difficult to give an unambiguous answer, there are supporters for both printer models. Moreover, technologies do not stand still and LED printers are already catching up and overtaking laser models in some ways.

Jet printer.

Jet printer- Ink is used for printing. The essence of this method lies in the fact that through the microscopic nozzles of the print head, under pressure, ink is supplied from the cartridge to the paper. The required pressure is created either by heating the ink (thermal inkjet printing) or by changing the size of the head chamber (piezoelectric printing).

Thermal inkjet printing is found in printers from companies such as Canon, Lexmark, HP, and piezoelectric printing in Epson printers.
Inkjet models are very popular as home printers. These are versatile machines that are great for both text and image printing.
minus inkjet printers is the low resource of the cartridges and the fact that the ink can dry out when the printer is idle.

sublimation printer.

sublimation printer- Printing occurs by applying a solid dye to photographic paper. Between the heating element and the special photo paper is a film with ink of three colors. When the film is heated, the ink begins to evaporate and is transferred in the form of steam to photographic paper, in which pores open from heating. After the photo paper cools down, the ink is firmly attached to it. Typically, printing takes place in three stages, since ink is applied to paper in turn.

This method allows you to take photos of very good quality, but such images turn out to be too high a cost, since the cartridge has too little resource.
Sublimation printers have a narrowly focused scope, they are used to print photos, business cards, cards ... Printing text on such printers does not make sense, so for the home, as a universal printer, such a printer is not suitable.

Matrix printer.

Matrix printer- the image is created from dots by impact, a special needle presses on the ink ribbon in the right place, thereby creating a dot. They form the image. This printing technology is somewhat reminiscent of typewriter technology.
Such printers are not used as home printers, their capabilities for printing high-quality images and text are too limited.
Although they are morally outdated, dot matrix printers have not lost their relevance to this day. They can be found at the post office, in banks, where receipts are printed with their help, at railway stations and airports, where tickets are printed with their help. Based on them, I make composters for tickets on urban passenger transport.
Dot matrix printers will not leave the scene soon, ease of maintenance and cheap consumables make them popular among government. institutions and enterprises.

Summing up the description of the types of printers, we can conclude that for home use, you need to choose printers from among laser, LED or inkjet printers, since these are the most versatile types of printers, which is what the average user needs.
Sublimation printers will be too expensive to maintain, and dot matrix printers are not suitable for their technical characteristics.
Since laser printers and LED printers have approximately the same characteristics and printing technology, for simplicity of explanation I will combine them into one group “laser printers” and everything that will be written about laser printers will also apply to LED printers.

Which printer to choose, inkjet or laser.

And so, the first thing to do in order to choose the right printer for your home is to decide which type to choose, laser or inkjet.
To do this, you need to decide what you will print on it. If we talk about a laser printer, then I recommend taking monochrome models for the home.

Color laser printers will cost you too much to maintain, for example, if the printer costs 8,000 rubles, a set of original cartridges for it will cost you about 20,000 rubles. Think about whether you are ready to pay such an amount for printing on it. A monochrome printer will only need one cartridge, worth about 5,000 rubles.

The laser printer prints text perfectly, the font is high-quality and professional, resistant to moisture and fading. You can also print photographs and drawings on a laser printer, but the quality of such an image cannot be called excellent.
If you do not care about the quality of the photo, for example, a photo for a leaderboard, then you can use a laser printer, but again, pages printed on a color laser printer will have a high cost.

Laser or LED printer is better to choose if:
- Need to print large volumes of documents;
- If you only need monochrome printing;
- If the printer is long time idle without work;
- If you are not going to print photos;

If you want to print color images in addition to text, then you should choose an inkjet printer. Inkjet printers print well on any kind of image and on almost all types of paper, film, envelopes, CDs…
All inkjet printers come in color by default, allowing the user to print any good quality image.
The highest quality models of inkjet printers no longer lag behind laser ones, both in terms of print speed and cartridge life, which makes their purchase more profitable than laser ones, due to cheaper ink cartridges. The continuous printing system, which makes the cost of printing one sheet on an inkjet printer very cheap, helps to increase the cartridge resource especially well.
If you are interested in printing photos, then an inkjet printer will cope with this task better than a laser brother.

An inkjet printer is better to choose if:
- Do you need color printing?
- Need to print images on CD or DVD discs, film, etc.
- You need the ability to print high-quality photos;

As a rule, you want to have a printer at home, on which you can print whatever you want, both text and congratulations and business cards, and someone needs to draw an image on CDs.
In general, decide for yourself which printer you need, once you have decided on the type of printer, you can choose the following characteristics that you need.

