Beware of Secret Printer Tactics That Cost You In the Long Run

Everyone loves to hate printers. And for good reason - they often don't work right, can be expensive, cost a fortune in consumables, and have baffling troubleshooting procedures. PC World recently wrote about some of the ways your printer can steal from you, so I've compiled the worst offenses I've seen in the printer universe. Consider this cautionary list the next time you go printer shopping.

• Don't be lured into a cheap printer -- they get you on the back end with expensive consumables. The real money in printers today is in ink and toner, so price the lifetime cost of a printer, not just the price of the initial hardware investment.
• Don't settle for low-capacity ink cartridges. You should shop for a printer with ink cartridges that yield at least 250 pages, and toner carts should get you no less than 2000 pages. Anything less will have painfully high recurring costs.
• Make sure the printer gives good results with plain paper. It's okay if you need specialty paper for high quality output, but the results with plain paper should be serviceable.
• Pay attention to print speed. Test the printer in the store if possible; vendor specs are notoriously unreliable, and slow printer cost you time.
• Inspect the accessories - especially the paper tray - for capacity and quality. If the trays are too small, for example, you'll forever be refilling the paper supply instead of working. And cheap or flimsy trays make a lot of noise. And they break.

Photo by mava