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printers

What good is all this digital stuff if you can't print it out and pass it around? Sure, it's great to have a digital camera, but if you can't print out some pictures you take, what good is it? Printers, like everything else, are an ever-changing commodity. Do I need an inkjet, thermal, or dye-sub? Why do some printers have 2 cartridges, some 4, and others 6 or 8 or 9?

letters, compact flash cards, and double prints

inkjet printers

Great general purpose printers. That is what inkjets were originally designed for. Printing out letters, proposals, spreadsheets, and other items in small quantities where color printing significantly enhances the printed product.

I recommend HP inkjet printers for general use. They have a good history of reliability and ease of use and are fairly economical.

inkjet photo printers

When you want a printer both for general use and for printing occasional digital pictures, then you want a photo printer. Photo printers often have a whole separate set of cartridges for photo printing and regular day-to-day printing.

I recommend Epson Stylus Photo printers because they typically get the best reviews, and each ink color is its own cartridge, resulting in better economy than others.

dye-sublimation printers

Photo labs print using a thermal technology called Dye Sublimation. It creates a water and fade resistant image far superior to inkjet.  In addition, many of these units are portable.

I recommend really any dye-sub photo printer for those digital camera users who want to print out their pictures regularly, or are looking to stop having to take digital camera cards to a photo lab to get lab-quality pictures. Sony, Kodak, and Canon all have dye-sub printers which I have seen produce amazing pictures.

all-in-one devices

For All-In-One devices, see Scanners.
get more out of your ink

Ink cartridges get expensive when you are printing all the time. From budgets, to Bible study handouts, to pictures for the fridge.

To extend the life of your cartridges, change the print preferences. Here are the steps:

  • Open Start | Printers and Faxes
  • Right-click your printer and select Printing Preferences
  • Click the Paper/Quality tab
  • Select Draft mode under Quality Settings
  • If Draft mode quality is too low, switch back to Normal
  • Click Advanced
  • Under Printer Features, lower the Ink Volume as desired.