Choosing the Right Printer for your Home Office

Many people around the world have an office set up at home from which they work for. In some cases, it’s simply a place where they can take care of things such as household accounts or mortgage repayments. For others, such as digital freelancers, it’s their place of work, in which they can often spend countless hours each day working.

The Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 changed the lives of almost everyone. Many aspects of our daily lives changed dramatically, and work was one of them. Many people sadly lost their jobs or were made redundant. Others were asked to work remotely from home to better practice social distancing and stop the spread of the virus.

Getting your home office set up

Setting up an office at home isn’t as daunting as it might sound. As long as you have a small space or room that you can use, then you are already halfway there. All you need to do it to get it furnished and set up with the equipment you are going to be using to do your job. 

The most vital thing for most people will be a good internet connection, as you’ll need to be online for much of the day. If using WiFi in your home office, it’s important that you run a few checks to make sure that the signal is strong enough to allow you to work properly.

Most people have a computer or laptop at home, so they won’t need to have to go out and start buying any expensive pieces of equipment. You’ll most likely have everything you need in terms of electrical equipment, commercial vancouver printer, though you might need to get yourself a good office desk and chair.

Missing equipment for the home office

The one piece of electrical equipment that most people are usually missing at home is a good printer. Most people will have been using the printers at their workplace, and not everyone would have their own on at home, simply because it might not be used too often at all.

When it comes to picking which printer to buy, you are going to be faced with a huge selection. There are many different types of printers available, so you need to make sure the one you go for will do the job you need. A good option for many people will be the HP 8710, which is a very affordable printer with an excellent performance level.

Most modern printers you’ll find in stores and online are all-in-one systems, which means that in addition to being a printer, they can also be used to make photocopies and also to scan documents. 

Types of printer

There are various types of printers available such as laser, LED and inkjet printers. Each has their own pros and cons, but the best overall type for use in a home office would be an inkjet printer. 

The quality of printing from an inkjet is more than sufficient for most types of work, where they use liquid ink to print onto the paper fed into them. They can also print very high quality colour photographs. 

However, for the highest quality of results, then a laser printer will be the best option, as they generally produce the highest quality of results, and are much faster. If you are printing a lot of documents, then a laser printer is better for such volume than an inkjet printer.

The type of printer you go for will of course depend on how you plan to use it. As mentioned previously, for most scenarios of working from home, an inkjet will be the best option, but there will undoubtedly be some circumstances where an individual will need the higher quality and performance of a laser printer.

Check the price of inks

One important thing to check, regardless of the type of inkjet printer that you purchase, are the costs of the ink. You will at some time need to replace the ink cartridges, and there is a wide difference in price between them depending on the type of printer that they are used for. 

If you are using a laser printer, they will last for a much longer period, as they use toner, rather than ink. The plus side of this is that you won’t need to be replacing ink cartridges on a frequent basis, but that is counterbalanced by the fact that laser printers will be much more expensive.

On average, the cost of printing a page on an inkjet printer is approximately $0.20, which includes black and colour ink cartridges. If you are only printing black, then the costs will drop to around $0.08 per page. 

Brett Sartorial
 

Brett is a business journalist with a focus on corporate strategy and leadership. With over 15 years of experience covering the corporate world, Brett has a reputation for being a knowledgeable, analytical and insightful journalist. He has a deep understanding of the business strategies and leadership principles that drive the world's most successful companies, and is able to explain them in a clear and compelling way. Throughout his career, Brett has interviewed some of the most influential business leaders and has covered major business events such as the World Economic Forum and the Davos. He is also a regular contributor to leading business publications and has won several awards for his work.