Most of us use printers almost every day. It’s amazing how far the technology has come from the old tractor feed dot matrix printers. Back then all you had to worry about was the ink ribbon running out. These days our printers can make high quality photo prints. This means the technology is much more complex and the ink jet nozzles are smaller and more delicate than ever before.

So it stands to reason that occasionally an inkjet will get clogged up. It will be obvious; your print will be blotchy or not print in a color. There are a few options for fixing a clog; here are a few tips on how to clear and prevent getting a blocked printer head.

• To prevent a printer head from jamming up it’s a good idea to use a bit of preventative maintenance. Periodically use the clean function on the printer. This will exercise every one of the printer inkjet ports. This keeps the ink from drying out in the less used nozzles.

• If the printer head is already blocked then the first step should be just like above. Run the clean cycle on the printer then print out a test page. If this works then you’re set. If not you’ll need to take a few stronger measures.

• Print a test page again. What isn’t printing? If it’s only 1 particular color then you can address that individual port. There’s no need to run multiple cycles and waste the other ink colors.  Simply open up a paint file, draw a large shape and fill it with the blocked color. Print out a couple copies of the file until the blockage disappears.

If neither of these options work then you’ll need to remove the printer cartridge and clean it.  Pop out the cartridge and swab a commercial cleaner on the nozzles. Let it set a few minutes. Wipe off the inkjet nozzle, reinstall and print out a test page to make sure everything is back in tiptop shape.

If you want to have any sort of productivity at home you’ll need a printer for your computer.

Whatever type of printer you choose is a personal choice depending on the features you require.

If you want to print out digital photos then you’ll want a high quality photo printer. If you just want to print out the occasional email or Word document then there are lower end of the scale printers that are perfect for that.

Before you get all worked up on just what the right printer is, it’s helpful to do a little bit of research about printer ink cartridges. There are good reasons why you should choose your printer ink first, printer second.

Printers are really well built these days and can last through several computers. The biggest expense with a printer is the printer ink. So it makes sense to look for a printer that has the lowest cost printer cartridges to reduce your overall operating costs.

The first thing to check out is how much a brand new cartridge from the manufacturer costs. If the print cartridge costs more than the printer then it’s really not worth it.

Instead look for an inexpensive replacement cartridge.

Look for aftermarket cartridges as well. There are plenty of manufacturers that provide new inkjet cartridges at a much lower cost than factory originals.

You can find refurbished cartridges for even cheaper than aftermarket ones and they will work just as well.

The final option in printer cartridges is refillable ones. With this you just buy a refill syringe and kit and do it yourself. Be careful though it can be messy!

Cost is the main reason why you should choose your printer ink first, printer second. By shopping around you can find a printer that will suit your needs but has lower operating costs.

Every printer needs paper. The type you choose though can be quite specific for whatever task you’re working on.  You can find everything from cheap commercial stock through heavy bond professional paper. Whether you are printing out photos, making wedding invitations, or just need to print out a recipe there is a type of printer paper out there for every use.

Here’s a guide to buying printer paper.

If you’re looking for just generic stock paper then shop around for whatever is the cheapest.  You aren’t really looking for quality here just bulk.

If you’re concerned about the environment you can find recycled paper that’s much more eco-friendly. You’re saving trees and energy at the same time. Recycled paper is normally cheaper than new paper as well. You get to help the environment and save money at the same time.

If you’re printing out some family photos then you’ll need to choose what type of printer paper you want. You can find photo paper in either glossy or matte finishes. It’s really just a personal choice. Both work equally well and will give you a great frame worthy photo.

For more formal documents like wedding invitations and resumes you’ll want to spend a few more dollars on a heavy bond paper. A heavier bond paper gives a look and feel of quality and elegance to what’s printed on it. The few dollars you’ll spend on higher-grade paper is quickly offset by not having to pay the expense of going to a professional printer to get your work done.

This guide to buying printer paper should help you get started on choosing just what works for you. Buying printer paper  online is a quick and easy option.  Just shop around for the best price for whatever your printing needs are.

In this guide, we’ll take a look at some of the most common reasons why people want printers and the best one to go for, in each case.

