In fact, the quality of printing that you get out of a photo printer is fast overshadowing the less image-sensitive plain inkjets. Almost any printer on the market today that uses inkjet technology is being labeled as a photo printer. This is partially due to marketing, but it also can be attributed to the increasing quality of the inks and print head technology used. An ink jet printer is one that uses only two cartridges: black and a multicolor. The others uses a minimum of four cartridges, and often six or eight..
Photo printers are also picking up more and better features. They offer slots for memory cards and direct connections for cameras. They can include small LCDs so that you can see and even edit images before you print them. Some print onto specially labeled CDs/DVDs.
Looking at Lasers
Color lasers are also becoming more popular, although not to the same extent. Desktop color lasers are still behind in image quality, but they have improved enough to be adequate for many applications. They’ve also dropped drastically in price, as have monochrome lasers. Dell led the way in the latter category with its Dell Laser Printer 1100, which was the first laser printer to go below the $100 price point.
Scanners are becoming a bit harder to find. There are still some independent scanners, although they are becoming increasingly specialized. For example, scanners aimed toward photographers include attachments that allow you to scan film and negatives. Document scanners allow you to scan paper documents quickly and save them to PDF files for easy storage.
All in the Family
For the most part, though, scanners are being incorporated into all-in-ones, which are proliferating in both inkjet and laser models. Like photo printers, these can vary widely in price and features. The simplest offer printing, scanning, and copying; they may advertise themselves as including fax, but they use the modem in your PC. If you’re using the all-in-one for a small business, and intend to do more than one or two faxes a week, you’ll want to look for one that has its own faxing capabilities, including a line-in for a phone line. Another features that include:
- Automatic document feeders, or ADFs, that allow you to drop several pages into the hopper and have them automatically scan or fax.
- Duplex printing that will let you print both side of a page without having to feed the page back into the device.
- Network ports that will make it easier to connect the all-in-one to your home or business network.
Some all-in-ones even call themselves photo all-in-ones, and include the same high-level inks and LCDs that photo printers offer. There are also laser all-in-ones that are now within a reasonable price range.
Making a Choice
So which should you look for?
Home and small businesses should definitely be shopping for all-in-ones. You need one that will produce lots of text documents a day, and also act as an occasional copier? Get a laser all-in-one. Don’t have huge numbers of documents to print, but will be sending some quality images through? A photo all-in-one will do you.
And, at the prices that are available, some businesses may even want to consider a laser all-in-one for day-to-day work, and a good photo printer for other times.
Meanwhile, home photographers have a surfeit of riches as far as photo printers are concerned. Just be sure you are paying for features you will need -- for example, if you like to edit your photos on your PC, you don’t need to pay for a printer with an LCD.
One thing hasn’t changed, though -- the cost of ink and toner cartridges. Manufacturers have been jealously clutching onto their presumed rights to get as much money out of their buyers as possible, and are using both technology and legal challenges to prevent other vendors from selling cartridges at reduced prices. As a result, one of the “musts” to check when you’re buying a new printer is how much it’s going to cost you to replace each cartridge. The prices can range from $10 to $60, and it’s best to know before you make your purchase.
Ready to check out the best of the past year? Follow these links to find the printer and all-in-ones that have been cited by several of the top technology publications as their favorites for 2005.
