Choosing a New Printer

When I started school this past summer I realized that I need a new printer.My old printer a had stopped feeding paper and I needed a printer at home to print my English assignments so I sat down and evaluated my wants and needs for a new printer,and this was my decision making process.

Wants and Needs

First I had to determine what my wants and needs were.

Do I Want a to Print Color?-Yes I wanted the ability to print color.
 Even though most of my printing would be text I wanted to be able to print color.

Do I Want a printer or do I Want a Multifunction Device?- I wanted a multifunction device.
While I would be printing most of the time I wanted the ability to also scan and copy documents.

Do I Need a Fast Printer? -No I did not need a very fast printer.
While fast is nice I was not going to be printing large documents or large  multiple copies of documents very often so speed was not that important.

Do I want Wireless Printing  Capability?- Maybe
Wireless capability would be a nice feature to have but it wasn't a necessity.

Do I want a Laser or an Inkjet Printer?- I would prefer a laser over and inkjet.
Laser printers generally have better resolution and lower operating cost than an Inkjet but have a higher initial cost.

What is my Budget?- I wanted to spend less than a $100 for my device.
It was possible I would have to spend more to get what I wanted but my goal was under a $100.

Prioritizing my List

So now I had to determine what as most important to me
Well my fist priority was the ability to print color,second was that it be a multifunction device,Third was my budget,fourth was laser or inkjet, fifth was wireless capability,and last was speed.
So my priority list was

1. Color Printing
2. Multifunction Device
3. Budget
4. Laser or Inkjet
5. Wireless Capability
6. Speed

 Decision Time

It quickly became clear that getting a color laser multifunction device anywhere near $100 was not going to be possible so question four was answered, it was going to be an inkjet,but which one?
In my case I got lucky I had just installed a multifunction device for a relative that seemed to meet all of my needs the Cannon MP 560 and it was only $89.99 on sale.  I did look at another printer the  Hp Photosmart e but it was $10 more expensive and it still uses the Tri-color ink tanks where the Cannon uses individual ink tanks. The advantage is that  you don't have to buy a whole cartridge just because one color is out, you can just replace the empty one which is cheaper.The Cannon printed over 9ppm in black and 6 ppm color so the speed was acceptable.It printed 9600 x 2400 dpi resolution in color and a 600 x 600 resolution in black, so the resolution was good, and it had built in wireless so my choice was the Cannon MP 560 and so far I have been satisfied with it.

Cannon MP560

HP Phtosmart