When you work in a professional industry such as publishing, it’s essential that your printing is of the highest quality and that relates to everything from the type of printer you use to the materials such as the ink you put into the printer itself, right through to the kind of paper you’re printing on.

When printing pictures, you want to see them as clearly as possible and in the best quality, giving them a professional look and feel whether you’re using them as part of a portfolio, a magazine feature or just sticking them to the wall of your student flat at University.

Pictures tell a thousand words and they can be let down when you print them using a typical inkjet printer onto traditional printer paper. If you’re printing out images, make sure that you get a high quality printer, the picture is taken using a digital camera and that you use top quality ink to ensure that your image is shown in good contrast and focus.

Your printer is also key to the quality of your printing. A lot of the more modern printers will say that they’re photo quality – meaning they’re up to the challenge of producing top quality, professional standard print outs – while others couldn’t be further from this level. Quite often, the quality of the printer is explained by the number of ink cartridges it requires.

A simple rule of thumb is that the more cartridges, the higher the quality as it uses a combination of colour, black, gloss and even Nano ink in some cases to produce the kind of pictures you would pay top money for in a shop.

It’s a myth that the best printers on the market are only available to professionals. Sure, they might cost more than a traditional inkjet, but you can get industry standard printers for the home that don’t take up too much space and help you to present your work at the best possible level, something your clients, tutors or colleagues would really appreciate it.

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HP Officejet Pro 8600

High quality results and top speed performance plus almost everything a user wishes for swift but efficient printing outputs are promised by HP Officejet Pro 8600. If these are the requirements, Pro 8600 have them all. Just consider its e-all-in-one feature that makes it at par with MFPs (Multi Function Peripherals) that specialize in practicable colour lasers. Ordinary Inkjets are out compared to Pro 8600, although it is itself on inkjet, providing users with top quality photos, making it ideal for family or small home office MFP use. It also does well for tough jobs on a more personal scale.

Pro 8600 also have a unique both-sides-of-a page printing feature. The built-in duplexer makes printing faster where both faces of a page need to be printed on. Add to that the document feeder that enables 50 pages automatically printed in one feed. There are also scanning, faxing, and emailing options to choose from. It’s definitely among matchless modish Wi-Fi printers today.

Brother HL-227DW

Among top 5 printers with Wi-Fi connectivity is Brother HL-227DW. It is ideal for quick, light, and quality printing jobs. Among its special features is the usability of either a Wi-Fi or Ethernet connectivity support. It also has a duplexer for both-sides printing and fine print accuracy for using smaller fonts. Although 227DW is a mono laser, photo quality is better than those from other mono laser printing devices. It also produces good results for power point presentations. That is why it’s among matchless modish Wi-Fi printers that many users prefer.

Canon Pixma MG8120

Canon Pixma MG8120 a stand-alone mini photo lab and high-end mini MFP in one. Print sources from 35 mm slides and film strips can be scanned directly here and printed out. Like the Brother HL-227DW, it can be Internet connected through either wireless or wired connection. This device is ideal for printing images sourced from slides, films (both negatives and positives), videos, and outputs from USB cameras. Even photographic prints will do. Absolutely no need for a PC connection.

Reprints of printed images are also allowed by MG8120, and there’s an option on borders with regards to various designs or whether to place borders or not. And the 3.5 inch LCD allows previewing of the images in magnified sizes prior to printing. It also makes possible capturing specific HD movie clips and having them printed. MG8120 is really ideal for photography enthusiasts and even professionals who need a small home photo lab for extra works. This model deserves being on the list of top 5 printers with Wi-Fi connectivity.

Canon Pixma MX882

Its design alone makes it worthy being in the matchless modish Wi-Fi printers list. But then consider its fine text print and high quality photos, the dual usage of its front panel, duplexing feature, HD movie clip printing, and 300-sheet single loading. MX882 is ideal for small or home businesses.

