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How to Choose the Best Budget Printer for Your Home

Brother budget printer

Looking for the Best Budget Printer for Your Home? Consider These.

Need a reliable low-cost printer for your home? We’ll help you to find one!

Like many others, you are probably looking for the best budget printer for your home because you don’t need or don’t have the luxury to buy a top-tier printer. As long as the printer provides you with the best value for money, it will be perfect for you.

In this guide, you will learn the key cost and quality considerations needed in choosing the best budget printer for your home (or home office).

Why You Need a Budget Printer

You may think that the biggest factor in any printer is its price tag but consider this—the bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten. Often, getting the cheapest printer may not deliver the best value in the long run. Instead, consider buying the best value printer based on your priorities and expected usage.

Here is a list of factors that you should consider:

  • Black and White or Colour Printer
  • Laser or Inkjet Printer
  • Cost of Printer
  • Cost of Ink and Toner Cartridges
  • Page Yield
  • Single Function or All-In-One
Monochrome-VS-Colour-Printer

Black and White or Colour Printer

Given a choice, it is obvious that a colour printer would be your first pick due to its ability to generate multi-coloured prints. But when your pocket is on the line, you have to consider if you truly need colour printouts.

In most cases, black and white printers are cheaper than colour printers.

If you print pictures, brochures, flyers, and other promotional materials frequently at home, then it is probably best to choose a colour printer that is as capable as Brother DCP-T520W Ink Tank Printer.

However, if you regularly print text documents or images without colour, it may be wise to keep your costs low by choosing a black and white printer similar to Brother DCP-L2550DW Monochrome Laser Printer.

Laser-VS-Inkjet-Printer

Laser or Inkjet Printer

Both laser and inkjet print technologies are able to shine at home or in your office. However, there’s a good chance that one will be better at meeting your needs than the other. Let us look at these factors in detail.

Cost of Printer

When considering the cost of the actual printer itself, inkjet printers are usually less expensive than laser printers. This boils down to the technology of how these printers put letters and images on paper.

For inkjet printers, they rely on print heads and nozzles to deliver microscopic liquid ink onto the paper. Laser printers, on the other hand, rely on the electrostatic charge of a laser to transfer the toner on to the paper, and then bond them using heat.

The two distinct technologies mainly affect how big the printer is and how expensive a single printed page is. The cost of a printed page is then determined by its main consumable—the use of ink or toner cartridges.

Cost of Ink and Toner Cartridge

Cost of Ink and Toner Cartridges

The cost of the cartridges is a major factor to pay attention to—because when it comes to consumables, it is the exact opposite.

While inkjet printers may be cheaper than laser printers, the ink cartridges of inkjet printers are significantly more expensive than the toner cartridges of laser printers based on their yield. With this in mind, you’ll have to consider how frequently you will be printing, to justify your overall running cost comprising the price of the printer itself and the printer ink or toner.

Some inkjet printers come with internal ink reservoirs that can be refilled with ink bottles—like the Brother DCP-T420W Refill Tank Printer—to help you save money. However, do keep in mind that with certain inkjet printers that use ink cartridges, dried ink may be an issue if it is left unused over a prolonged period of time.

Once again, toner cartridges have the upper hand. Since they are in dry powder form, laser toners last a lot longer than ink cartridges. This further helps you to avoid unnecessary wastage.

page-yield

Page Yield

Here’s where we get into the nitty gritty of printing costs. To minimize your overall printing budget, you need to carefully consider the page yield of your laser or inkjet printer.

The page yield of a printer is the approximate number of pages you can print with a cartridge. You can easily look it up on online catalogs of the printer itself, or the information on the boxes of the cartridges.

These yields are based on a 5% page coverage, which means having 5% of the page’s total area imprinted with ink or toner. Thus, if a page yield is 600 pages, it means that you can print up to 600 pages with 5% page coverage before the cartridge needs to be replaced. For better context, that is roughly 600 pages worth of short paragraphs or emails.

However, keep in mind that if you are printing more full-bodied prints like a legal document or a full-page color photo, your page yield will decrease significantly.

Generally speaking, the page yields of a laser toner cartridge is significantly higher than the page yields of an inkjet cartridge. A toner cartridge can print between 3,000 to 20,000 pages per cartridge whereas an ink cartridge prints between 135 to 1000 pages per cartridge.

Since each person’s printing needs differ, the actual number of prints changes from user to user. You can take the above example as a rough gauge for your own printing needs.

Multifunction printer

Single Function or All-In-One

Printers nowadays have more than just printing abilities; they often also include scanning, faxing and photocopying capabilities.

Choosing the multi-function or single function printer that best matches your needs can help you to save a lot of money.

There are two common scenarios when considering whether to buy a single function or multifunction printer:

  1. You already have or do not need the other functions as you simply need a printer for its printing function; or
  2. You need multiple functions for your home or home office beyond just printing.

If you fall in the first category, getting a single function printer such as Brother HL-L2375DW is likely to be the cheapest option. Re-evaluating your home needs could help you to clarify your printing and document management needs, allowing you to choose the best printer for your budget.

Other Money-saving Printer Functions

When searching for the best budget printer, don’t just stop at considering its main cost components. The real value of a budget printer lies in its other less prominent features.

Printers that can help you save electricity or use it more efficiently usually have functions such as automatic on-and-off circuitry or a deep sleep mode like Brother HL-L3270CDW.

Auto-duplexing capabilities in printers such as Brother DCP-T720DW Ink Tank Printer also help you to save precious minutes, eliminating the hassle of manually turning the paper around.

Don’t underestimate these features as they can help you to keep your electricity bill down, save ink, save paper, and most importantly, save time!

Conclusion

There is no one-size-fits-all budget printer on this planet. However, we hope that with the above factors and options, you can now make an informed choice on buying the best budget printer for your home!

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How to Find the Most Affordable Computer Printers for Different Uses

Brother Inkjet Printer for office use

How to Pick an Affordable Computer Printer that Best Fits Your Needs

Visit any electronics retailer and it’s easy to lose yourself in a sea of printers. There are inkjet printers, laser printers, tiny photo printers, industrial-sized printers to all-in-one multifunction printers.

