

Inkjets are quite sensitive to paper quality – you’ll get better documents if you avoid lightweight papers and dramatically better photos on coated photo paper.īest photo printer 2022: Print perfect photos up to A3+ size Some photo inkjets use extra colours to reduce grain further or to improve neutral shades or the colour range (gamut) in photos. With inkjet printers, a smaller droplet size helps avoid grain – tiny dots of colour that might otherwise be visible in lighter areas of a graphic or photo. In general, the higher the resolution, the sharper the print, but other factors influence the final result. READ NEXT: Our pick of the best 3D printers Does high print resolution mean better quality? Some manufacturers also quote a recommended duty cycle figure, which is useful to know if you’ll be putting your printer to heavy use and don’t want to wear it out quickly. This represents a one-time maximum number of prints a device can produce if you really push it, rather than the number of pages it can print regularly, so always pick a printer with a duty cycle that exceeds your requirements. If you plan to do lots of printing, opt for a device with a high duty cycle figure. But inkjets can suffer from blocked nozzles if you don’t use them often and flushing them out wastes ink: if you tend to go weeks without printing, you’re still better off with a laser printer. Despite popular belief, inkjets are often cheaper to run than their laser equivalents, too. Finally, the paper is heated by a fuser, which melts the toner to the page.Ī laser printer used to be the only option for fast, high-quality document printing, but in the last few years, office-focused inkjets have started running them close for speed and quality. This process occurs on all four drums – for cyan, magenta, yellow and black – to make up the final colour image. A positively charged sheet of paper is passed over the drum, and the toner is transferred. This is attracted to the discharged areas drawn by the laser and repelled by the negatively charged background. Negatively charged toner is then released on to the surface of the drum. A laser then “draws” an image of the page to be printed onto the surface of the drum, discharging the areas it hits. Laser printers work by negatively charging a light-sensitive surface called an optical photoconductor (OPC) drum. Also, because the ink takes a second or two to dry, they might be slower still when duplex (double-sided) printing. Printers with higher resolutions – measured in dots per inch (dpi) – can place more dots on the page.Īs their print heads usually need to move about to cover the page, inkjet printers tend to be slower than lasers. Inkjets create prints by placing thousands of tiny dots over every inch of the page.
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How to choose the best printer for you What’s the difference between laser and inkjet printers?
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These recommendations come from hours of rigorous hands-on testing, so we know what we’re talking about.

That’s why we’ve pulled together a new roundup covering the best printers from the leading brands, so you’ll know which model will be the best fit for your specific needs. Yet a printer remains essential, whether for business or the home. Is it best to go with an inkjet or laser printer? Cartridges or refillable tanks? Do you need a multifunction printer (MFP) that also scans and copies, or are you after something that just prints? When similar-looking printers cost anywhere between £30 and £300, how much do you need to spend? The problem with definitively choosing the best printer on the market is that there are so many things to consider.