The elegant front panel houses control buttons that easily function with a slight press. Busy times make the buttons glow with backlit indications when pressed, and the same turn pitch black during idle time. Any novice can operate the device easily with these features. There are also ports for USB devices and pictBridge cam inputs. Another special feature is the CompactFlash.

Dell 1355cnw

This multi-function device is designed for both shared and personal MFPs in any work environment. It is ideal for composing graphics presentations with easy operation and allows highly capable multi-tasking. This includes scanning, emailing, faxing, photocopying, and printing. It has either cordless or corded connectivity.

The 1355cnw is a capable companion for a stand-alone small office print device.

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Brother DCP-J525W

This is an inkjet multi function printer from Brother that will help you to print directly from your iPad as it is compatible with the Air Print feature. The printer has the USB, PictBridge USB and the WiFi connectivity present. There is a memory card slot that is present for the printer and it can print directly from there. It has a 4.9 inch LCD touchscreen present and you can control the entire printer from there.

Canon MG5310

Among the few printers that are compatible with the AirPrint feature of the iPad, this is one that has found a lot of takers and that is mainly because it is a Canon product. It is a laser printer and is capable of scanning and copying as well. It has an input capacity of 150 sheets and there is the USB 2.0 and the Wireless LAN connectivity integration been made. It has a scanning resolution of 19200 x 19200 DPI.

EPSON Artisan 730

This printer from Epson has features that are not seen in standard printers and thus, you need to consider it for your iPad. For starters, the printer is exceptionally fast and there is no compromise on the quality of the prints that it gives out. It is a multi function printer and thus, it has the capability to scan and copy as well. You have the option of printing and copying on optical drives and there is the duplexing feature that has been included as well.

HP Deskjet 3050A J611

This multi function Inkjet printer will fit your office and home needs to the tee and it has the AirPrint compatible features that make it all the more desirable. There is WiFi and USB port provided and the printer packs a 2 inch display that will keep you informed about all the on-going processes of the computer. There is a lot flexibility seen in the media that can be used for printing as the printer supports Paper, Photo paper, Envelopes, Labels, Cards, Transparencies etc. You can save on your printing expenses with the help of 4inkjets and 123 inkjet.

Lexmark C792

This is a color laser multi-purpose printer that works just great with the iPad. It has a 4.3 inch touchscreen that will enable you to control the functioning of the printer and the user interface is simple. There is the duplexing feature present and the company claims that the printer has a speed of 50 prints per minute in black and white prints and that is truly incredible. The printer also has the energy conservation technology included.

These are the best printers for iPad, so that you can have all your data printed on the go. They have the features that will help you to get the best out of your iPad in terms of printing and are not going to cost you an arm and a leg for the same.

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Many items that can otherwise be made cheaply with rapid prototyping services based on 3D printing or even put into production for small numbers with 3D printing do face problems if they need a custom circuit board and the same is true for products made of standardized parts.

It is envisaged that rapid prototyping services with 3D printers that can print circuit boards may actually be able to print an entire product with moving parts and circuit boards in place in one go. This would potentially allow circuit boards to be made to fit much more neatly into products as well: currently a product is designed so that a circuit board can then be added, which will be invariably rectangular and flat.

In the short term printing bespoke circuit boards will allow products to be made easily in small numbers with complicated circuit boards and will even allow for producers of products to include bespoke circuit boards for each client based on their specific needs. Producers could with 3D printing set up from a 3D CAD file easily add features as required and copy the innovations of competitors in days rather than months.

In the long term the use of circuit boards is even more exciting if the potential of 3D printers that most believe there is is realized. For now still firmly rooted in rapid prototyping services some see a future where 3D printing will dominate manufacturing. When 3D printing becomes the primary way of manufacturing and replaces tooling machines it will suddenly become easy to customize every aspect of a product such as material, color, shape and so on. If circuit boards can just as easily be customized we may be able to see a future where everyone’s PC is customized to their needs and everyone’s car has the exact electronics and features they opted for with hundreds of permutations available to everyone.