And let’s not forget about the wide price ranges of printers — from slightly over a hundred to over a thousand dollars (or more).

Where do you begin to hunt for the right computer printer for your home, office or retail outlet?

In this article, we break down the different features and functions of a computer printer to help you find the best computer printer at the right price that suits your unique needs.

Why You Need an Affordable Computer Printer

Getting a computer printer isn’t just a one-off cost. Over time, there are additional costs involved as you need to constantly “feed” your computer printer with different consumables like paper, ink or toner, as well as electricity. Thus, you should consider your total lifetime cost when computing how much you need to spend on printing.

Here are some pointers to consider when searching for an affordable computer printer.

Cost of Computer Printer — Long Term Considerations

It’s prudent to consider the running costs of operating a computer printer, especially when your printing needs increase for work or for school.

Here are two ways costs can add up over the lifespan of a computer printer.

1. Computer Printer Ink or Toner Price

Computer printer ink or toner is likely to be the highest running cost throughout your computer printer’s life cycle. Most of us would assume that ink cartridges are reasonably priced for cheap inkjet computer printers, but this may not always be the case.

The first thing to consider is what type of printing you need—primarily black and white (monochrome) or colour printing? Colour ink or toner cartridges cost more than black ink or toner cartridges.

2. Printing Paper Costs

Different types of printing paper have different costs. Printing regular documents does not factor much into the overall cost, but if you need to print on special paper, like photos or art pieces, the cost of paper might go up.

Students having a discussion

What Types of Printing Do You Need

Students and working professionals have varied printing needs. Understanding your printing needs would help you to decide which is the best computer printer for students, the office or home.

Laser or Inkjet Computer Printer

Computer printers now offer many different features and functions.

First, you have to decide if you need an inkjet or laser computer printer. Inkjet computer printers are compact and versatile, capable of printing documents, great for colour image printing and producing high-quality photos. They often feature all-in-one capabilities with print, scan and fax functions.

Laser computer printers produce crisp and clean text, perfect if you need to print mostly documents with text. Laser computer printers are also better equipped to handle high volumes of printing.

Single Function or Multifunction Computer Printers

Do you only need to print or would you also need to make copies, scan and fax? Regular or basic computer printers only have one function, which is to print. All-in-One computer printers further provide scanning, faxing and copying capabilities. If you need these additional features, the multi-function computer printers are cheaper than getting separate devices.

Choosing a Computer Printer for Students

If you are a student or you have school-going children in your household, your printing needs are pretty straightforward—school assignments, projects, and reports, with mostly text and occasional colour graphics, charts, or photographs.

Tertiary students preparing for lengthy case studies, theses, or essays may need a sturdy computer printer to deliver heavy-duty printing.

Choosing a Computer Printer for an Office

While we are moving towards a more paperless work environment, there are inevitably situations where printed materials are still needed. It could be sales reports or analytics reports, which may involve colour charts on statistics, or in some cases, presentation decks when clients are concerned.

After a sales pitch, you may wish to leave copies of your proposals in potential clients’ hands. These printouts likely require high-quality colour printing to deliver crisp and sharp images.

Beyond that, photocopying and scanning are two well-used functions in the office, and having a one-stop machine that caters to a range of needs is an asset to any office.

Choosing a Computer Printer for Your Home

Printing needs at home may differ from those in school or the office, unless you are studying or working from home.

Home printing can get a lot more enjoyable, like printing photos of your recent staycation to producing a fun family vacation photo album. Or you may wish to embark on a scrapbook project, where you’d need to print out images to decorate your scrapbook.

Suffice to say, if you are a student purely looking for printing large amounts of black and white text, laser computer printers might be the way to go.

If you require a computer printer for work and need heavy graphics for presentations, both colour laser and inkjet computer printers work for you.

Require a bit of both for your home? Then you’d need to get a computer printer that delivers the best of both worlds.

Printing business documents

How to Share Computer Printer with Multiple Users

Sharing a computer printer with multiple users is commonly seen at home or at your workplace. It’s also one of the best ways to lower costs while still allowing everyone to access printing facilities. Computer printer sharing with different computers and laptops used to be a complicated process—thanks to wireless and remote access computer printers, the days of connecting unwieldy and ugly computer printer cables are mostly over.

For Windows users, go to the Control Panel and select Devices and Printers. Then select “Add a printer”, where you will be asked to choose whether it’s a wireless, networked or Bluetooth printer. Follow the instructions on your screen, and you will be on your way. Alternatively, download and install the driver for optimal printing performance.

For Mac users, it’s equally simple. Download and install the driver, and go to System Preferences, then Print and Scan, and you’ll be able to add the computer printer to your network. ​

Some computer printer models can be wirelessly connected with other electronic devices, such as your mobile phones or tablets. If you have images in your camera to print, transfer your pictures to your mobile device and send them to print, as long as you connect your computer printer to your mobile device. (Certain digital camera models even offer direct wireless connections to computer printers.) ​

The Best Affordable Computer Printers for Students

If you are a student, teacher, or educational professional looking for the most affordable student-friendly computer printer for your needs, Brother has a handful of both laser and inkjet computer printers that tick the boxes on your requirements list.

Brother Laser Computer Printers for Students

Monochrome Laser Computer Printer

DCP-L2550DW (Multi-Function)

  • Print, Scan & Copy
  • Monochrome Laser Computer Printer
  • Automatic 2-sided Printing
  • Wireless Networking
  • Print Quality: Up to 600 x 600 dpi, HQ1200 (Up to 2400 x 600 dpi), Up to 1200 x 1200 dpi
  • Size: 410 mm x 398.5 mm x 318.5 mm

HL-L2375DW (Single Function)

  • Monochrome Laser Computer Printer
  • Automatic 2-sided Printing
  • Wireless Networking
  • Print Quality: Up to 600 x 600 dpi, HQ1200 (Up to 2400 x 600 dpi), Up to 1200 x 1200 dpi
  • Size: 356 mm x 360 mm x 183 mm

Brother Inkjet Computer Printers for Students

DCP-T420W

  • Print, Scan & Copy
  • Colour Inkjet Computer Printer
  • Wireless and mobile printing
  • Print Quality: Up to 1,200 x 6,000 dpi
  • Size: 435 mm x 359 mm x 159 mm

The Best Affordable Computer Printers for Offices

For working professionals in the office, factory, retail outlet or other workplaces, you’ll need a computer printer that has multiple functions as well as colour printing capabilities to impress your clients with. Consider these recommendations from Brother.

