ALWAYS check the ink cartridge prices before you purchase a printer. Why? Sometimes cheaper printers end up costing you more due to the high costs of their ink cartridges. You should calculate the "cost of ownership" per month.
The math is simple: "number of prints per month" times "cost of the printer cartridge" divided by "the yield of the printer cartridge". Yield is the number of pages that can be printed with one particular printer cartridge. For example, assume that the average home user prints 150 black pages per month using a black printer cartridge that yields 200 pages and costs . The monthly "cost of ownership" is
(150 pages) x () / 200 pages =
Also look at the printer ink alternatives; besides the original manufacturer's printer cartridges (OEMs), you may have the se lection of remanufactured printer cartridges, compatible ink/toner cartridges, and refill kits.
Here are some top seller photo printers that I saw in the market recently. The prices below reflect the Amazon.com prices.
Canon PIXMA iP3000 Photo Printer .99
Canon PIXMA iP4000 Photo Printer 4.99
Epson Stylus R320 Photo Printer 9.99
Canon PIXMA iP5000 Photo Printer 3.25
HP PhotoSmart 8450 Photo Printer 9.99
HP PhotoSmart 375 Compact Photo Printer 9.99
Epson PictureMate Deluxe Photo Printer 9.99
Canon i9900 Photo Printer 8.99
Epson Stylus Photo R1800 Inkjet Printer 9.99
Also don't go photo printer shopping without knowing the important photo printer terminology. That way you will have an idea about what you are looking at:
Bluetooth: A technology that enables wireless communication between Bluetooth compatible devices. It is used for short-range connections between desktop and laptop computers, pocket pc's, digital cameras, scanners, cell phones and printers.
Duplexing: Printing on both sides of a page.
Color balance: Changing the overall color tint of an image when it's too red, too green, or too yellow.
Output Capacity: Maximum number of pages the printer can handle for one job.
Media Size: The size range of the paper the printer can handle (letter, legal, etc.).
Resolution: The number of pixels in a digital photograph.
Memory Card: A storage device used to store data, like picture and movie files, available in different sizes, such as 8 MB, 32 MB, and 256 MB.