The ability to work with circuit boards could become a common skill as well as people in the future design their electronics on their home computers before sending them to a company, similar to today’s rapid prototyping services, to print their creations, though at a far more affordable cost.

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What the New York Maker Faire showed is that technology itself in the form of 3D printing is delivering into the hands of more and more people the ability to develop their own hardware and software and manufacturer prototypes with a basic grip of electronics and computing. It is the ideas that these people have that are important, either as individuals or as a crowd sourcing exercise to create something new. It may be that to get ideas to market including mass production, distribution and marketing big electronics companies will be needed but this is increasingly where their ideas are coming from and you can be sure most major electronics companies would have had people on the ground at Flushing Meadows to see what the latest ideas and trends are.

What electronics and other manufacturers are already aware of is how important 3D printing has become but they may have been surprised just how much of an impact it has had in the last year and just how many people have been using their own 3D printers to create parts and prototypes.

It was only earlier this year that plans for building a cheap 3D printer from parts available from local stores became available as a cheap e-book. Used along with open source and free 3D CAD software like Google Sketchup almost anyone, who wants to, can now print parts or finished items on their own 3D printing service or offer a 3D printing service to others.

Amongst the Do It Yourself Technology fans at the Marker Faire a 3D printer has become a must have. These include the very cheap and very basic 3D printers, which can deliver 3D printing services in cheap plastic to make usable parts but other 3D printers are more advanced including color printing, large scale printing and printing in different materials. These 3D printers are out of the reach of most of the do it yourself fans at the Maker Faire but 3D printing services from companies that specialize in rapid prototyping services are becoming more common, many have advanced 3D printers that can deliver 3D printing services to print moving parts and parts made of different materials and can even print circuit boards.

At the same time these advanced 3D printers will inevitably come down in price and be affordable to more and more individuals. The open source and collaborative approach of the do it yourself technology fans though also means that often those designing parts are then collaborating and parts will be put together as a 3D design made by many people: often dozens or hundreds; only one of those people or a company funding that project need have the ability to print out the finished parts.

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Below are several ways you can do that:

1. Tweak the computer’s printer settings. Use economy or draft or any other setting in your computer printing commands that reduces the amount of ink used, when the documents you are printing are not so important that very good presentation appearance is not needed. Draft printing will often do for ordinary printouts, for instance, and you can always instantly switch to document or fine printing when necessary.
2. Use Ecofont or Century Gothic font. These two types are said to be most economical while retaining best readability. Century Gothic is a thin, sans serif type that uses less ink by its nature. However, the font is wider and may use up more space than Arial or Times New Roman. The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay uses Century  Gothic as default font for the bulk of its printing needs in all departments.

Ecofont, on the other hand, is a new typeface that has holes in the letters not readily observable by unaided eyes, and so uses less ink than any common typeface. You may have to download the software to use it, or, better, adopt the developed Ecofont software which makes holes in the letters of any type you wish to use to save printer ink.

1. Use the printer less. In many cases printing the document is not truly necessary; you may just want to have a hardcopy for ready reference. But you can always send the document to your iPad, mobile phone or netbook so you can access it anytime you need to. Or you can save it on a document storage site for the same purpose. Either way, less printing is less ink usage.
2. Always review your document for errors. Checking for errors will let you avoid reprinting it without errors.  Make it error-free as much as possible on first printing.
3. Print only what you need. When printing direct from online, there may be portions you do not need, such as pictures, advertisements and comments. By copying the document onto another file, you can delete the unneeded portions and thus avoid using more ink unnecessarily.
4. Use a dot-matrix printer for draft or reviewing purposes. A dot-matrix printer is today more expensive than an inkjet or laserjet printer, but you can save much on printer ink because a dot-matrix ribbon is very inexpensive and you use your ink printer less. You don’t need an ink printer if you are just reviewing a document for typographical errors.