Brother Inkjet Computer Printer for Offices

MFC-T920DW

  • Print, Scan, Copy & Fax
  • Colour Inkjet Printer
  • Automatic 2-sided Printing
  • Wired and Wireless Networking
  • Print Quality: Up to 1,200 x 6000 dpi

The Best Affordable Computer Printers for Homes

Finally, for your homes, you’ll need either laser or inkjet computer printers that have a good balance between functions, speed, and flexibility. Do also consider the ability to print in colour—a must for those fun family projects!

Brother Laser Computer Printer for Home

MFC-L3770CDW

  • Print, Scan, Copy & Fax
  • Colour LED Computer Printer
  • Automatic 2-sided Printing, Scanning, Copying and Faxing
  • Wireless Networking
  • Print Quality: Up to 600 x 600 dpi, 2,400 dpi (600 x 2400)

Brother Inkjet Computer Printer for Home

DCP-T520W

  • Print, Scan & Copy
  • Colour Inkjet Computer Printer
  • Wireless and mobile printing
  • Print Quality: Windows: Up to 1,200 x 6,000 dpi
  • Size: 435 mm x 380 mm x 159 mm

With a clearer picture of your needs and what’s available, you’re now ready to find the best affordable computer printer for your unique uses!

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How To Use an NFC-Enabled Printer on a Mobile Device

Your Handy Guide to Using an NFC-Enabled Printer on a Mobile Device

Keen to print directly from your mobile device to an NFC-enabled printer?

We know how attractive that idea can be! Especially when you dread the following printing scenarios:

  • Needing to log on to your laptop just to print a few documents
  • Being confused by the convoluted set-up process involving wireless printers

There are many perks that an NFC-enabled printer can bring to your home or office. Read on to find out how you can print from your mobile device via an NFC-enabled printer, as well as the benefits that NFC enabled printers bring.

What is NFC printing?

As its name suggests, NFC printing, also known as Near Field Communication printing, works by establishing the wireless network connectivity between a mobile device and a printer when they are in close proximity. This is a form of short-range wireless technology that most modern smartphones, tablets and devices have.

With such technology, you can literally walk up to the printer, tap your phone on it and watch as your selected prints are printed right before your eyes.

NFC technology has made printing so convenient and fuss-free that you don’t need to log on to your PC or laptop just to print a document!

How to print from Android mobile devices using NFC printing

To use NFC Printing, both your printer and your mobile device must come equipped with Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. Let us walk through the processes needed to activate it on both devices.

How to activate NFC on Android mobile devices

#1 Check if your mobile device supports NFC

Are your mobile devices already NFC-enabled? Well, you will be glad to know that the latest Android smartphones and tablets are mostly NFC-enabled. You can check by searching on your device settings for “NFC”.

(Unfortunately, as of now, there isn’t an easy way for iOS devices like iPhones to print using the NFC technology.)

#2 Activate NFC on mobile device

To activate NFC on your Android phone or tablet, follow the steps below:

  1. On your Android device, tap on “Settings”
  2. Select “Connected devices”
  3. Select “Connection preferences”
  4. You should see “NFC” and “Android Beam” options
  5. Turn both of them on

Once NFC is activated on your mobile device, you can direct your attention to the printer.

How to use an NFC-enabled printer

#1 Check if your printer supports NFC

How do you know if a printer is NFC-enabled? Most printers will have an NFC icon located on the printer—this will also be the area where you should place your device to establish a connection.

NFC printer icon

#2 Enable NFC on Brother printer

To turn on the NFC capability on a Brother printer, follow these simple steps:

  1. Select Settings (screwdriver icon)
  2. Select “All Settings”
  3. Select “Network”
  4. Select “NFC”
  5. Select “ON”
  6. Select Home (house icon)

#3 Install and use Brother iPrint&Scan app to select the print job

To print via NFC on a Brother printer, you will need to install Brother iPrint&Scan App on your mobile device.

If you are printing a photo or a document, ensure that the memory card containing the image or document has been inserted into the mobile device.

To select the print job, here are the steps needed:

  1. Open the Launcher on the mobile device
  2. Tap the Brother iPrint&Scan icon (carefully read and accept the terms of the license agreement)
  3. Select the document to be printed

#5 Establish NFC connection and print

When the Print Preview screen is displayed, hold your mobile device against the NFC icon on your Brother printer. Be sure to line up both the NFC tags.

NFC printing via mobile device

Once your mobile device is connected, you will hear a sound and “Touch to beam” will be displayed on the mobile device’s screen.

Simply tap your device’s screen to proceed with printing, while maintaining the proximity, and voila! You have just printed directly from your mobile device to your NFC printer!

Benefits of NFC Printing

NFC printing has become a popular mode of printing because it is fuss-free and convenient.

What users appreciate the most is its fast and seamless connection. Thus, the quick tap-and-print process of NFC printing can help to optimize business productivity.

Brother’s NFC-Enabled Printers

Searching for the best NFC-enabled printer for your home or corporate office? Check out some of Brother’s best printers with NFC features!

Inkjet

Laser

For Home Use:

For Business & Office Use:

Once you get your hands on an NFC-enabled printer, you would understand why it’s so popular and better appreciate this state-of-the-art technology!

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How To Print Auto Duplex on Laser Printer

auto duplex printing

Confused About Auto Duplex Printing On Laser Printer? Here’s how

Clueless about auto duplex printing on laser printers? Don’t worry we’ve got you covered. Auto duplex printing is basically printing on two sides of the paper automatically. Yes, it means that you don’t have to flip the pages manually when you want two-sided printed pages.

