Printing buying guide

From mobile printing to dealing with the occasional ream of school, college or university work, inkjet printers are ideal for everyday home use.

Typically, inkjet printers deliver better photographs than laser printers, with a number of high quality inkjets making the most of everything from smartphone snaps to high quality DSLR photography. Generally, a full set of replacement ink cartridges are cheaper than laser toner too, making them perfect for home and photographic use.

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Laser printers are designed for more frequent use and are suitable for offices or homes that regularly print in large amounts. Perfect for black and white documents and high speed batch printing, laser printers are built for demanding use.

While toner cartridges cost more than their inkjet counterparts, their page yield is higher (typically over 1400 pages). So while the initial purchase and toner price may seem high, the cost-per-page can work out cheaper over time.

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Combining a scanner, copier and printer, all-in-one printers provide everything you need for comprehensive home printing. They are available in both inkjet and laser varieties, letting you benefit from home scanning and copying whatever your ink preference.

Some even feature an integrated fax machine, which makes them the ideal printing solution for busy homes and small offices.

Many all-in-ones with fax machines also feature dual and large capacity paper trays, making it easy to switch between high quality photo paper and everyday A4 and A3.

3D printers are gradually becoming more accessible for home use, and offer an exciting entry into rapid prototyping and small scale manufacturing. Whatever you can design, you can create, so whether you want to test-fit parts before expensive machining or simply fancy knocking up a unique phone case, 3D printers make complex manufacturing easy.

Writing a thesis on the evolution of the market economy in the southern colonies? You'll need a printer that can quickly crank out page after page of text - a monochrome laser printer fits the bill. However, if you want the flexibility of scanning and copying as well, then an inkjet printer will allow you to print in colour and display all of your photo memories.

There are a wide range of business printers for both Inkjet and Laser to choose from. A key thing to look out for when you’re choosing an office printer is that the print speed is fast enough. Automatic document feeders (ADF) are an invaluable feature for busy offices as they allow you to scan and copy several documents at once, so you’re not wasting time standing feeding individual pieces of paper into the scanner. If you plan on printing regularly, check the monthly duty cycle, as this shows you the maximum number of prints that the manufacturer suggests are suitable.

We have a range of specialist photo printers which let you print impressively detailed photos at home. These printers use individual inks for each colour to ensure natural colour reproduction, so you’re images appear just as they would if you’d had them printed at a photo lab.

Google Cloud Print allows you to print from any compatible Android or Windows device. This means you can print from devices such as smartphones, tablets, or from any computer without the need to download additional software or drivers. You can send a document or photo to print from wherever you are; whether you’re at home or on the other side of the world.

AirPrint is exclusive to Apple devices and allows you to print directly from your iPhone, iPad, Mac or iPod Touch to a printer connected to your WiFi network. Just tap the print button on your device to print completely wirelessly.

HP Instant Ink is an instant ink replacement service which is automatically ordered by your printer, and delivered to your door. This service is available on all eligible HP printers, and all you need to do is enroll on a fixed monthly fee plan which determines a pre-defined number of pages per month. Ink is automatically posted to your address whenever it’s required, with the monthly payment inclusive of postage and recycling.

Instant Ink can help you save money and ensures you always have ink when you need it.

Find out more about HP Instant Ink

Epson EcoTank printers feature unique ink tanks that can be refilled and topped-up as necessary using cost-effective ink bottles. The bottles provide up to 6500 prints each, and can help you reduce printing costs by up to 90% - ideal for offices and busy homes. For most people, that's two year’s worth of ink.

The top-up bottles contain genuine Epson ink that has been designed to work perfectly with the EcoTank printers, so you can rely on the best quality results regardless of how often you use it.

Find out more about Epson EcoTank

Inkjet printers use ink cartridges which are usually cheaper to replace than their laser counterparts, although the page yield is lower. If you aren’t anticipating heavy use or you predominately print photographs or high colour images, an inkjet printer will provide exceptional images without breaking the bank when new ink is needed.

While laser toner cartridges are more costly than those of an inkjet printer, they can offer a greater yield along with vastly improved print speeds. If you find yourself regularly printing in large quantities, a laser or office spec inkjet printer is worth considering.

Inkjet printers either feature individual inks or block inks. Printers with individual inks have an individual cartridge for each colour, typically single cartridges for black, cyan, magenta and yellow. They’re great if your regularly print photos or documents with single colour letter heads, as you can replace the most used colours when you need to. Some high-end photo printers also have additional cartridges for grey, or photo-specific blacks, which enables them to deliver more natural colours with deeper contrast.