Computer printer ink is expensive; therefore saving on its use makes sense for yourself and your pocket. Make it a habit.

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1. Lower prices: By limiting your search to just the local stores you really are handcuffing yourself as far price is concerned. By using the internet to shop for your cartridges you can price compare many different stores very quickly. There are many price comparison websites out there that you can use to help you with your search.

2. More choice: One of the most difficult, and costly, things to shop for is replacement ink for printers. Generally speaking you will need a specific kind of ink to work in your printer, but the local stores may or may not carry the ink you are looking for and even if they do there is no guarantee that they will have it in stock. Online retailers can give you a better selection and you can see right away whether the product is in stock or not.

3. Compatibles: The third reason goes right along with selection, but instead of looking at it from a single product perspective, the internet can provide you with cartridges from alternative manufactures for the same printer. While the OEM ink for your printer may be extremely expensive, a third party version could easily be half as much for many popular lines and especially for laser toners. Again finding these items is best done through internet searches.

4. Auctions: If you use any of the auction sites out there you may be able to find used or in some cases even new ink cartridges that you can bid on. By doing it this way you can save yourself a ton of money, especially if you are patient in your bidding. If you are looking to get a back up or emergency stock of ink, this is a great way to go about it.

5. Incredible convenience: The last reason to shop online is how convenient it is. You could waste countless hours driving to the store and back replacing all of the ink cartridges for your printers, whereas you can find everything you need and have it sent directly to your doorstep without ever having to move from your computer by shopping online.

James works at one of the leading online stores for printer cartridges in the UK, Cartridge Save, and has been an active guest blogger for over a year.

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In this article, the top ten colour laser printers currently available are carefully reviewed, including price comparisons, to aid in the selection of the best laser printer for every consumer’s needs.

Dell 3130cn: Excellent for the small business or home office, this hardworking printer is one of the fastest of its class, shooting out 26 color pages per minute. It has a duty cycle of 70, 000 pages, nearly double that of other printers. The toner is incredibly cheap, making this an efficient machine. The average price runs between $500-$600 dollars.

Lexmark C792de: This workgroup printer has good speed, averaging nearly 23 pages per minute. The color quality is amazing, with a maximum resolution of 1200 by 1200 dpi. The cost of toner is the only small drawback on this printer, selling at a slightly higher cost than other printers in this bracket. However, its efficiency and quality make it an excellent buy, selling at $1,599 from Lexmark.

HP Color Laserjet CP1518ni: Using the HP ColourSphere toner, this printer consistently delivers picture-perfect photos. It is a little slower than other printers, but the simple design and features make using it easy. The instant-on technology saves nearly 50% in energy. Moderately priced at $199.99, this printer makes a great buy.

Xerox Phaser 7500/DN: This extra-fast printer handles tabloid-sized paper, perfect for those who need to print banners. This high-volume printer is tough, shooting out plain-text pages at 28 pages per minute. The print quality is good, keeping up with laser printer standards, and the cost of toner unbelievably cheap. The only real downside to this printer is the high price tag, selling at $3,289.

Kyocera Mita FS-C5300DN: For the business owner looking more for speed than high-quality photos, this strong machine is perfect. Printing at 27 pages per minute, it is one of the fasted laser printers available. Another plus with this printer is the longevity of the drums and toner, making maintenance easy. It is listed for sale at $1739, but individual dealers vary in their prices.

Samsung CLP-670ND: Another excellent choice for the small business, this Samsung printer puts out average quality pages at a good speed. It is easy to use with an Ethernet connection providing innovative web options normally unavailable with printers at this level. Listed at $858, it can easily be found online for a cheaper price. To find a dealer look at:

HP Color LaserJet Enterprise CP4025dn: A high-volume printer perfect for the hectic office, this reliable printer delivers good quality pages at a fast 19 pages per minute. The toner comes at a decent price, making this a cost-effective printer. Priced at $1,299, the CP4025dn is a great colour laser printer that would be perfect in any small office.