But how do you do that? Is there a special switch that you need to flip? Read on to find out!

Manual VS Auto Duplex Laser Printer

Manual duplex printing can achieve the same result as automatic duplex printing — the only difference is that you will have to turn the page over yourself to print the other side.

On the other hand, in auto duplex printing, the printer does the flipping for you. This saves you time, money, effort, and paper!

An auto duplex laser printer helps you to enjoy higher print quality, faster print speeds, cleaner prints, lower print costs, and more efficient printing.

Check out some of Brother’s best Laser Duplex Printers

Here are some additional tips to enhance your printing efficiency:

Two Ways to Optimize Printing Speed

1. Use a Laser Printer

Compared to inkjet printers, laser printers usually print more quickly, regardless of whether your prints are in colour or monochrome (black and white).

2. Use Auto Duplex

As mentioned previously, auto duplex printing saves you the hassle of manually flipping the pages. Just press print, make yourself a cup of coffee, and come back with double-sided prints!

How do you set up auto duplex printing?

How To Do Auto Duplex Printing

Setting up duplex printing can change your printing routine and reduce costs. All you have to do is to follow the steps below:

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How To Buy The Best Affordable Printers for Students

students using printer

Need Affordable Printers? Here Are The Best Printers For Students!

Are you a student who needs an affordable printer for your printing needs?

Tired of paying for expensive prints every time a school project is due?

Having to wait in the long queue at the school’s printing shop during submission deadlines?

Perhaps you are a parent who grimaces at the struggle of your children, and wishes to make their lives easier.

Students (and parents) rejoice! In this article, you will learn how you can save money on printing by investing in the right affordable home printers perfectly suited for your needs.

Why Do Students Need Affordable Printers

But first, let us address the elephant in the room — do children, teenagers and youths need printers?

The short answer is a resounding yes! Here are four reasons why students need low-priced printers at home.

Printing of School Projects and Assignments

With project-based learning and school projects being the norm these days, students need to print reports, essays, photos, and other assignments.

These may sometimes include colour printouts of charts and graphs, or captioned photos depicting different locations that they’ve been. It is also common for students to print out lesson plans and notes from their teachers.

Tertiary level students in universities may also need a printer to proof-read long essays or churn out copies of their research reports.

Printing of Personal Fun Projects

Beyond school projects, having an affordable printer also allows your child to stretch their imagination with fun personal projects.

They could design and print out a photo book documenting your last family vacation. Create a sign-board just for their room. Or write a fictitious story involving space aliens and cowboys!

A home printer also allows you to print out family photos — a perfect way to decorate your home during these times.

Expensive Shop Printing Costs

Beyond the above reasons, printing can also be increasingly more expensive at print shops with rising labour and rental costs.

While professional printers may be suited for large volume commercial prints, small-scale printing costs for home users are likely to be high. This is especially so for high resolution colour printouts for images such as photos, posters, or other illustrations.

 Inconvenience of Printing in School or at a Shop

Faced with mounting pressures at school, students who need urgent print-outs of their assignments may find it frustrating to look for an available print shop.

Often, queues at such printing shops may form — especially close to project deadlines!

Besides battling other students to get your job printed first, you may also have to contend with occasions where the shop closes, like weekends, public holidays, or non-retail hours.

What To Look For in an Affordable Student Printer

Getting an affordable printer will help you to solve your student printing woes. You won’t need to go to a library or an internet cafe to print out your work, or rip your hair out when your regular print shop closes.

Before you run out to get any affordable printers you can find, consider these factors when you choose a printer that is best suited for a student.

students coursework

Print Quality of Printer

Low cost shouldn’t equate with low quality. While searching for the best economically-priced printer, you’ll need to ensure that your printer doesn’t skimp on print quality.

Check that your value-for-money printer can print out various documents with perfect clarity. It would be such a shame if your hard work came out with a bunch of blurs, lines and smudges!

Space Needed for Printer

Next, consider the space you have for your printer. You wouldn’t want a printer that takes up too much space, given the constraints of your room.

Try to find one that is compact yet packed with the features that you need for your school and personal printing needs.

Cost of Printer — Think Long-Term Costs

Lastly, you’ll need to consider the price of the printer itself, as well as its running costs.

Often, students and their parents opt for the cheapest printer available in the market without considering the ongoing cost of its consumables. Such costs may add up — especially when the volume of school work that needs to be printed goes up.

There are four running cost components that you should consider:

  1. Printer Ink or Toner Cost
  2. Printer Paper Cost
  3. Printer Electricity Consumption
  4. Printer Maintenance or Repair Cost

Printer Ink or Toner Price

The printer ink or toner is one of the biggest running costs when it comes to owning a printer. You wouldn’t want to get a cheap printer that has a huge cost for its ink or toner.

You may want to consider if the majority of your print jobs are to be in black and white or colored. This will help to determine your budget for the cartridges — yes, colour cartridges are more expensive.

Do also be careful of using third party ink or toners — those may not be suitable for your machine and may damage it in the long-term.

It is wise to find a balance between your cost-per-page and the upfront printer cost.

Once you have these costs figured out, it would be easier to see if a printer will burn a hole in your pocket in the long term.

Pro Tip: If you’re looking to get an inkjet printer, you should use it at least weekly to maximize its cartridge use. Idle printers can dry up cartridges or result in clogged print heads.

If you are not printing constantly, and have longer idle time in between prints, it is better to get a laser printer. While the upfront costs of Laser printers may be higher than inkjet printers, toner replacement wouldn’t be as often. Besides, laser printer toners are dry powders which wouldn’t dry up with time.

Printer Paper Price

The next cost to consider are your paper costs. There are different types of printing media and they all have different prices.

If you need to print art pieces on a certain print medium, its costs and compatibility may vary from printer to printer. Getting these special papers from the same printer brand ensures that your printouts will be of a premium quality — it also helps you to avoid printer jams and other mishaps.

If you are just printing regular documents, sticking to regular A4 plain paper shouldn’t be much of a problem. A cost saving tip is to buy your printing paper in bulk or during a sale — it is much cheaper than buying them individually.