Print cartridge resource.

Once you have decided which type of printer you need, you can select the rest of the printer options. One of them is the resource of the cartridge, the more it is, the better, one printed page will cost less.

It's no secret that printer manufacturers make their main income from the sale of consumables for them, and not from the sale of the printers themselves, since the printer can last for several years, and you will have to buy cartridges for it often if you print a lot.

Before buying a printer, I recommend finding out what resource the cartridge of your chosen model has. If for laser and LED printers it is approximately the same for everyone (1600-2500 pages), then for inkjet models this spread is much larger, from about 160 to 2300 pages.

If you spend more when buying a printer, you will then save on buying ink for it. The cost of one black cartridge for him is about 3000 rubles, this is an increased volume cartridge, it
has a resource of 2300 pages.

Therefore, do not rush to buy a cheap printer, first calculate how much it will cost you to print on such a printer.
Again, I am not writing specific printer models, the main thing is that you understand what to look for when choosing a printer for your home.

If you know that you will not be printing very many pages on an inkjet printer and printing photos does not bother you much, then you can purchase, for example, a model from the HP Officejet Pro series.
I have been using the HP Officejet Pro 8000 printer for several years and have no complaints about it. It prints quickly, works quietly and most importantly, the ink in it does not dry out.
It happens that I do not print on it for 2-3 months, but for this printer this is not a problem, for example, Epson would have dried up the print head or nozzles long ago.

I change the cartridge on it once every 1.5-2 years, in general, if you print from time to time and you need color printing, this is what you need.
I would not recommend it for printing photos, all the same, the ink consumption will be high, and a set of 4 cartridges will cost you about $150.

CISS for printer.

If you are going to print a lot on an inkjet printer, including photos or other graphics, then I advise you to buy a model for which there is a CISS. Actually, a continuous ink supply system is now available for almost all inkjet printers, but still, it is better to make sure that you can buy it for your particular model.

In this case, I recommend paying attention to Epson models. For this company, you will definitely find CISS, which makes printing on your printer very cheap.
The resource of one set of CISS is about three times more than the resource of a laser printer cartridge, and refilling the CISS generally costs a penny and any user can handle it. It is enough just to add ink to special containers.
In addition, the piezoelectric Epson printing allows you to take better pictures than the thermal inkjet technology of other models.

Keeping up with the times, Epson has released a line of printers called "Print Factory", where the CISS is already built into the printer and does not need to be purchased separately.

Refilling these printers is also easy, just add ink as needed. You just have to choose a model that meets your requirements in terms of its technical characteristics.
The only big downside Epson printers, is that if they don't print for a long time, they quickly dry up the ink in their piezoelectric printing system.

You need to understand, since you take a printer of this model, then be prepared to constantly print something.
If you don't need to print anything, create a test page and color it in with all the colors that your printer has and print it at least once a week, otherwise your printer will become just a piece of furniture.

Interface for connecting a printer to a computer.

How to choose a printer for your home so that you can print on it from any device? It's very simple, you need to choose a model that has the connection interface you need.

There are three ways to connect modern printers to a computer:

1. To the USB connector, using a USB cable;
2. To RJ-45 connector using twisted pair;
3. Using wireless connection WiFi;

The first method is one of the most common, it is well suited if you have only one computer and there is a printer next to it.

The second method is perfect if you have one or more computers and they are connected to each other through a router. In this case, the printer must also be connected to the router and it will be available for printing to all computers on the network.
If the router distributes Wi-Fi, then the printer will also be available for computers that are connected to the network via Wi-Fi, such as a laptop, tablet, smartphone.

The third method is suitable if you have a laptop, tablet, smartphone, in general, any gadget that has network connection via WiFi. With this connection, you do not need a network cable and the printer can stand in any place convenient for you.

You can find out which method of connecting to a computer the printer supports by looking at its characteristics. Think about how you want to connect your printer to your computer beforehand so that you don't have to deal with it later.

Paper weight is a measure of the thickness of the paper that the printer can print on. All printers can print on plain paper, but some printers have problems with thick paper.
If the printer does not support printing on thick paper, you will not be able to print on it, such as business cards or photos.

For example, on a printer with these characteristics, you can only print on plain paper.

And on a printer with such characteristics, you can print both on plain paper and on photo paper.
Of course, it is better to choose an omnivorous printer with which you will not have problems choosing paper.

Types of ink for printers.