HP Color LaserJet CM1312nfi: This multi-purpose printer includes fax capabilities among other things, making it a hard worker in the office. Its built-in networking, clean and quick printing, and instant-on technology make it a good choice for the small business. Averaging between $359 -$539, this is an affordable printer for any small business.

Lexmark C540n: One of the most inexpensive laser printers of its kind, this Lexmark printer puts out nice-quality texts and graphics at 21 pages per minute. Supporting color resolution up to 1200 by 1200 dpi, this is a great printer for its price. Selling at $279, this is one of the most affordable solutions for small businesses.

Brother HL-4570CDW: An innovative, high-quality printer, this affordably priced machine has integrated Wi-Fi, making it easier than ever to network. Reasonably fast, with sharp, clear printing, this Brother printer saves money with cheaper than average toner. Perfect for small or medium businesses, the printer sells at $500 online.

This is a guest post by James who is a writer and a product reviewer at Cartridge Save, a shop where shoppers can buy cheap printer ink cartridges.

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1. Lexmark Interact S605 Wireless Multifunction Inkjet Printer with Web-enabled Touchscreen

• Made by Lexmark
• Easy-to-use 4.3 inch touchscreen
• Graphic interface with icons to control basic functions
• Customise commonly workflows on the printer
• Create shortcuts for fax function
• Scan email to templates
• Wireless connectivity capable to receive print jobs from other wireless devices
• Business card scan mode to upload contact information directly from any business card
• Energy saving feature
• Automatic two-sided printing
• Individual ink cartridges for each colour
• Print speeds up to 33 pages per minute (monochrome)
• Easy set up that requires less than 10 minutes to complete
• Three year warranty
• Lifetime technical support

2. HP Officejet Pro 8500A e-All-in-One

• Prints from HP e-print application on wireless devices
• Provides feedback to the wireless device that the job has been printed successfully
• Borderless printing
• Wireless and wired connectivity to any network
• LCD display for easy programming and setup
• Wi-fi capable as an option with additional cost
• Print from the touchscreen
• Scan to folder
• ColorLok paper support
• Compatible with wireless Apple devices, including: AirPort Express, AirPort Extreme, and Time Capsule

3. HP Officejet 7500A Wide-Format e-All-In-One

• Prints from HP e-print application on wireless devices
• Print large documents from 3 x 5 inches to 13 x 19 inches
• Provides feedback to the wireless device that the job has been printed successfully
• Borderless printing
• Wireless and wired connectivity to any network
• LCD display for easy programming and setup
• Print from the touchscreen
• Scan to folder
• ColorLok paper support
• Compatible with wireless Apple devices, including: AirPort Express, AirPort Extreme, and Time Capsule

4. HP Photosmart C410a Premium Fax Wireless e-All-in-One

• Copy, fax, or scan unattended
• Memory card slots
• Handle two-sided documents without intervention
• 50-page document feeder
• Use HP mobile printing apps to print from a smartphone
• Print photos, make copies, scan and perform photo reprints through the touchscreen
• Print webpages, coupons, and recipes directly from the internet
• Photo tray allows for printing pictures without removing the paper tray
• Edit and print photos without a computer
• Five individual ink cartridges for easy replacement without waste
• Reduce and enlarge (25%/400%)
• Scan resolution up to 4800 dpi
• 34 pages per minute (monochrome)

5. HP Photosmart D110A Wireless e-All-in-One

• Compact design – perfect for the home office
• AirPrint compatible to accept print jobs from iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad
• 2.36 inch LCD with Touchsmart frame
• Able to print from the internet without a computer
• Energy saving mode
• Weighs 14 pounds
• Print wirelessly from any room in the home
• Memory card slots to allow easy photo prints
• Auto document feeder
• 29 pages per minute (monochrome)
• Resolution up to 1200 dpi
• Maximum number of 30 copies per job
• Paper size from 3 x 5 inches up to 8.5 x 14 inches