Printer Electricity Consumption

This next cost might seem negligible to some, but with any electrical appliances, the electricity consumption costs of your printer do add up over time.

Where possible, look for printers that have a deep sleep mode or energy saving functions. This might not seem like an important cost to consider in the beginning — however, in the long run, it will save you a considerable amount.

Printer Maintenance and Lifespan

What’s the point of buying a printer which spoils the next year? Fixing it or buying a new one altogether can be both troublesome and costly.

To prevent this, ensure that you buy a reliable printer with a good warranty. Often, this is a good sign that its maintenance costs will be manageable.

Do also look out for printers from established trustworthy brands that provide reliable customer service. This can help you to reduce your printer maintenance costs, and minimise the need for you to replace your student friendly printer every few years.

Where To Buy The Best Printers for Students

If you are looking to buy the best affordable printer for students, here are a few printers from Brother that can meet a student’s needs for affordability, high print quality, low consumables prices, and compact in size.

1. Brother Laser Printer For Students

Monochrome Laser printer:

HL-L2375DW

  • Print only
  • Monochrome Laser Printer
  • Automatic 2-sided Printing
  • Wired/Wireless Networking
  • Print Quality: Up to 600 x 600 dpi, HQ1200 (Up to 2400 x 600 dpi), Up to 1200 x 1200 dpi
  • Size: 356 mm x 360 mm x 183 mm

DCP-L2550DW

  • Print, Scan & Copy
  • Monochrome Laser Printer
  • Automatic 2-sided Printing
  • Wireless Networking
  • Print Quality: Up to 600 x 600 dpi, HQ1200 (Up to 2400 x 600 dpi), Up to 1200 x 1200 dpi
  • Size: 410 mm x 398.5 mm x 318.5 mm

Colour Laser Printer:

MFC-L3770CDW

  • Print, Scan, Copy & Fax
  • Color LED Printer
  • Auto 2-sided printing & scanning
  • Wireless, Network Connectivity & NFC
  • Print Quality: Up to 600 x 600 dpi, 2,400 dpi (600 x 2400)
  • Size: 410 mm x 509 mm x 414 mm

2. Brother Inkjet Printer For Students

Colour Inkjet Printer:

DCP-T420W

  • Print, Scan & Copy
  • Inkjet Printer
  • Wireless and mobile printing
  • Print Quality:
    • Windows: Up to 1,200 x 6,000 dpi
    • Mac: Up to 1,200 x 3,600 dpi
  • Size: 435 mm x 359 mm x 159 mm

Now go find your perfect printer and skip the nuances!

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The Biggest Printer Problems And Their Solutions

Printer problems and solution

Frustrated With The Never Ending Printer Problems? Here Are Some Solutions

Are you struggling with your home or office printers? Wonder why your wifi printer does not work properly? Frustrated with printing errors from your duplex printer?

These problems can be a huge headache to those who simply want their printing work done. 

Help is here! In this article, we have put together a list of the most common printer problems and their solutions.

  1. Slow Printing with Wifi Printers
  2. Home / Office Printer Not Printing
  3. Duplex Printer Printing Error
  4. Extra Printed Blank Sheet of Paper
  5. Paper Jams
  6. Unclear Printed Texts
  7. Poor Quality Inkjet Printed Photos
  8. Poor Black and White Print Quality
  9. Thick Ink on Inkjet Prints
  10. Unreliable Error Messages

Take a deep breath, calm yourself down, and try these solutions before you call your printer repair man!

1. Slow Printing with Wifi Printers

In today’s fast-paced world, a slow printer can be exasperating when you have a sizable number of pages to print.

The common reasons for slow printing are due to large photo sizes and large presentation files. You can either lower the quality of the output or simply send a part of the document at a time to speed things up.

If you are printing wirelessly, do check that the distance between your printer and your router isn’t too far—poor wireless connection could be a possible cause for slow printing. A simple solution would be to place your wireless printer as close to the router as possible, since wifi speed slows down with distance.

Do also check your print settings. Higher quality prints do take more time to print. If an average print quality (eg. for a text document) is good enough, consider switching your printouts to draft mode or the lowest quality setting your printer has to speed up your printing process.

2. Home / Office Printer not Printing

Are you staring at a printer that is just not printing? Well, you are not going crazy, there’s probably a reason for it. Before you start kicking your printer, consider checking if the paper tray is empty—yes, we’ve all made that silly mistake!

OK, there is paper in your tray. So what could have gone wrong?

Consider checking the connection of your printer. There may be multiple printers in the office and you may not have connected to the right printer.

There is a chance that you have accidentally sent the print job to another printer—be sure to double check just in case you are printing confidential documents!

If your printer is still not working, then your print driver may be corrupted. You need to upload the latest version for your model and reinstall it on your computer. Should that still fail, it is best to call your local printer technician.

3. Duplex Printer Printing Error

Having a duplex printer should save you the hassle of flipping each printout manually. But what’s the point of having this functionality if your printer prints the back page upside down?

Fret not, there’s an easy solution to this. All you have to do is select Print on Both Sides, and opt to Flip on Long Edge. Your print jobs should be in the correct orientation now.

But what if you encounter disorderly pages, where the last page is at the top of the document?

There is a way around this incorrect manual sorting—simply print your pages in reverse. This can be found in the Advanced Settings box. You should only select this if your documents are to be put in order once the printing is complete.

4. Extra Printed Blank Sheet of Paper

“Why is there an extra sheet of blank paper after my prints?”  

No, your printer isn’t intentionally wasting paper. Rather, this extra sheet of paper probably came about due to your print settings. This is typically used in offices with multiple users and high print volumes, to separate print jobs from different users and avoid documents from being mixed-up.

If your printer is only for your personal home use, you can change the settings using your printer preferences. You should be able to deselect the option for separator pages from there.

5. Paper Jams

Printer paper jam problems
Close-up Of Businessman Hand Removing Paper Stuck In Printer At Office

Close-up Of Businessman Hand Removing Paper Stuck In Printer At Office

Paper jams are one of the most common issues people have with their home or office printers. This can happen due to static electricity (which causes pieces of paper to stick to each other) or when your printer tray is overloaded with too much paper.