Block ink combines the three main colours into a single unit. They tend to be cheaper than buying each ink separately, so a printer with block inks is a great choice if you don’t print that often.

Ink can be bought either separately or as a combination pack. Including all the cartridges needed for a full top up, combination ink sets cost less than buying separately and offer great value for money.

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Extra-large Ink or Toner cartridges offer greater value for money by giving you a high page yield (more pages from a single cartridge), which reduces the cost to print per page.

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Page yield is a way to measure the cost of printing each page. This is calculated using industry standard testing guidelines.

While the approximate page yield can be a good guideline for determining general usage allowance, it’s important to be aware that page yield can vary depending on the types of pages you choose to print. For example, printing high definition photos will use more ink than basic text documents.

Wireless printers connect to your PC or Mac using your home WiFi network and can be accessed from anywhere in your house, meaning you don’t even have to be in the same room to print.

Several computers and mobile devices can use the same printer, which can be placed in the most convenient location for you and your household.

If you want to wirelessly print from a tablet or smartphone, you’ll need a printer that features AirPrint, Google Cloud Print or email printing. See below for more information.

WiFi Direct provides a wireless connection between a printer and device, even if no WiFi signal is present - perfect for homes and offices without a wireless network or in an office as a backup should the network go down.

Apple AirPrint allows you to print directly from Apple iOS products and comes built in to iPhones from the 3GS and up, 3rd generation iPods onwards and all iPads.

Look for Apple AirPrint as a highlighted feature within our range to ensure you can print from your favourite Apple device.

Google Cloud Print is included on all Android devices and lets you print wirelessly from your tablet or smartphone. Simply create or log into a Gmail/Google account to get started.

Look for Cloud Print as a highlighted feature to ensure you’ll be able to print from your Android device.

Near field communication (NFC) is a relatively new feature to printers. Often included on tablets and smartphones, it allows two devices to connect simply by touching together, making syncing a printer with another NFC device effortless.

Look for NFC as a highlighted feature on our range of wireless printers.

Email printing is a feature available on selected HP printers and provides wireless printing from any email capable device. Each printer has a unique, customisable email address and once connected to your home WiFi, prints any images or text documents it receives.

Most manufacturers have their own version of email printing. Look out for ‘email printing’ as a highlighted feature within our printing range.

DPI stands for dots per inch and is a basic measure of print quality. A printer with a higher DPI delivers clear, detailed pictures although other factors such as ink play a part in overall print quality.

If you’re looking for vibrant, lifelike photographs, a good quality inkjet printer provides enhanced colour reproduction and the glossy, developed-photo look that makes for a fantastic printed image.

We highlight print rate on all of our printers. Measured in pages per minute (PPM) for text and images per minute (IPM) for photographs, you should consider print speed if you regularly print in large amounts.

Monochrome printers exclusively print black and white documents. Monochrome laser printers feature higher print speeds over everyday inkjet printers.

The most commonly printed page size is A4 and the vast majority of our printers print in this format. Many printers also print smaller, so whether you want the familiar 6 x 4 developed-photo size or specialist envelope sizes, most accept a wide range of photo and document paper.

For larger prints, we stock a range of A3 printers that print in various sizes up to A3. Some are no bigger than A4 printers, making them ideal for small offices or homes where space is at a premium.

Auto duplex is a handy feature that gives you the choice to automatically print on both sides of the paper, helping you look after the environment while saving money in the process.

An automatic document feeder (ADF) allows you to scan or copy multiple documents simultaneously, without having to manually insert individual pages.

They can be found on scanners and all-in-one printers and are usually located on top of the scanner or within the main paper tray.

Many printers feature a memory card slot. This makes is possible to print directly from an SD or memory card without the need to connect to a PC. Simply pop the card in and use the printer’s screen to select the documents you need.

PictBridge makes printing from your digital camera easy. Simply connect your camera via USB cable to print photos directly, without having to remove your SD card or connect to a computer.

OCR stands for optical character recognition and is a feature found on a number of scanners and all-in-one printers. OCR allows a scanned document to be converted into a word processing document that can be edited on a PC or tablet. While this usually only applies to printed text documents, some models feature handwriting recognition too.

HP Instant Ink is an instant ink replacement service - ordered by your printer, delivered to your door.

Epson EcoTank printers feature unique ink tanks that can be refilled and topped-up as necessary using cost-effective ink bottles.