One new way these printers could be used is to send advertising to people who own these printers. Pushing advertising is prohibited under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 that prohibits the act of sending ads over fax machines. Companies have promised that offerings will not include imposing unwanted information on printer owners. The paper and ink costs would be prohibitive if the users had no say in what is received on their printers at any time of the day or night. When a user signs up for an automated news story or newsletter, an ad can be printed on the page that comes from the printer, but the request by the user makes the ad legal.

Wireless technology has created for a printer that does not require a physical cable to receive print jobs. When the user is using a smartphone and finds something of interest on the internet, the web connected printer will accept the command to print directly from the internet as long as the printer is on and connected to the internet. More models of these printers will be developed as more features are required to meet the demands of the ever-changing market.

This is a post form James Adams who reviews new consumables for HP printers at CartridgeSave.co.uk.

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Many people are unhappy with the speed of their printer. Sometimes, the solution is to purchase a replacement printer. Most of the time, the answer is to make some changes in the way that you print documents in order to reduce the processing and printing times. If you make the following five changes to how you print, you will find that not only does your printer work faster, but your operating costs will be reduced as well.There are several different approaches to reducing printing time. Some involve changing the settings on your computer, while others involve setting the printer properties to something different. There are actually software applications that will analyze your document printing and make adjustments automatically in order to reduce the print time.

1. Print in Draft Quality

Most of the time when you print something other than a photograph, it really does not need to be printed at the highest quality possible. However, most printers are automatically set up to print at fine quality. There is a slight reduction in the DPI of documents printed in draft quality, but in most cases this is not visible to the untrained eye. The text or graphics will appear as more of a dark gray color when printing in black and white or have less concentrated color. This will reduce the printing time and reduce the amount of ink being placed on the page with an inkjet printer.

2. Print in Black Ink Only

Do you realize that with most color printers, black and white prints are actually made by using the various ink colors available in your inkjet unless you specific in the printer control panel or print dialogue box that the print job should be done with black ink? This means the difference between passes of several colors of ink or a single pass of black ink. Much like printing with a reduced print quality, this tip will save you both time and money.

3. Don’t Use Wireless

If you have your printer connected directly to your computer, it will print faster than if it is connected through a network. A wired connection is by nature faster than a wireless connection. Therefore, whenever possible use either a wired network connection or a direct connection to your computer instead of a wireless connection.

The fastest type of direction connection is USB. If it is possible for you to directly connect your printer to your computer with a USB cable, then you will save a significant amount of time with your printing.

4. Keep Printed Documents

If you have a Windows based computer, there is something available in the print spooler that will speed up the printing of documents that you print more than once. This is known as the “Keep Printed Documents” option and it requires little in terms of system resources. The setting is located in the printers properties, which can be found in the printer control panel. Right-clicking on your printer will give you a menu where you can select the advanced properties.

In the advanced properties dialogue box, you will find the option to store copies of documents. This will cut down your printing time for each additional printing of an identical document. This option is not applicable to everyone, but for most business situations where the same document is used repeatedly, this is an excellent way to save time.

5. Change the Document Settings

Some third party software applications give users the option to change the DPI settings for documents. You could do this once and not have to worry about it again. Obviously this will reduce the printing time because the lower the print quality, the less time it takes the printer to get the ink on to the page. The disadvantage to using software programs like this is the expense. Depending on your needs and the volume of your printing, it may or may not make financial sense to make this type of investment.

While these small changes will not work for every printer, they will work effectively for most desktop printers, laser or inkjet. You also need to regularly update the printer drivers. They will help you to save time and money in the long run and they will also reduce the frustration associated with waiting for an important document to print. If you are looking for ways to print faster without buying a high priced production printer, then these five tips should help you to achieve your goal.

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