If you are ready to buy a printer for your home or office use, this shopping guide for printers provides you with 6 things you should consider when deciding to buy a printer in Kenya.
- Usage
First things first, you need to consider what you intend to do with the printer as there are printers good for home use and others good for office use. With this in mind, consider the capacity of a printer e.g. printers capable of accommodating high volumes such as Kyocera printers, and long-term aspects such as toner replacement and availability.
- Quality of Print and Scan Outputs
Consider what type of quality you expect from your printer. This can be broken down into the following;
- Print resolution.
Simply put, this is the level of detail in a printed image. Print resolution is measured in dots per inch (DPI). Higher resolution in a printer means higher detail. When it comes to printing, the resolution is important as it enables images to look beautiful and professional. For best printing outputs, consider a printer that produces a minimum resolution of about 1200 dpi (dots per inch). Printers like this HP Desk Jet 2320 All-in-One Printer can offer a great quality print at an affordable price.
- Scan Resolution.
There are three types of scanners. These are; Feed-in or sheet-fed scanners, flatbed scanners, and handheld scanners. In all these types, the typical optical resolution that will meet your needs if you are looking to scan photos and documents with your scanner is 300 dpi.
- Copy quality.
Good quality copy output ought to measure a minimum of 300 pixels per inch (PPI). This normally depends on the quality of your document and the type of paper in use.
- Print Speed
The second thing you should look at in a printer is its print speed. You want to get a printer with a higher speed as this will save you time and will benefit you especially if you work in a busy environment. The speed of a printer is measured in PPC (pages-per-minute) and some of the variables that affect the speed of a printer include;
- Printing output. Printing in black and white is faster compared to printing in color.
- Type of document. Photos and graphic documents or PDF files may take longer to print compared to a normal text file.
- Year of manufacture. An older printer will be slower to print, unlike a printer that is modern and latest.
Some of the printers in our catalogue that offer the best in terms of speed include;
- The HP Color LaserJet M479fdn Printer with a Print speed of 28 PPM for both black and color.
- Canon LBP226DW Wireless Laser Printer. Printing speed=40ppm
- The Epson EcoTank M2140 All-in-One Printer with a printing speed of up to 20ppm
- Compatibility.
You must check for a printer that is compatible with the desktop you are using be it a Mac, Windows, or any other operating system. After buying your printer, check the manual or user guide on how to download the drivers of the particular model of printer you own and just in case you find difficulty when trying to install these drivers or setting up your printer, feel free to reach us on TEL: 0111120400 and we’ll gladly help.
- Ink types, costs, and availability.
We all know the feeling of running out of ink and finding that particular ink that has run out difficult to find or too costly. Terrible right? Depending on your workload, the amount of ink your printer uses will vary. Each printer has a different type of cartridge and they are normally either toner cartridges or ink-based cartridges. Toner cartridges are mostly found in laser printers such as the HP LaserJet Pro M404dn Printer and printers with these types of toners normally offer the fastest and most efficient printing jobs. Ink-based cartridges on the other hand are mostly found on Inkjet printers such as the Canon PIXMA G3411 printer and are best for printing image documents. When it comes to availability, ink-based cartridges are easier to find as compared to toner-based cartridges.
- Functionality.
Things have changed over the years and as a result of this, printers now offer more extended functions such as scanning, copying, and faxing. These types of printers are called 3-in-1 or all-in-one printers and they come with Wi-Fi connection features too. This means that you can print remotely via wi-fi from your mobile phone, tablet, or directly from your laptop. If you are looking for versatility and an all-around printer then such printers will be functional for you.
With this guide, you will be able to choose the right printer for either your home or office use. Check out our catalogue of printers from major printer brands such as EPSON, KYOCERA, CANON, and HP here.
