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The five key factors
Cost of consumables and printer
If you’re a budget user, there’s no need to even consider dye-sublimation (dye-sub) as, besides the startup cost of the printer, each 8R prints is expensive, with some brands ranging from S$5 to S$7. If budget is a big issue to you, look no further than inkjets. Inkjets provide good value for money as such printers can be had without high overheads and running costs. With the money saved by choosing inkjets, you could give yourself a better digital imaging experience by perhaps purchasing better photo-editing software and media.
How and what you intend to use the device for also has a bearing on suitability. Is it just going to be a dedicated photo printing unit? If the answer is no, start listing out what tasks you’ll require it to perform. Between the inkjet and dye-sub technologies, you’ll find that the inkjet is inherently able to perform other office tasks without incurring high costs and with compatibility with lots of print media.
These two really go hand-in-hand to a certain extent. If you want fastest prints, more often than not you’ll lose quality in some form or another. Quality is known to be rather subjective. The best way to decide what constitutes good quality to you is to actually obtain sample prints. It’s a good thing today that most manufacturers actually provide specimens from the units they are selling. This way, you can judge the printers individually. Between dye-sub and inkjet technologies, you’ll find that dye-sub brings out the best reproduction in terms of both subtle and continuous tone images. This is not to say that inkjets can’t produce good-quality photos. In fact, with specially coated papers, users will find most inkjets performing up to their expectations.
Patience may be a virtue, but in our day and age, time has become rather tight.
Most users have difficulty fitting things to do in one day and every minute
counts for such people. Currently, inkjet print speeds vary from model to model,
with dye-sub printers performing faster in most instances. Users are advised
to check reviews of these units and decide what is acceptable.
The last thing that anyone wants is to spend a rather large sum of money on something they are afraid to use. There really is no point to buying the absolute “best” equipment on the market, only to dread using it. Different manufacturers go about seemingly similar tasks in different ways. Always make the salesperson work when buying a product. Ask for a demonstration, especially for tasks that you want the unit to perform. This way you can get a feel of how the printer and its utilities interact with you.
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