Working from home? If you’re used to your office comforts – comfy chair, big workspace, meetings in person, it can be pretty tricky to adjust. However, a few things can make the transition easier: playing your number one radio station, a good supply of your favourite coffee, and the right equipment to accomplish tasks just as easily at home.
No matter what kind of work you do, from printing graphics to invoicing clients, a reliable printer is key to getting it done from the comfort of your home. So, here are a few things you should consider about when choosing the best home printer:
Printer connectivity
If you don’t have an office or spare desk to set up a base to work from, a good wireless printer is essential. Wireless printers are particularly great if you work from a tablet or laptop, as you can connect and print any document or graphic you need from the other side of your home.
It’s also ideal if a family member or housemate is also working from home, as you can both connect to the printer at the same time.
Some printers, like the HP Envy range, can connect to your iPhone via Apple AirPrint, or your Android device thanks to Google Cloud Print. So, if you’re on your phone looking at an email with an attachment, you can print it straight away without having to start up your laptop.
Pages per minute
Most printers these days aren’t slow by any means. However, if you’re churning out letters to send to clients, or flyers to promote your business, it’s important that your printer can print quickly.
Take a look how many pages per minute (ppm) the printer you’re looking at can print. 10 ppm is perfect for printing presentation slides or a research paper. But if you’ve got plenty of letters to print and send out on a daily basis, the best option is a laserjet printer.
Home laser printers like the Brother HLL8260CDW can print over 30 pages a minute. That’s probably more than your trusty old office printer can do, and will save you bags of time. And with all the wireless connectivity that make home printers so handy, working from home should be a piece of cake.
What about ink?
Printer ink isn’t cheap, so making sure you’re keeping your printing costs down at home is more than worthwhile.
When buying ink for your printer, be sure to take a look at how many pages the cartridge should last for. Certain printers like the Canon PIXMA and Epson XP ranges are compatible with XL cartridge. These can print around 600 pages, so you don’t need to keep replacing them so often.
If you don’t want to replace cartridges, you can always choose a printer with a tank to pour ink into. Epson EcoTank printers make it easy to top up with enough ink to accomplish all your tasks. Some even come with up to three years’ worth of ink to help you get started. Useful, if you need to get printing straight away.
Services like HP Instant Ink mean you don’t have to replace your ink at all if you don’t want to. Once you’re signed up, you’ll receive extra ink whenever you run low.
Got everything you need?
Of course, printers aren’t just about printing. Sometimes, you’ll need to scan a document to send onto colleagues or copy a letter to add to your database. That’s why all-in-one printers are such a lifesaver when it comes to working at home.
The best all-in-one printers for home use can scan documents and photos to store on your laptop, as well as copy whatever work you need to share with your team. It’s like having a compact office solution in a single unit, freeing up space at home so you can work comfortably.
Some AIO printers can be controlled with smartphone apps, and you can even scan files using your phone’s camera. That way, you’ve got total freedom to work from anywhere.
The HP DeskJet 2620 is one of the best home office printers around. It can print, scan and copy all your files, and comes with two months of ink to help get the ball rolling. And because it’s wireless, the kids can print their homework at the same time as you print important work files.
Still not sure if an inkjet or laser printer is the right choice for you? Let's figure it out together with this guide.