General ‘home’ user

This sounds like it would be an easy category but in fact, it is one of the most complicated. Home users need a printer that is extremely versatile. It should be able to print everything from the kids’ homework to photographs and most probably needs to fit into a reasonable budget. The best choice would be color inkjet that is designed to be a ‘jack of all trades’. These are often called ‘small office’ or ‘home office’ printers. Their only downside is that in order to fit into the low budget category, they tend to be a little on the slow side.

OR

Get two printers. You could go for a basic, low end laser printer for text documents and a color inkjet for photos and graphics.

Aspiring novelist?

If you’ve been slaving away on your masterpiece and now need to print it out to send to prospective publishers, you’ll need a fast printer that will give you beautifully crisp, easily readable text. Your best buy would be a laser printer. They can sometimes be more expensive than inkjets but are cheaper to run and maintain.

OR

You could go for an inkjet so that you also have the option to have colour. If you choose this option, be aware that the cheaper ones can be slow, so go for the best you can afford to gain that extra speed.

Enthusiastic photographer

Any inkjet printer can print color photographs but for really professional results, you’ll want one that specializes in doing so. Check out what kinds of paper it will print with. See which tools it has for color management. If you’re only going to buy one printer, your best choice may be an inkjet because it can also handle text well.

If you want truly dynamic photos, read up on the printers and find one that uses thermal dye-transfer. This advanced technology is also called dye sublimation. The printer uses heat to change the physical state of solid ink so that it infuses paper which has a special coating. The inks then return to solid as they get cooler.

If you’re into digital photography, you could choose to buy a snapshot printer which is compatible with your camera. Or, you could go for a multi-functional printer. These have recently improved and many now have integral scanners, memory cards and LCD’s that you can use to preview pictures before printing.

Budding Entrepreneur

If you run your own small business or often work from home, a multifunction printer would be a good buy for you. These are also called AIO’s, which stands for ‘all in ones’. This printer may be inkjet or laser but will also have a scanner, copier and fax machine. These are great because they save both money and space – both of which are often in short supply if you are working from home.

The inkjet models are generally slightly cheaper but if your budget stretches to it, go for one that allows ‘stand alone’ faxing and also has an automatic document feeder. This allows you to put a stack of documents into the feeder tray and go off to do other things while the machine faxes or copies the lot!

OR

If you already have a fax, scanner or copier, a color laser printer should suffice, unless you need to print a lot of graphics in which case, go for an inkjet.

Team worker

If your business is expanding and you are going from a sole trader to a small team – or if you work as part of a team in a big organization, then you need a workgroup printer. These laser printers are especially designed to tackle multiple printing jobs. They have faster internal processors, a larger amount of memory and can print out more than twenty pages every minute. These printers are at the higher end of the market and their network capabilities, large volume toner cartridges, higher paper input and output trays are all reflected in their price.

OR

If your team doesn’t need to do much printing, you may be able to manage with a business inkjet but do check out if it is able to support network printing.

High Flier

If you are a jet-setter in the truest sense of the word and really do have to carry your office around with you, you’ll be happy to know that portable printers are now available. They may be either battery operated or charged up in your car. Most weigh between two and five pounds so are easy to carry whilst travelling and easy to pack. Some newer models have support so that you can print from a mobile phone by using a wireless connection.

OR

The least expensive alternative is not to have a printer. If you’re constantly on the go, it’s not difficult to find a printer in any office. Most hotels and airports often have areas to use a wired or wireless network so you use their printer or can send text and graphic files to another user to print.

Review and compare

Spend some time on sites that carry reviews or comparisons to see what consumers have to say. You may love the sound of a model but what do people who now own one think of it? You may also find yourself looking again at ones that you had discarded on the back of five star reviews. This is time well spent and will help you to find the printer that perfectly meets your needs.

There are so many printers available now, that choosing one can feel very overwhelming. They vary in their level of technology, size and of course, price.

So how do you decide which one to go for? It’s easier if you choose the printer that’s right for you. First decide what you want it for and what your budget is. Those two factors alone will start to narrow down the enormous choices.

Inkjet or laser?

As a general rule, inkjet printers are great for photographs and high resolution printing – which simply means they are better when a high level of detail is required in the finished print out.