A quick tip is to square off the stack of paper before placing it into the tray, ensuring that the pages line up and are flushed with the tray guides. Remember not to overfill the tray!

Jams may also occur when the print media used is not compatible with the printer. There are certain types of print media that are way thicker or bigger than the normal A4 Paper which is commonly used in most printers. Be sure to check that your printer is able to handle such media types and change your PC settings to match the print media.

6. Unclear Printed Texts

This problem may be caused by multiple reasons. Thus, you should go down this list to consider which option is the most likely possibility.

First, consider if you are using the draft mode or low print quality setting. Such settings may cause your printed texts to become unclear. By switching to a higher quality print, you will get clearer texts. However, be prepared to forgo your print speed—some printers are not able to simultaneously handle fast and high quality prints.

If you are using a laser printer, there is a high chance that the toner has settled, resulting in blurry texts. All you have to do is to remove the cartridge(s) and shake it gently from side to side to release any residual toner clinging onto the side of the cartridge. This works 90% of the time, but remember that the toner will eventually run out and needs to be replaced.

Finally, if you are using an inkjet printer, check if your unclear prints are due to a dirty nozzle or misaligned print head. Thankfully, you don’t have to deal with this manually (though you can if you wish).

Simply launch your printer’s maintenance menu and select “Clean Ink Cartridges”, “Clean Heads”, “Deep Cleaning” or a similar function. Cleaning the printhead will help improve the quality of the printout. As it uses a fair amount of ink you should only do it if you notice that the print quality is particularly bad.

7. Poor Quality Inkjet Printed Photos

Poor quality inkjet prints would commonly be due to a misaligned print head, dirty nozzles or empty ink cartridges. You can troubleshoot this by following the steps described in the previous point above.

The type of print media used may also affect the quality of your prints—especially if you intend to print photographs or posters in high definition colour. Make sure that you use the right photo paper. Often, third party photo papers are unable to reproduce your prints with the same resolution as the original photo papers from your brand.

Don’t forget to check that you have chosen the right paper type in your print settings and that it is set for photo printing.

It is also possible that your printer is low on one colour, causing discolourations. To achieve vibrant print reproductions of photos in the right hues, you need to ensure that inks in all the different colours are available—having one colour less can make a huge difference to your print quality.

8. Poor Black and White Print Quality

Do you turn off the colour when printing black and white documents? This is probably the cause of poor prints, especially for black and white images.

The colours give your documents smoother gradations and richer tones compared to solely using black. Thus, if you are printing a high quality black and white document, consider turning on the colour option for the best results.

9. Thick Ink on Inkjet Prints

Do your prints have a thick band of ink clustered around certain sections? This happens when your printer is unable to print at a certain resolution, usually on an uncoated paper. When it encounters this issue, it will try to adjust for the higher resolution by using more ink, causing the thick patch of ink (also known as banding) to appear.

To solve this problem, simply opt for a lower print resolution on your printer.

10. Unreliable Error Messages

Wonder why error messages like “low toner” or “ink error” appear when you’ve just replaced your toner or printer cartridge? Unless your new cartridges are faulty or broken, resetting your computer and printer usually fixes this problem. Do follow the instructions of your printer model to reset it properly.

Conclusion

Printer problems like slow printing, poor quality printouts, and paper jams can pose a huge inconvenience, especially when you need to get your work done. Hopefully, these solutions to the most common printer problems can help you to quickly get back on track. Should all of them fail—and we certainly hope that they wouldn’t—you should probably contact your local printer operator for immediate help!

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How to Reduce Printing Cost For Home Office Printers

home office printers

Spending Too Much On Printing? Here’s How To Save Some Money

Are you looking for ways to save money on your home office printing needs? Need help to choose the best home office multifunction inkjet or laser printer to reduce your operating costs?

If you need some pocket-friendly solutions for years to come, consider these cost-efficient tips for your home office printing.

  1. Use smaller margins and line spacing
  2. Use smaller document size
  3. Preview before printing
  4. Print in black and white
  5. Print with toner and ink-saving fonts
  6. Duplex printing
  7. Continue printing with low ink or toner
  8. Unplug printer or use deep sleep mode
  9. Buy printer consumables in bulk
  10. Re-evaluate your printer

Owning a printer gives you the freedom of convenience and customized printing. However, the cost of maintaining one can quickly add up if you are not mindful. Being attentive to such details can help you reduce cost in the long run.

Let us look at each of these money-saving printing tips in detail.

1. Use smaller margins and line spacing

Most people use the default settings when printing a piece of document. However, this wastes a large amount of space, especially along the margins as well as the line spacing in between paragraphs.

By adjusting the margins closer to the edge of the page and reducing the line spacing, you can significantly increase the number of words per page—which means less paper used, saving you money in the long run.

2. Print more documents on a page

Another economical option is to print two pages of a document onto one page. This is especially useful for high resolution documents that have clear typefaces, or documents that are predominantly images.

You can adjust your print settings per page according to how you deem fit.

3. Preview before printing

When printing online web pages such as articles, do consider the sections of the page that you don’t actually need to print out and read. Printing out these sections wastes both your paper and ink.

By previewing what will be printed, you can remove advertisements, comments and unnecessary footnotes. You can also click on the “printer mode” on websites, which automatically sets the page to the ideal sizes for printing.

In Microsoft Office, there are print outs preview before final printing. Sometimes there might be alignment issues which causes an additional page consisting of a few short lines to be printed out. This can be easily avoided by adjusting the document.

Re-printing due to mistakes can also be avoided by first checking your documents in draft mode before printing. With this step, you can reduce up to 50% of waste, ensuring more cost-efficient printing in the long run.

4. Print in black and white

This next tip can potentially save you quite a bit of money in terms of ink or toner usage. Printing in colour uses more ink compared to printing in black and white. This can be easily overlooked especially with documents that have coloured logos or graph charts.

If colour is not necessary, take the extra step to switch your print setting to monochrome printing. You will be surprised by how much ink or toner you can save and how long your cartridge will last by applying this tip.

