PRINTERS
ISSUE 382|COMPUTER SHOPPER|DECEMBER 2019 71
Foreven greater easeof use,some models
have an automatic documentfeeder (ADF).
This is rarer and more expensiveto attain than
duplex printing capability,but can be very
helpful: it’satrayintowhich you can place a
handfulof documents or images, which will
automatically be sucked inforscanning or
copying. It’sfarless cumbersome than having
to stand over asingle-trayscanner,going
through each page oneby one.REDUCE,REUSE,REFILL
We’ve alreadytouched on running costs, the
amount you’ll haveto payfor replacement ink
cartridges or bottles. The golden rule is that
the moreoften you print, the more importance
you should place on findingaprinter with low
ink or toner replacement costs.
This sounds self-evident, but consider the
reverse scenario.Ify ou only print, say, a
couple of pages amonth, it’s more economical
to buy acheap printer with high running costs
than an expensive printer with low running
costs. Otherwise,itc ould take decades–long
beyond the device’sfeasible lifespan–for the
savingsto make upforthe initial outlay.Conversely,say you work inahome office
and print 500 pagesamonth: if you bought
the Epson EcoTank ET-M3180, which costs
£406 but only 0.2p per pageto print, you’d
spend amere £12 per year on ink. If,however,
you bought theXerox B215–which is cheaper
at £199 but costs 2.5p per pageto print –
you’d spend £150 per year.The moneyyou’d
have saved on the B215’s initial purchase
would be wiped out in less than two years.THE DIRECTAPPROACH
Most printers willoffer avariety of connection
interfaces, which can be usefuleven if you’re
going to position it closeto your PC. Wi-Fi
connectivity allows youto print from
anywhere,which is especially handyforlaptop
users. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFCalso enable
printing fromaphone or tablet, while USB
portsandSDcardslotsmakeitquickertoprint
images and documents from external storage
without the needto plug them intoaPC.
Just be wary that printingover networks
can be slower than the trusty USB cable
route, especially if you’re using Bluetooth or
if your Wi-Fi simply isn’t very good.Does this mean you should alwaysfavour
inkjets? Not necessarily.Inkjets that can match
alaser printer’s speedstend to be expensive
to buy,making efficiency savingsover time
less meaningful. That said, we recommend
inkjets forcolour-sensitive jobs such as photos
and posters, as opposedto lasers, which are
better forrapidly blasting outtext documents.
DRUM ROLL PLEASE
Laser printers are also more complex in how
theyactually puttext and images onto apage.
Essentially,alaser traces the imageof the
printed documents onto apositively charged
internal drum, leaving the image with a
negative charge.This then attracts positively
chargedtoner particles, which transferto the
paper –which is given aneven stronger
negative charge–when the drum rollsover it.
Finally,heated rollers fuse thetoner on to the
paper,creating the final image.
Inkjet printers are much simpler: theyspray
liquid ink fromanozzle directly onto paper.
This helps inkjets fit in more compact chassis
designs, making them betterforhome use.
There areacouple of sub-typesof inkjet
systems, but theydon’t vary much interms of
results. Thermal inkjetsforce droplets outof
the nozzleby boiling the ink and producing air
bubbles, while piezo (or piezoelectric) inkjets
electrically chargeacrystal or ceramic piece,
which flexes until it applies enough pressure
to push ink outof the nozzle.
PAPER RACE
We’re mainly interested intesting out printing
performance–both speed and quality–but
since mostof the printers here are MFPs, we’ll
be looking at scanning performance,too.
Our tests aimto imitatearange of typical
high-demand printing and scanning tasks.For
example,our first test involves printing 25
copies of the sametext-only letter,tos ee how
efficiently aprinter can churn out long
documents.We also runasimilar test using
pages of mixed graphics, as well as printing
and scanning some large images.
We’ll describe general print quality in each
review ,asw ell as how long eachtest took to
completeine ither pages per minute(ppm) or
images per minute(ipm). Manufacturers will
sometimes give theirofficial ppm figures, but
the results given in each review (and in the
specs table on page 82) are what you can
more realistically expect.
FLIPPING GOOD
If you’re expectingto print or scan in large
quantities, there are twofeatures to watch out
for. One is duplex, or double-sided, printing.
This allowsaprinter or MFPto print on both
sides of asingle sheetof paper,which slows
down the process comparedto simplex
(single-sided) printing but can significantly
save on the amountof apaper you needto go
throughformultipage documents. Some
MFPscan even offer duplex scanning, which
–asy ou can probably guess–means both
sides of asheet are scanned inasingle job.
HOME INKJET
CANONPixmaTS205
The Canon Pixma TS205 is slow,loud, lackingascanner
and not particularly cheapto run. This doesn’t sound
like arecipe forasuccessful printer,but forjust £29 ,the
normal rules don’t quiteapply.
Even if it does trundle along atarelaxed pace,print
quality exceeds expectations setby this rock-bottom
price,and because it’s quitefrugal with its ink usage,you
won’t haveto buy replacement cartridges sooften. If you
only need somethingto print the occasional document,
it’s an attractive alternativeto more fully loaded MFPs.CREATIVE INKJET
CANONPixmaTS6250
Further up the range is the Canon Pixma TS6250, which
is much betterforprinting and scanning photos and
artwork. It cleverly uses different typesof black ink
accordingto whether you’re using plain or photopaper,
and colour and contrast are generally high quality.
It’s missing one or two premiumfeatures, such as
an ADFforits scanner,but nevertheless this isavery
capable MFPforits price.OFFICE MONO
EPSONEcoTankET-M3180
There areacouple of decent laser MFPsinc ompetition,
but the inkjet Epson EcoTank ET-M3180 beats them at
their own game.Fast and almost unbelievably cheapto
run, the EcoTank ET-M3180 is the new mono MFPto beat.
Abig part of its appeal is the EcoTank system itself.
Insteadof replaceable cartridges, ink is contained within
large tanks that can print thousandsof pages before
needingatop-up from bottled refills.Forhigh-volume
work, it’s perfect.