What to look for when buying an inkjet printer
With such a huge number of printers on the market, choosing the right one for you can sometimes be a bit of a headache. Over the past decade or so, I’ve worked my way through a number of inkjet printers. I’ve also made a few mistakes when purchasing a printer. Usually because I had a habit of waiting until my printer ground to a halt before rushing out to buy a new one!
In these difficult times (financially), most of us are a lot more careful about what we spend our hard-earned money on and that includes printers. So, with that in mind, I thought I’d share my list of points to consider when buying a new inkjet printer. I hope you find it useful 
What will you be using your printer for:
• Mostly for printing documents
• Mostly for printing photographs
• A bit of both
Running costs
• Check to see how much it costs to replace a full set of inks. Inks made by some printer manufacturers are more expensive than others.
Does the printer use tri-color or individual color cartridges?
With tri-color cartridges there tends to be a lot of ink wastage. This is because when one color ink within the cartridge is used up, you have to replace the entire cartridge. Individual color cartridges are more economic because you only replace the color that has run out.
Paper size options
• For the majority of us, A4 is large enough for our needs. For others, including photographers and graphic designers, an A3 printer might be necessary. An A3 printer will cost significantly more than an A4 printer so it pays to think about your requirement before making your purchase. If you think you’ll only be printing at A3 size a few times a year, you might want to consider buying A4 and using a print shop for those occasional A3 prints.
Print speed
* Check to see how many pages per minute the printer is capable of. Not really a major concern for most of us but if the printer is for business use, it might be very important to you.
Does the printer print on both sides automatically?
• This is something that I personally insist on when buying a printer. Simply because I don’t like to waste paper.
If you use a Mac, is the printer compatible with your Mac?
• These days, I think most printers are both PC and Mac compatible but it’s still worth checking.
Does the printer have built-in Wi-Fi
• Essential if you want to be able to print wirelessly from any Wi-Fi enabled computer around your home. This feature is particularly useful for families that wish to share a single printer.
Do you want to be able to print directly from a memory card?
• Many printers allow you to plug your memory card directly into the machine. You can then chose which images you’d like to print using your printer’s LCD screen.