How to Buy a Printer
You Won't Regret

The printer market has a dirty secret: the cheapest printers are often the most expensive to own. Manufacturers sell hardware at a loss and recoup the margin on proprietary ink cartridges — a business model that has made printers one of the most complained-about consumer product categories for two decades. This guide gives you the framework to see through it.

Inkjet vs. Laser: The Honest Comparison

Inkjet printers are better for: colour photos, irregular printing (occasional use), compact home spaces, and printing on a wide variety of media. Their weakness is running cost — ink cartridges are expensive per millilitre, and the nozzles can clog if the printer sits unused for weeks.

Laser printers are better for: high-volume text documents, consistent availability (toner doesn't dry out when idle), and lower per-page running cost. They're typically larger, more expensive upfront, and not suited to photo printing unless you're spending serious money.

The honest answer for most home users who print occasionally: a cheap inkjet will frustrate you. An ink tank printer (see below) or a mid-range laser is the better long-term choice.

The Ink Tank Advantage

Ink tank printers (Epson EcoTank, Canon PIXMA MegaTank, HP Smart Tank) use refillable reservoirs instead of cartridges. The upfront cost is higher — typically £150–£300 — but the per-page ink cost drops dramatically. Epson quotes a per-page cost of around 0.4p for black and 0.9p for colour on their EcoTank range, versus 3–8p on standard cartridge models.

If you print more than 100 pages a month, an ink tank printer typically pays for itself within 12–18 months compared to a budget cartridge model. If you print fewer than 30–40 pages a month, the ink may dry out between uses — in which case a laser printer is probably the wiser buy.

Connectivity: What You Actually Need

Wi-Fi is now standard on almost all consumer printers, and genuinely useful — printing from a phone without a USB cable is a real convenience. AirPrint (for Apple devices) and Mopria Print Service (for Android) support is worth confirming before buying.

USB connectivity is still valuable as a fallback and is essential if your home network is unreliable. Ethernet ports on consumer printers are relatively rare but worth seeking out if you work from home and need consistent print availability.

Avoid printers that require a subscription or cloud connectivity to print — these create unnecessary points of failure and raise questions about what happens to your documents and data.

What Actually Predicts Long-Term Reliability

Printer reliability is difficult to assess from spec sheets, but several factors are useful predictors. Monthly duty cycle figures (how many pages the printer is designed to handle per month) indicate build quality — a home printer rated at 1,000 pages/month used for 200 pages/month will outlast one rated at 300 pages/month. User-replaceable parts (especially rollers and drums) extend the life of laser printers significantly. Long-term driver support — check whether the manufacturer still provides driver downloads for models from 3–4 years ago — predicts how long your current purchase will remain functional as Windows updates.

Printers and Practices to Avoid

• Starter cartridges: Most budget printers include "starter" cartridges with 50–70% less ink than standard cartridges. Factor in the cost of an immediate first replacement when calculating your actual first-year cost.
• Subscription-only models: HP's Instant Ink subscription can be cost-effective for very high-volume printers, but locks you into a service that can change price. Printers that refuse to print without an active subscription are a risk.
• Very cheap cartridge printers: A printer selling for £35–£50 with proprietary cartridges is almost always a false economy. The cartridges will cost more than the printer within six months.