Choosing The Best Color Printer (Gregory McGuire)
Sep 23, 2009
The "Best" color printer? Now that's a relative term if I ever heard one. There are several things, however, to take into consideration when shopping for a quality color printer. I'll look at some of these in this article.
What Do You Need?
This is the first question you've got to ask yourself. Are you going to be pumping out 700 page novels, or small company newsletters? Will you need your printer to print tens of thousands of pages a month, or just a few every day?
Here is a brief list of some printers you might consider:
Lexmark X502n
This one runs about $700. If you've looked at printers at all, you've surely come across the name, Lexmark. They are a leading manufacturer of inkjet and laser printers. This versatile, all-in-one color laser printer does many things well. Not only does it satisfactorily print quality documents and photos, it's also a scanner, fax machine, and a copier.
Some common complaints about this one include that it's noisy, and certain scanning applications are not Mac-supported.
At this price, however, Lexmark definitely hit a home run.
Ricoh Aficio SP C210
The C210 costs anywhere from $350 to just over $1000. It's big, bulky, and heavy. While it's reasonable for a home or small office because of its quality, its price and size might not be suitable for many desktops. Also, its driver doesn't automatically choose the best color mode, so you may find yourself guessing in that area. This probably wouldn't be a good thing.
Another common complaint about this model is that it uses a lot of ink. This ordinarily wouldn't be a huge deal, but considering the cartridges are $120 each, this printer could be very expensive to maintain.
Samsung CLP0-300N
The 300N is priced just around $300. It's small, light, and convenient to use. It's got a monthly duty cycle of 45,000 pages and has 32MB of RAM, which means high quality color text printing at a resolution of up to 2400 X 600 dpi.
This baby does 21 pages a minute, both in color and black and white. It's network-ready, which means you can share it with others in your office.
On the downside, some users have reported it doesn't play well with Mac's. Setup and incompatibility issues mostly.
So, what's the "best" color printer? Almost all have their ups and downs. Sure, you could buy a super-duper, color laser printer that does everything but bring you coffee, but it will cost you, which is a downside in itself.
About the AuthorFinding the best color printer can be challenging. There really is a lot to take into consideration, not the least of which are your own needs. To make your decision easier, Click Here..