Your Complete Buying Guide to the Best Home Printer

When choosing the best home printer, there are many types of printers and printing styles. Here's your guide to choosing the best printer.

If your current printer has died or is otherwise not working up to snuff, it might be time to get a new model. But how do you choose the best home printer to meet your needs?

What qualities should your new printer have? A lot of that depends on what you're looking for in a printer and what you intend to use it for, especially if you work from home or have a home office.

Learn more about what to look for when printer shopping, and how to find a model that meets your needs.

Decide If You Want a Printer That Scans, Faxes, and Copies, Too

When planning on buying the best household printer, think about how you plan to use it. Do you intend to just print out documents from time to time, or will you need a printer that can handle other jobs?

Most modern printers offer additional options such as:

• Scanning
• Faxing
• Making copies

You might need a printer that does all of these things or just some of them. Consider if you work at home and need up-to-date office equipment, homeschool your children and want to create things easier for them, or simply need to print something once in awhile.

If you're setting up a home office, think about how much space you have for a printer, and what sort of tasks you'll want it to do. This can play a determining factor in what printer you'll buy and what sort of features come along with it.

Inkjet or Laser? The Choice is Yours When Picking the Best Home Printer

When you're looking for a good printer, deciding on inkjet or laser can feel tricky. If you're not used to these terms and aren't sure what they mean, you might wonder what the difference is and why it's important.

When picking between inkjet and laser, there are a few differences. How you plan to use the printer depends on what your needs are and what you are primarily working on when you're printing something.

Inkjet printers are great if you decide you want to print photos or documents on a regular basis. These printers use printer ink, and it usually comes in different colors.

Laser printers are better suited for printing something that is black and white since color laserjet printers are expensive. Laser printers use toner and this lasts longer than printer ink.

Before you make the decision to commit to one printer or another, evaluate your needs and what your printer is going to help you do. If you plan to use it for a mix of office and craft projects around the home, a traditional inkjet printer is your best bet and saves you the most money.

Why it Pays to Enable Remote Printing

Another factor you likely haven't considered yet (but should) when it comes to printing: how many other people in the house plan on printing with you? If you have at least one other computer or laptop in the house, you should consider getting wireless printing set up.

Having a wireless printer is helpful since it means you can print from any device, anywhere in the room. If you have another family member or work from a different area of the house, or even if you have a cell phone, this feature comes in handy and makes it simple to get something printed.

Even if you only have one computer or device, the option to print wirelessly is nice, because it allows you to work from any room in the house, and not worry about getting everything hooked up. Dealing with fewer cords and tangles means you can get everything printed as you need it, rather than hooking up your laptop every time you want to get something done.

Consider Your Budget and How Much You Want to Spend

A budget is everything when it comes to picking the best household printer that meets your needs and doesn't break the bank. Generally, the more money you have to spend, you can get additional features that simplify the printing process.

If you have more money to spend, you can focus on buying extras, such as a fax machine or a printer that's equipped to scan. Before you do think about your needs and how often you're going to use the features.

Do you plan on doing work that requires physical copies? Or will you find scanning helpful enough?

Maybe you need the other features but could do without faxing something. Assess your needs and what you plan on using the printer for.

Doing so can help you save money, and spend it wisely on what you actually need to get work done, as opposed to bells and whistles you'll never touch.

Do You Plan to Print Pictures From Home? Understand This Before You Decide

Printing pictures from home is something more people are opting to do. They can easily get pictures printed that they take on their phone, especially if their printer is wireless.

If you don't want to deal with a third party when it comes to your photos, consider getting a printer that has this capability.

Before you get ready to buy, be aware of these facts: printers that print with photo paper go through ink quickly. Make sure you're prepared for the extra cost associated with this.

Depending on how the pictures were taken, the quality might not be what you were hoping for. It might take some trial and error when you're first learning it.

If you want quick access, printing photos at home might be a win-win for you.

Learn More

If you're interested in learning more about the best home printer, don't feel you have to struggle on your own. To learn more about the technicalities surrounding printers, check out our blog on buying the best LaserJet toner for your business.