Do note that printing in grayscale might not have the same effect. When printing in grayscale, the grey is not printed with black, but is composed instead of all other colours—which is exactly what you want to avoid.

5. Print with toner and ink-saving fonts

The following option is for the penny pinchers out there! Certain fonts with wide letters, thick lines, many curls and serifs use more printer ink and toner than other fonts.

By choosing fonts that do not have these features, you can potentially reduce your printing costs by up to 30%! These toner and ink-saving fonts are “Century Gothic” and “Garamond“, which can be found in most word processing programs.

Fonts that use more toner and ink include “Arial”, “Trebuchet” and “Tahoma”— these are fonts which you should avoid if you have the flexibility to do so.

6. Duplex printing

This tip is a no-brainer—print on both sides of the paper. As simple as it may seem, it has the potential to save you big bucks, especially when combined with the previous few tips.

However, this becomes an issue if you are printing in high volumes and don’t have a printer capable of duplex printing. Manually flipping each page will soon get on your nerves and you’ll end up choosing single-sided printing for its convenience, causing you to be less cost efficient.

For better cost-savings and convenience, consider switching to a printer that has duplex printing capabilities such as Brother DCP-T720DW Ink Tank Printer. Its automatic 2-sided printing will ensure fuss-free and cost efficient printing.

7. Continue printing with low ink or toner

You have probably seen the message that pops up when the ink level is low, advising you to replace the cartridge. Instead of rushing to change your cartridge, you can actually continue printing for a couple more print runs. This allows you to squeeze more prints out of the cartridge before it truly runs dry.

For toner cartridges that indicate “low toner” levels, consider taking them out of your printer and giving them a quick shake to distribute the toner powder inside the cartridge. This will enable you to continue printing for more pages without any errors before your toner finally runs out.

8. Unplug printer or use deep sleep mode

You won’t be saving thousands of dollars with this tip, but if you are really looking into ways to reduce costs, this will still add up. Printers—or any electronics for that matter—left plugged into outlets when not in use, will draw passive energy away from the circuit. This will cost you money over time, so unplug your printer when not in use.

You should also pay attention to a printer’s energy efficiency. Brother printers come with deep sleep mode where it reduces its energy consumption while idling.

9. Buy printer consumables in bulk

Another huge money saver tip is to buy your printer consumables in bulk—paper, ink cartridges and toners. More often than not, you can tap on bulk discounts, save on delivery costs or even lower costs with bundle deals. By pre-planning and keeping an eye out for great deals, you could save a whole lot of money compared to buying these supplies individually as they run out.

You can also choose to get ink or toner cartridges that come in standard or high yield containers that hold more ink or toner for a lower cost per page. The Brother MFC-L3770CDW Laser Printer is one of the printers that has a low cost and high print quality resolution with affordable toner options such as the high capacity toner (BK: Approx. 3,000 pages; CMY: Approx. 2,300 pages) or the drum unit (Approx. 18,000 pages).

It is also important to store your bulk purchases properly. Do note that ink cartridges can dry out if stored incorrectly. To prevent the ink from drying out prematurely, store them in their original packaging in the shade at room temperature or slightly cooler temperatures.

Laser printer toners are usually more durable as they are filled with a dry powder. However, you should still store them in a cool and dry place to ensure that they are kept in prime condition.

lady holding printer cartridge

10. Re-evaluate your printer

If you have had your printer for a long time, and are still struggling to keep it cost-efficient, chances are that you may need to re-evaluate your printer. Yes, you may have bought it a couple of years ago at a good price—however the printer supplies (ie consumables) are often the ones that tunnel through your pockets.

A toner or ink-efficient printer is a cost-efficient printer! Switching to a modern printer that has cost-efficient cartridges is a smarter move to enjoy huge cost savings. To look for an efficient printer, you will first have to find out what cartridge the printer uses. Look for information such as the price of the cartridge and the cartridge page yield. With these factors, you can then figure out the cost per page for each printer and compare them.

Cost per page ($) = Cartridge price ($) / Cartridge page yield (No. of pages)

If you need more information as to which is the best home printer for you, do consider the different types of printers that are available.

Conclusion

Choosing a printer based on its consumables might not be something that most people think about from the get-go. To keep your home office running costs really low, combine these cost savings with the penny pinching habits mentioned above to reap the rewards of a printer with high cost savings!

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How To Choose The Best Label Printer For Your Small Business

label printer for small business

Looking for the best label printer for your small business can be quite a challenge for first time users. 

There are all sorts of label makers ranging in size, cost, and print speed—but which features should you consider to find the perfect label printer for your small business? 

Here are some of the top factors to consider:

  1. Types of Label Printers
  2. Price
  3. Printing Speed
  4. Volume of Printing
  5. Print Quality
  6. Portability
  7. Water Resistance
  8. Versatility
  9. Connectivity
  10. Usability and Comfort

With so many choices of label printers in the market, it’s easy to get lost as you weigh the different criteria while selecting the perfect label maker for your small business. In this article, you will learn what the most important attributes are in a label printer.

1. Types of Label Printer

Which type of label printer—thermal label printer or laminated label printer— best suits your business needs? 

There are pros and cons to each label printing technology so read on to find out more.

  1. Direct Thermal Label Maker

If your business requires labels used for barcodes, address labels, shipping labels, receipts, tickets or food packaging, the direct thermal label maker is a good fit for you. Thermal printing uses heat-sensitive label stock and burns text onto the label itself, without reaching dangerously high temperatures. 

Most thermal printed labels last a long time. However, they are not well suited for environments that expose them to heat, long periods of direct sunlight, or abrasion as the material will darken, making the text illegible or the barcode invalid. Hence, do keep in mind that direct thermal printing is not the best option for long-life products and applications. 

Brother’s QL-800 Label Printer, which bagged the PC Mag Editors’ Choice 2020, is one of the most popular label makers in Singapore utilising thermal printing technology. Brother’s DK-22251 series offers black and red printing, and is popularly used for address labels, shipping labels and food packaging as you can highlight important information such as use-by dates and allergens. Such label printers have a speed of 93 labels per minute, which makes labeling very efficient.

