Identify what your printing needs are when buying a printer. Know what your print media are going to be then choose the type of printer to cover your needs. Whether you will print documents, pictures, posters, tarpaulins, blue prints or surfaces, there is the right type of printer for you. The four main groups of printers are lase, dot-matrix, ink-jet and dye diffusion printers. Laser printers are fast, efficient and produce high quality printouts by the numbers. Due to these features, the materials that make up the printer are costly making the laser printers expensive.

Dot-matrix printers are impact type printers hammering small dots through a ribbon to the printable surface. These are the earliest types of commercial printers and are very cheap.

Ink-jets produce very high quality printouts and produce them fast. Though ink jet printers are economical, manufacturers recover costs from expensive ink cartridges.

Dye diffusion printers are used by professional graphic artists who demand the highest type of print. Millions of shades of all types of colors are possible by this type of printer as solid ink is turned into gas and diffused on the printable surface, with varying concentrations. This type of printing allows colors to be evenly spread out on the sheet to be printed on.

There are sub-categories of printers that are available for home, office and industrial use. Portable and desk printers are marketed to basic users. Most of these printers are thermal transfer and ink jet printers.

Photo printers produce photo quality images as if the printouts were developed from a dark room. These are highly developed ink jet printers that have additional ink colors.

Multi-function printers use both ink-jet and laser print technology. They are more popularly known as all in one features being capable of printing, photocopying, scanning and faxing documents. They vary in sizes from desk printers to office type printers.

Hewlett Packard produces top quality printers both for home and office use. HP printers are reliable and produce better quality prints. HP toner cartridges and HP printer ink cartridges are known to produce more and have better quality. HP printer ink and HP toner cartridges are the reason why HP printers are preferred by the market.