Laser printers are better at producing text only documents but even then, their speed varies so don’t forget to check it out if it’s important to you. If you have high volumes of text to print, you don’t want to be feeding each sheet in by hand and tied to the printer all morning.

Top Selling Laser Printers

1.  Brother HL-4040cdn Color Laser Printer with Duplex and Networking

• Up to 21ppm color and monochrome printing
• Built-in duplex printing
• Up to 2400 x 600 dpi resolution
• Print directly from a USB flash memory drive or PictBridge-enabled camera
• High capacity replacement toner cartridges

2. HP LaserJet 4050 Printer

• 1,200-dpi resolution
• NEC 4310 133-MHz RISC microprocessor
• Prints 17 pages per minute
• On-printer help system
• 8 MB memory

3. Brother MFC-8420 Laser Multifunction

• Faxes, prints, copies, and scans
• 2,400 x 600 dpi resolution for printing, copying, and scanning
• Copy and print speeds up to 17 pages per minute
• 33.6 Kbps fax modem; 2 seconds per page transmit time
• Parallel and USB 2.0 interfaces, PC and Mac compatible

Top Selling Ink Jet Printers

1. HP Officejet J6480 All-in-One Printer

• Includes: HP Officejet J6480 AIO, CD with software, Fax and wireless starting guide, Set-up poster, Power cord, HP 74 Black Cartridge (210 page yield), HP 75 Tri-Color Cartridge (155 page yield), 1-Year limited warranty
• Black printing speed – Up to 31 ppm
• Color printing speed – Up to 25 ppm
• Black print resolution – Up to 1200 rendered dpi black (when printing from a computer)
• Color print resolution – Up to 4800 x 1200 optimized dpi color (when printing from a computer and 1200 input dpi)

2. Canon PIXMA MX860 Wireless All-In-One Photo Printer

• Fully-Integrated 35-sheet Auto Document Feeder for rapid built-in two-sided document copying and scanning
• Built in auto duplex copying
• Dual color Gamut Technology optimizes the original so that copies remain true
• Various security features including password protected PDFs
• 5 ink tanks only replace the tank that runs out

3. HP Officejet 6310 All-in-One Printer

• Robust and affordable all-in-one printer, fax, scanner, and copier
• Crisp and clear 1,200 dpi black and white print quality; 4,800×1,200 dpi full-color print quality
• Prints or copies up to 30 pages per minute
• Windows and Mac compatible
• 1-year limited manufacturer’s warranty

Ink tanks

Something to be aware of when choosing a printer is the cost of the inks that will be used. Some printers use one tank for all colors. Others use separate tanks for separate colors – which is useful, but do be prepared to stock up on the black tanks if you print a lot of text.

There are now shops and online companies who offer to fill empty ink tanks for you, so if you have one near you, this may be a viable option – but do check if the printer that you have fallen in love with has refillable tanks.

It’s really worth taking a little time over this and the cost of inks is considerable, will add to your outgoing expenses and may need to be factored into the cost of anything you are producing to sell.

There is a huge range of printer ink cartridges on the market today. OEM cartridges, compatible ink cartridges and remanufactured printer ink cartridges are all available and deciding on which cartridge type to purchase can be confusing. This guide will provide you with information to help you with your printer ink cartridge purchase.

OEM cartridges

OEM cartridges are Original Equipment Manufacturer cartridges. They are printer ink cartridges that are developed by the manufacturer of your printer. This might be HP, Canon, Lexmark or any of the other printer manufacturers around today. These type of cartridges are generally more expensive than remanufactured or compatible ink cartridges.

Remanufactured cartridges

Remanufactured printer ink cartridges are empty cartridges that are refilled with printer ink. The process involves checking the cartridge for faults, cleaning and refilling with fresh printer ink. The cartridge is then tested to ensure it meets OEM standards. It is essentially a cartridge that has been recycled and therefore excellent for the environment. Remanufactured cartridges are generally cheaper than OEM and compatible cartridges.

Compatible cartridges

Compatible printer ink cartridges are cartridges that have been manufactured to meet or exceed OEM standards. In other words, they are generic brands of printer ink. They use brand new components so are not recycled in any way and are generally cheaper than OEM cartridges.