Developed for busy workplaces, you will be happy to know that this advanced label printer is easy to set-up and use. Simply connect the printer to your PC or Mac via USB, and run the built-in software—with P-touch Editor Lite, you need not install printer drivers.

  1. Laminated Label Printer

For businesses that focus on backend assets where labels are needed for shelves, office equipment, name badges, cabinets, and files, the laminated label printer may be your best bet. Laminated labels can withstand the test of time (fade resistant) and elements (heat/cold/water) better as the ink is printed onto the laminated labels.

For such uses, the Brother PT-D450 Label Printer might be the label printer of choice. The PT-D450 allows you to quickly generate labels up to 18mm wide, either using the printer’s own keyboard and high resolution backlit display to create them directly, or by sending your designs through your PC or Mac via P-touch Editor software. It is also one of the few label makers designed with a QWERTY keyboard, making it extremely user-friendly. 

lady working at desk with rows of files

2. Price

Cost is the next factor that you should consider—but don’t just focus on the cost of the label printer itself; also consider the cost of its consumables—ink cartridges, toners, print head, label tape, stickers, rolls, etc. You may be shocked by how quickly the costs of the consumables add up after snagging a cheap label printer. 

To avoid such surprises, it is wise to do the math and get a clearer picture of what your costs will be like in a year. You might be better off with a competitively priced label printer, with more affordable consumables that help keep the long-term running costs low.

3. Printing Speed

The printing speed of the label maker can make or break your business—especially if your print volume is high or you operate in a time-sensitive environment. Having a label printer that can produce more labels at a faster speed will definitely streamline your business processes. The number of labels per minute or the inches per second are specifications that you have to look out for when choosing the ideal label maker. 

4. Volume of Printing

Similarly, the print volume of a label maker can affect your business. If you need to print a huge volume of labels, a more efficient label printer that has an auto cut function can help you save time spent on constantly changing cartridges or label rolls. This function aids in continuous printing by cutting your label to the precise length, for up to one metre.

5. Print Quality

Do you need to print high quality labels or would an above-average quality suffice? Do you need your label prints to be smudge-free and fade-proof? 

These are some questions to ponder upon, especially since print quality is typically correlated to its price. If print resolution is important to you, you may want to look out for a label printer that offers higher dpi (dots-per-inch).

6. Portability

Another factor to consider is the portability of the label printer. Do you need to constantly be on-the-go with your label printer, moving from product to product, shelf to shelf, warehouse to warehouse? With a portable label printer that has a built-in rechargeable Li-ion battery, you will be able to continue labeling for a longer period of time, keeping an efficient workflow. 

This is where you may have to decide between lightweight and portable label printers and the heavy-duty ones.

7. Water Resistance

The environment your business is in will also affect the type of labels you choose. Water-resistant labels would be extremely important if your business operates in high-humidity conditions or if there is a possibility of condensation at any point of the logistics process. 

8. Versatility

The versatility of a label printer provides you with multiple ways to send a print job from—standalone, PC, mobile device, network systems, etc. It is important to consider this attribute if your business taps on these diverse needs. For a more comprehensive read on these multiple ways of printing, click here!

9. Connectivity

In the digital and mobile age, you may need to consider how easy it is to connect your label printer to a computer for direct printing from common applications such as Microsoft Word or Excel. Most label printers can be connected to a computer via USB. Other more advanced models may come with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connectivity. If you need your labeller to link up with other devices frequently, your ideal label printer will need to check this box.   

10. Usability and Comfort

Finally, the most important factor that trumps it all is the labeller’s ease of use. Is the screen big enough for you to preview the labels comfortably? Is the label printer intuitive to use? The overall user-friendliness of a label printer could be a deal maker (or breaker) so do try it out before you make the leap!

Conclusion

Choosing the best label printer for your small business can be a daunting task. We hope that the above tips are helpful in enabling you to decide on the best label printer for your business.

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Copiers VS Printers: Debunking the myths.

When it comes to printing solutions, is bigger truly better? In the recent years, we have seen a shift from large copiers to compact laser printers and multifunction centres as businesses embrace smaller decentralised departments and home offices. But aren’t copiers supposed to be more durable, cost-efficient, and offer greater functionality over desktop printers? Let’s explore these myths and discover how you can find the best printer for your evolving business needs.

Myth #1: Copiers are more cost-effective than desktop laser printers

While it used to be common knowledge that traditional copiers were more cost-effective due to their high-volume and low cost-per-page nature, the latest laser printers from Brother is set to change all that. This new breed of desktop laser printers is not only much more affordable than copiers to purchase or lease, but with higher yield toner replacements options available, they can also deliver significantly lower running costs in the long run.

Myth #2: Copiers offer more functionality for greater productivity

Many businesses are still using copiers for their functionality. This includes copying, printing, faxing and network connectivity. However, a broad range of Brother laser printers and Multifunction Centres come with advanced features such as wireless printing and scanning, NFC tap-to-print, mobile printing and scanning apps, Cloud printing capabilities, and many more to easily match or exceed the functions of a traditional copier.  All packed in a sleek, compact device that fits easily on your desktop.

Myth #3: Copiers are more durable & can print higher volumes

When compared to many desktop printers, copiers are considered to be more reliable and capable of handling higher print volumes. But this is a myth that’s readily busted by Brother’s laser printers. Backed by industry-leading reliability and award-winning support, these productivity workhorses can be equipped with a variety of accessories such as additional paper trays, a sorter, a tower tray, or even a finisher. This allows businesses to enjoy high-volume printing that rivals those of copiers with support up to 600,000 prints over 5 years!

Fact: Brother Laser Printing Solutions deliver

Businesses are constantly evolving, and Brother has been at the forefront of print innovation for over a hundred years. Backed by its dedication to world-class reliability and customer service, our range of laser printers and multifunction centres are trusted by large enterprises, SMBs, and home office owners globally to take their business to the next level.

Perhaps it’s time to ditch that old copier and find your next productivity workhorse? Find yours here.