In recent years the range of printers has grown immensely. So if you are thinking of buying a new one what do you need to consider?

Basically there are two types of printer: inkjet and laser. Both have pros and cons.

Most private individuals or small businesses will have been using inkjet printers. These are good for general purposes. They are often very cheap (£40 or less) and print in colour. Laser printers are be more expensive, mono ones are available for £50 or less and colour ones are now available for under £400.

However when deciding which type of printer to buy you should consider not only the price of the printer but also what you want to do with it and how much it will cost to run.

Family printers are used for a wide variety of purposes including printing letters, school reports, Christmas cards and photos. Generally speaking inkjet printers are more versatile and offer better high quality colour prints. If you print many photographs you may want to consider buying a photo printer which will be more expensive than the cheapest inkjet printers but will give better quality prints. It is also possible to buy an all-in-one printer which can be used to scan, copy and fax documents thus giving you even more versatility.

Laser printers tend to be more expensive but basic mono ones are very cheap now and have certain advantages over inkjet printers in that they generally print more quickly and text prints are usually of a higher quality than inkjet printers. Colour laser printers are expensive but they are great for heavy workloads.

Inkjet printers are more expensive to run than laser ones; in the region of ten times as much. Basic inkjet printers will use between two and four ink cartridges while those that offer better quality prints for photos may use eight or more cartridges. Mono laser printers will either use one cartridge or a toner cartridge and drum unit combined. Colour laser cartridges will have an additional three colour cartridges.

Toner cartridges are considerably more expensive to buy than inkjets but you will get several thousand prints from them compared to only a few hundred from the inkjets. However one way of saving costs on both types of printer is to use compatible cartridges which are usually a fraction of the cost and just as good.

Finally it is worth considering where you are going to sit the printer. Colour laser printers tend to be much larger than mono laser or inkjet printers.

Basically there is no one answer as to which type of printer is best. What you have to do is decide how much you are prepared to spend, what you are going to use it for and where you are going to put it.