If we talk about laser or LED printers, then everything is clear, they do not have ink, they have powder and there is not much to choose from. Another thing is inkjet printers.
There are two types of ink for inkjet printers, these are water-soluble and pigmented, and you should also think about which ink is better for you to use.

Water-soluble ink - created on the basis of water-based dyes. They are cheaper than pigment ones and when printing photos, they convey color better. Many photo printers use water-soluble inks. Their main drawback is the lack of moisture resistance of prints; if moisture gets on them, the text or image is blurred.

Pigment inks are based on pigment dyes. Such inks are more expensive than water-soluble inks, but they are resistant to moisture and fading. They convey colors not as saturated as water-soluble ones, but you can only notice the difference in comparison. The disadvantage of such ink is that it dries faster in the print head, which makes further printing impossible.
When using pigment inks, be especially careful not to dry them in the head or nozzles.

What ink the printer uses, this question may not be the main one for you when choosing it, if it suits you in other respects, it makes no sense to refuse it just because of the type of ink. You just need to know what kind of ink your printer uses.

How to choose a home printer to print on CDs and DVDs.

If the printer supports the function of printing on CD or DVD discs, then you can create your own discs with movies, courses, programs, photos and beautifully design them. Your discs will look much prettier if the text and images on them are printed on a printer instead of handwritten.

In order for the printer to be able to print on discs, it must have a dedicated CD tray. Not all printers have such an opportunity, and if you want to create your own disks, then also check this point in advance when buying a printer. Some models of different price categories, for home use, are offered by Epson and Canon.

How to choose a printer for home to print photos.

If you want to choose a printer for your home so that it can print nice photos, then this is also not a problem, modern printers allow you to create high-quality photos at home. Only for this you need to choose a special printer that meets certain technical specifications.
The requirements for a photo printer are slightly different than for an office model. Laser or LED models immediately disappear, they will not make a high-quality photo print.
A sublimation printer prints great photos, but the photos taken on it will be too expensive and this will not work as a home printer either.

As a home photo printer, you need to choose from a family of inkjet printers.

The main characteristics that you need to pay attention to when choosing a photo printer for your home are:

Number of colors;
- minimum droplet size;
- the ability to print photos without borders;
- print resolution;
- the density of the paper on which the printer can print;

The screenshot shows the characteristics of one photo printer, from which you can see what parameters it should have.

The number of colors in the printer.

A good photo printer should have at least six colors in order to accurately print all the shades of colors in a photo.

There are models that have eight cartridges with different shades colors, which allows them to print photos at the level of studio quality.

Printer droplet size.

A small droplet size is needed for a smoother transition between color shades in the image. Minimum size drops should be no more than 1.5 picoliters, if the printer has 6 colors, if there are 8 or more colors, then the droplet size can be 3 picoliters, which will not affect print quality, since additional colors allow you to make a smooth transition in the color gamut.

Borderless printing.

A good photo printer should be able to print borderless photos so that there is no white padding around the edges of the image.

Photo printer resolution.

A good photo printer should have a print resolution of at least 5760x1440 pixels. The higher the print resolution, the better the image quality can be printed.

The paper weight of the photo printer.

All printers that call themselves photo- can print on paper up to 300gsm, and some on thicker paper. Just check this option when buying.

I consider the rest of the parameters not the main ones when choosing a photo printer, for example, such as print speed or cartridge capacity. Since the main thing here is print quality, not speed, and if you are going to print a lot of photos, then no matter what capacity your printer cartridge has, the ink will still quickly run out.
It is imperative to equip the photo printer with a continuous ink supply system, this way you will save yourself from many problems associated with replacing cartridges.

Portable printers.

If you need a printer that you would like to take with you from time to time, for example, somewhere on a trip, then you should look at portable models.
These printers are small, self-powered, and sometimes carry a case.

These printers often support direct printing from memory cards, which can be very handy on the go. The disadvantages of such printers are their small resource of cartridges.

Well, that's probably all I wanted to tell you about how to choose a printer for your home, I hope this article will help you make the right choice. To make a choice of a specific printer model, you will need to study the market in more detail and find out which models currently best meet your requirements.

Finally, I will give a few tips for using printers:

Do not connect a laser printer to the working output of the UPS, as they consume too much power when printing. For these purposes, special sockets on the UPS are used, which are not connected to the backup power system.

The toner of some models of laser printers contains the carcinogen trichloromethane and styrene, do not replace the toner yourself, this should be done in a specialized workshop with special equipment.

Do not use sheets of paper that already have an image printed on a laser printer, as this may damage the photoconductor or the printer's fuser unit.

If you have any comments or additions to the article, please write them in the comments.
Good luck!