Most people that I know hate working with printers. They are never easy. Here are some tips for you and what to expect from a printer.
There are a few things to know about printers for home and office, InkJet and LaserJet. Most InkJet printers print colors and connects to your PC via USB cables. There are 2 to 4 tanks of ink to make up the colors. As you might guess black, red, yellow and cyan. Small InkJet printer models usually have only 2 tanks. It is possible to refill the tanks with inks if you want a quick and cheap solution. However, I don’t really recommend this because refilled tanks usually leak and can damage your printer. The LaserJet printer on the other hand, uses powder which is contained in toners similarly to tanks with 4 different colors. And I don’t recommend refilling the toner also. The speed of both types of printers is measured as pages per seconds. A few models print double side (duplex) and others does multi-function (all-in-one) including scan, copy and fax. Network enabled printers include cable or wireless which is great for sharing in home and office.
You can share a USB printer via a PC on the network but ultimately this usually breaks and will cost more to maintain instead of buying a more expensive network enabled printer. There are also alternative ways of connecting your USB to the network without using a PC which needs to be on all the time by using a Print Server (USB-to-Ethernet) which cost about $35. Setting up a work-around solution might need a tech savvy person at first but it makes more sense comparing to turning a PC on all the time to just print via the network. In a network environment that includes a server managed system, you can use software based print queue management which allows you to set a limitation or charging fee receipt for a user to print.
In conclusion, if you want to avoid hassle in the future with a printer check if first if the printer is compatible with your computer or network environment. Do not refill ink so the life-time of the printer will be extended. Some printers are sold very cheaply but the replacement ink tank or toner is very expensive so check the price of replacement cartridges. Buy a network enabled printer if you plan to share it with someone. If your office prints a lot of documents, an alternative solution is looking at renting a copier which also has network print function from a printer shop around Phnom Penh. The printer has a record whenever a page is printed or copied and you are invoiced at the end of the month. The best part is you don’t need to worry about the maintenance.
